Customers Count
Sales success requires both expertise and rapport
Written by JOHN DIJULIUS
Selling has never been more difficult than it is in today's crowded market. It is hard to tell one company, service, or product from another. Leaders must train their sales teams to differentiate their company from others. A potential buyer should hear and experience those differences throughout the entire sales process.
At heart, everyone is in sales, and the formula for standing out is simple: Expertise + Rapport = High Sales.
Expertise is a professional's knowledge of the products/services they sell and how they affect the buyer. Demonstrate expertise so that the buyer thinks, "Wow, I have never met anyone who knows more about this service/product, its benefits, and its drawbacks."
Rapport is making a genuine connection with the buyer and demonstrating your interest in helping them get what they need. The adage is true today: "Customers buy from people they like." You want the buyer to realize that the professional they are dealing with cares about them and their company's success.
The key is demonstrating your expertise while building rapport from the initial call, in the discovery process, during the proposal, in each follow-up step, through closing the sale, and after the sale. When consistently done, this creates a selling experience that will be hard to beat. Even better, you will not have to be the lowest bidder. The professional who provides an actual selling experience often wins with the highest-priced proposal.
A salesperson's superpower
The best superpower any successful professional needs is empathy. As a salesperson's empathy increases, their level of listening increases. When professionals understand the buyer's plight, they intuitively assess the meaning of buyer messages by placing themselves in the customer's place.
The best way to stand out from competitors that appear to provide what you provide is not to be ambitious with closing the sale. Be cautious; ensure yours is the right company for what the customer seeks. Don't assume the buyer even knows what they want. Demonstrate how your company can help them move forward confidently.
During the discovery phase, The DiJulius Group likes to shock clients by stating, "We will only take you on as a client if we both agree that the value you will receive from our consulting agreement is far greater than the fees you pay us. Is that acceptable?"
This question shocks the buyer, who has not heard this before. It's our way of saying, "Before we proceed and waste any more of each other's time, we need to figure out if we are the right fit."
A great salesperson understands that both parties must win. This agreement drives us to examine every potential source of value, identifying pain points and opportunities that all clients possess. Additionally, it clarifies the client's ultimate goals and the desired future state.
Be different
During the initial call, the buyer tells the salesperson what their company is looking for. The mistake at this stage, and in the proposal stage, is to share how great the company is, how it's a perfect match for the buyer's needs, and how well-known clients agree. There is a time and place for this, but it shouldn't be how the salesperson begins. Assume the buyer is speaking to three to six other companies and has heard it all. To be effective, the selling experience needs to be different.
Part 1: Learning
During the initial call, the sales professional should not be doing the talking; they should be focused on asking great questions. Your curiosity builds rapport while encouraging the prospect to tell their story.
A sale happens while you are immersed in helping to serve your customers. Don't focus on the sale; focus on providing expertise, being a resource, and building a genuine rapport. The sales will come.
Part 2: Educating
The second part of the call allows the salesperson to demonstrate their expertise. One of my favorite books on this topic is The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. The authors' premise is that the best salespeople find out what a customer's needs are and then challenge the customer's assumptions. The sales professional is willing to educate the buyer on what they may be missing in their quest to solve their problems.
The other salespeople the buyer speaks to will say, "Yes, we do this, and we can do that." They provide no new information and no pushback on the potential gap between what the customer thinks they need and what they truly need.
You earn business by being generous with your knowledge and resources without asking for anything in return.
Teach the customer
The best brands teach their employees to educate customers rather than sell to them. Sometimes, when it is genuinely in their best interest, that may mean talking a potential buyer out of making as big a purchase as they initially intended. Sounds crazy? Trust me, every time we have done that with a client, they spend more with us in the long run because we have proven that our number one priority is what is in their best interest, not just capitalizing on that one sale.