Selling Styles
Using wrong sales behaviours upsets buyers and can seriously damage future business. Do you use selling styles that suit each particular circumstance?
Some salespeople think that selling is selling and that one process will meet all requirements. This is simply not true. The approach made to the prospect changes for different services and products and different types of buyers.
It is important to use the correct approach, because the buyer will become very uncomfortable if an inappropriate style of selling is used - and that can lose you the sale.
Here are four different types of selling:
We are now going on to describe the differing styles of selling and the skills that are needed to be successful in those areas. This is one of the key considerations when designing a sales training course/programme.
Recognised needs selling (bottom row - they can see it) captures and clarifies the prospect's needs and then offers solutions that will fulfil them. It is a reactive process that responds to needs. Unrecognised needs selling (top row - they can't see it (yet)) is an attempt by the salesperson to add value by bringing something new to the sale by creating needs.
In this form of selling, we are trying to create a need that currently does not exist in the mind of the buyer. There are two ways to create a need:
Consultative Selling
We are opening up a new market where we do not have references. We are looking for someone who has a problem but does not really know what the solution is. In this environment, we set up joint studies, workshops etc. This process is classic consultative selling - a phrase often used as a panacea for all selling. It is not.
It has a very specific place in the sphere of sales skills. The style should be used when there is a business issue that needs to be resolved, but neither the buyer nor the seller can see the full solution. There is a good relationship between the buyer and the seller, and a willingness on the buyer's part to work together to find a solution.
Application Replication
If we have had great success selling into a particular niche market, we are in the business of application replication. We have excellent reference stories, demonstrations and presentations that confirm how good our solution is, but must shock a prospect into realising that he or she needs to change - and needs our help.
Pointing out to people what their competitors are doing can be a great motivator for change. There must be a TPTP to get the sale moving - a Thought Provoking Talking Point. We have a solution looking for a problem, and need the buyer's help to uncover it!
Unrecognised Needs Salespeople
We call them Deal Makers. They have to be good at:
- Opening doors, particularly at senior level
- Using reference stories to open the prospects eyes to possibilities
- Uncovering needs both business and personal needs at all levels in an organisation
- Dealing with more senior executives to talk policy changes
- Structuring those needs into a customer agreed timetable so that a decision will actually be made
- Financial justification and preparing business cases to raise budgets
- The politics of getting several people in the prospect’s world all marching in the same direction
- Getting our strengths written into the specification of what is purchased.
In some sales situations, the prospect comes to you. They know what they want to buy. They have already “made a decision to make a decision”, and are going to buy from someone, so the purpose of the sales process is to make sure they buy from you.
They have already formulated many of the criteria for the purchase. They know their own needs. This type of procurement can arise for one or more of many reasons for change. For example, some equipment needs replacing or markets are changing. Generally, where there is a recognised need, there is an external change stimulus.
Recognised Needs Salespeople
We call them Deal Responders. They have to be good at:
- Demonstrating the product/service
- Presenting the company offering and support
- Articulating your strengths over competition
- Organising visits to other customers
- Recruiting and training up “Internal Salespeople”
- Bending the procurement rules to keep access during the sale
- Structuring a technical/financial offering to meet the prospect’s criteria
- Writing persuasive proposals
- Dealing with objections.
Hopefully, you agree that the skills of the Deal Makers, who work with unrecognised needs are very different from those of the Deal Responders, who work with recognised needs. Of course, once the requirement is clarified, it becomes a recognised need. So the Deal Maker must be well developed in both sets of skills.
If you want to find out more: