Business Marketing Magazine Summer 2017 December 2015 The best of 2015 | Page 10

Sales Talk
Dave Nilson

Control

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is defined as, “the power to influence or direct
people’s behavior or the course of events.”
Maintain is defined as, “cause or enable (a
condition or state of affairs) to continue.”
Thus our recipe for sales success today is
“Maintain Control.”
A sale is a ‘transfer of enthusiasm’ and requires many small things to take place. It
requires many foundational principles to be
in play. It requires many verbal and non-verbal communications to occur. I may have the
KNOWLEDGE of my product or service down
pat, through and through. I may have the
best ATTITUDE of any member of my team,
or any salesman on the planet. But until I
have the SKILL to transfer that knowledge
and attitude into an emotional experience
received by my customer, sales will not take
place. Steven Covey taught us that these 3
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elements – knowledge, skill, attitude, make
up a HABIT. We all want sales success to be
a habit.

Today’s focus is definitely a skill – which is
good news. This means it can be learned –
anyone can do it.
Of the principles at work in that chaotic symphony we call a “sale,” one element is invaluable – maintain control. I argue this is worth
far more than other individual aspect of a
sale, because it is a catalyst, creates synergy, and is a buffer. This means even if I am
lacking in knowledge or attitude, if I hone
this skill, it will multiply the good effect of
my existing knowledge and attitude, and will
greatly make up for my lack in other areas
across the board.
If maintaining control is so valuable, how is
it done? Simple sounding question, but with