The Art Of…..

I recently had the pleasure of attending The Art of Sales presentation at the Centre in Vancouver. Scott and his team put on a great organised event. Herb Cohen has a wonderful (like listening to your grandfather’s advice) style to his speaking injected with some wonderfully humour. I remember him asking ” why are children such good negotiators? they are small in stature and dont hold any position authority” His answer is good advice to both parents and business people. He posed three reasons:
Children aim high – even if its unreasonable they figure they can settle for less
Children view “No” as an opening bargaining position
Children rely on the fact that there are few few solid decision makers in the world; they go ask mommy or form a strategic alliance with …….grandparents.

Another compelling speaker was Neil Rackham. His Richard Attenborough British tone added to his authority. He gave some great insight into selling in tough times.

The market forces today decrease differentiation yet corporate strategies seek to increase differentiation – who do you think will win?

Even if you build a fabulous mouse trap many customers will say I don’t care I just want dead mice cheap – you need to create value.

Sales is transforming from communicating value to creating value . The true test of value is that a customer will pay for it – “would a customer write you a check for your sales call”

Advice for tough times:

• You cannot survive as a talking brochure
• Ask yourself if a customer would pay for your sales call
• Understand your customers very deeply and look for problem solving opportunities and customized solutions
• Don’t chase business you don’t think you can win – focus intensely on your best opportunity
• make your potential buyer feel “safe” build relationships and really listen to their issues
  negotiate little and late
• don’t defend your existing business, sell assertively and treat existing customers as new opportunities

  Only 1/3 of people in sales today have ever sold in a recessionary climate – most will make the same mistakes they did back then:

• Chasing every bit of business (= more orders of less value) – if you chase two monkeys both will escape (Chinese proverb)
• Negotiating much too soon in the sales process – seems pushy, anxious and creates mistrust, makes the customer ask for more
• Selling “price” rather than “safety” – eg IBM is overpriced and under featured but is “safe” they aren’t going anywhere – ad slogan “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”