Here’s the #1 Way to Understand What Your Customers Really Need – And I’ll Prove it to You!

“We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are!”
Josh Meyers (Scott Cohen) Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

Why do so many sales people fail to engage with potential customers and then end up missing out on so much business?

Let me share something with you that completely changed the way I sold things and has helped me find success in every single sales role since.

Your prospects and customers do not see the commercial landscape like you do – the view from their side of the desk is completely different.

Duh – yeah, obvious Chris!

Well maybe, but you can take that fact for granted and continue to sell at them – or you could adopt their viewpoint and show them why it’s beneficial to buy from you.

Most of you know all about the features of your products or services and probably understand how those features will sort out your prospects problems – and that makes it really easy for us to think and talk in terms of those features – but when we do that, we’re taking our prospect down a presentation path that has very little to do with THEIR situation.

You’ve probably read about Features and Benefits before, but just as a quick refresher;

A feature is a characteristic of your product or service.
A benefit is the value of that feature to the customer.

Features are what it is, Benefits are what it does and the value it delivers.

And Feature Selling is all about what we’ve got rather than what we can do for them.

The solution?

•  You’ve got to describe the sizzle and not the steak.
•  You’ve got to talk about the HOLE they want rather than the drill they’re going to need.
•  You’ve got to concentrate on the itch and not the scratch.

When you need to purchase something but you’re not an expert – how do you like to be treated? What would you describe as a perfect experience?

With all the windy weather we’ve had recently I’ve had to mend some fence panels – and let me tell you, timber yards are way out of my comfort zone.

I’m glad to say there wasn’t a single moment during my visit where they made me feel foolish, uncomfortable, confused, patronised or even worse – like I was being “sold to”.

Any of those things could have happened – actually, I just felt like I was being helped with a problem that I desperately needed a solution to – and throughout the entire process, the discussion centred round what I was trying to achieve.

Question is – Would you say your customers feel the same way when you’re the expert in the room?

This year, if you can imagine how it feels to sit in your prospects chair and then learn to emphasise with how they view both your industry and their own, you’ll start suggesting solutions instead of products, create conversations instead of delivering pitches – and end up supplying more people, more profitably than you ever have done before.

I’ll finish with this abridged quote from Zig Ziglar’s book “Secrets of Closing the Sale;

“When we separate the word business into its component letters,
B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S, we find that ‘U’ and ‘I’ are both in it.

In fact you’ll see that ‘U’ comes before ‘I’ – and in business, the ‘I’ is silent.

Also the ‘U’ in business has the sound of ‘I’.”

Until next time

Chris

New Case Studies HERE

This year, I want to help you and your sales team become more successful than they’ve ever been before – call my office now on
0844 293 9777 or request a call back by going to our Contact Page HERE.

You and I can work out a sales training programme that suits your requirements perfectly – foundation level sales training, field sales training, account management training, selling value over price, FMCG sales training, customer service training, whatever it might be – but it’s a big old world out there and if you don’t take two minutes to invite me over, I may never know you need me.

We create bespoke sales training days from as little as £228 per person, so give my office a call today and we can get a date in the diary to start working on tailoring something just for you.

Chris Murray

0844 293 9777

By the way, if someone has forwarded you this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it directly from Varda Kreuz here

Varda Kreuz Sales Training – Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, London

The Formula that Links Your Sales Target with the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life

“Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there!”  Jackie Harrison (Susan Sarandon) Stepmom (1998)

Have you ever heard of the Drake Equation?

I hadn’t until recently – it turns out that it’s the equation used to estimate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.

More precisely, it’s used in the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and was devised by a chap called Frank Drake, Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

For all of you out there with a scientific mind, the Drake Equation states that:

You can read the full breakdown at this link

It started me thinking about all those of you out there, planning your 2012 sales targets – who are you going to sell to and how are you going to find them?

Now, the unscientific, fanatical, over optimistic ET hunters would have you believe that almost every planet is teeming with life and there are some sales managers out there who are a bit like that – “it’s all about darkening doors” – the “go and see everyone” brigade.

Neither of these groups will ever be convinced that their beliefs are wrong – the fault lies with all those around them who haven’t found what they definitely know is out there.

On the other hand, the short sighted “there is no other intelligent life in the entire universe” gang have much in common with the old, tired sales war horses who can’t stop moaning about the state of the economy.

Now clearly you don’t want to fool yourself that everyone is a potential customer, but at the same time, you don’t want to sell yourself short – make your targets stretching yet realistic.

For a bit of fun, why don’t you get a little scientific about it?

Below is my version of the SETI Drake Equation (my Mother will be sooo proud) – run through it while planning this year’s target and let it help you cut out the improbable without ignoring the possible.

The SETI (Search for Extra Trade & Income) Murray Equation

N = the number of businesses in your designated area with which a profitable business relationship is possible;

Equals

R^* = the number of businesses operating this year in your designated area

f_p = the fraction of those businesses that have a real need for what you sell

n_e= the number of those businesses that have a potential requirement to talk to someone this year from your area of expertise

f_ℓ = the realistic fraction of the above that YOU can effectively and professionally sell to and supply (include; cold calling, appointments, proposal writing, presentation,  follow up call, renewed proposal, close, delivery)

f_i= the realistic fraction of the above that could actually go on to develop some form of meaningful dialogue with you this year

f_c= the fraction of the above that will actually go on to develop a trading relationship with you this year

L = the average length of time that each sales process is expected to take.

Remember – the truth is out there!

Until next time

Chris

New Case Studies HERE

This year, I want to help you and your sales team become more successful than they’ve ever been before – call my office now on
0844 293 9777 or request a call back by going to our Contact Page HERE.

You and I can work out a sales training programme that suits your requirements perfectly – foundation level sales training, field sales training, account management training, selling value over price, FMCG sales training, customer service training, whatever it might be – but it’s a big old world out there and if you don’t take two minutes to invite me over, I may never know you need me.

We create bespoke sales training days from as little as £228 per person, so give my office a call today and we can get a date in the diary to start working on tailoring something just for you.

Chris Murray

0844 293 9777

By the way, if someone has forwarded you this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it directly from Varda Kreuz here

Varda Kreuz Sales Training – Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, London