Developing A Sales Process - Two Systems That Work


by Ron Finklestein - Date: 2007-03-08 - Word Count: 1789 Share This!

How do you convert the leads from your marketing actions into revenue?

Your pipeline is filling up but you are not closing as much business as you expected. There is a reason for this. Inexperienced business owners and non-professional sales people don't understand the sales process and how to quickly qualify and disqualify potential customers. Qualifying means there is a need for your product or service and the prospect agrees there is a need, that they have buying authority to make a purchasing decision, and that they have the budget to spend on your product or service.

In this article I am going to talk about how to move this process very quickly. This is "The Platinum Rule(r). The Platinum Rule allows you to "treat others the way they want to be treated" by identifying their behavioral style, thereby increasing your personal sales effectiveness and closing more business. Before we get into the details of this system, I want you to document your sales process. If you don't have one, you need to create one. Ask yourself how you put prospects into your selling pipeline. What tactics in this book did you use and how did you implement them to create and fill your pipeline? Once you understand this, you have solved half the challenge. When you find what works, create measurable, repeatable, and predictable processes so you do not have to go through this process every year. Find what works for you and stick with it.

Creating measurable, repeatable, and predictable processes applies to the sales process as well. Your goal is to develop a sales process that gets you to "Yes" much more often and to "No" much more quickly. How do you do that? There are three steps to this process.

First, it is critical that you gain agreement on the agenda. You are there to help them make a buying decision and they need to understand and agree that you are there for that purpose. If this obstacle is not addressed, anything after this point is going to be a problem. This can be accomplished, during the opening of the sales call, by saying, "We are here today to… and at the end of our discussion, together we will determine if there is a next step and what that next step is. Are you okay with that?" This sets the tone and texture of the meeting as requiring some form of action at the end. This action can be "No, I am not interested" or, "Yes, let's move forward."

Second, both you and your prospect must agree on how the product or service will solve this need. Agreeing there is a need addresses the intellectual side of the sales presentation. The emotional side investigates the impact of the need (or what I refer to as pain).

Let's use insurance as an example. Your prospect is looking to buy insurance for a specific reason: lower insurance premiums, gain initial protection or better protection. Those are intellectual reasons. To better understand the pain (prospects reasons for making a change) you might ask second level questions such as, "What would happen if you did not find a better price?" or, "Why is it important to have this protection now?" or, "What would happen if you continue without protection?" These questions get the prospect emotionally involved in the buying process. You are helping them understand the impact of not making a decision-the real reasons for buying. Once you understand the real reasons for buying, you tailor the rest of your presentation to address these needs. "If I can give you the same protection for a lower price, what would you do with the extra money?" We help them to understand what would happen with the money they save.

The third aspect of the sales process is the decision making process. After you and the prospect have gained agreement on the purpose of the meeting and the pain has been identified and investigated, you are now in the position to do what any good sales representative does-help the prospect make a buying decision.

The decision process is a natural byproduct of creating a good selling process. Many times during the decision process, the prospect will put obstacles or objections in front of you. Objections are questions or concerns that have not been answered during the sales presentation. Objections are a very good thing because this is the prospect giving you permission to ask further questions to gain clarity to move the buying process forward. Many times there is no asking for the order. If done right, the prospect will ask you for the next step. Naturally the next step is to sign the order.

Creating a sales process using The Platinum Rule is very powerful. Dr. Tony Alessandra describes The Platinum Rule like this:

We have all heard of the Golden Rule-and many people aspire to live by it. The Golden Rule is not a panacea. Think about it: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule implies the basic assumption that other people would like to be treated the way that you would like to be treated.

The alternative to the Golden Rule is the Platinum Rule: "Treat others the way they want to be treated." The Platinum Rule accommodates the feelings of others. The focus of relationships shifts from "this is what I want, so I'll give everyone the same thing" to "let me first understand what they want and then I'll give it to them."

The Platinum Rule defines four behaviors styles: Director, Socializer, Relater, and Thinker. Each style has certain behavior characteristics and these characteristics are observable. The personality of every single person can fit within one of these four broad categories. While on a day-to-day basis we might move closer to one style or another, every person has one general category that dominates his or her personality. As we observe people's behaviors, we can adapt our behavior to allow us to treat the other person the way they want to be treated to maintain rapport and effectiveness in our relationships. This leads to developing more sales faster.

The Platinum Rule teaches: why people do what they do, what they need in order to do their best and the strengths and weaknesses of their personal style.

The power of using The Platinum Rule is that it is easy to learn and easy to use. It has a 30-year track record and is being used by companies all over the world. Companies use The Platinum Rule in sales, marketing, customer service, business strategy, and process improvement, to name a few, to improve the effectiveness of the entire organization.

Because of its history and track record, The Platinum Rule provides concrete actions and steps you can implement to become more effective in dealing with suspects, prospects, and customers. What makes it so simple is that it is structured around three specific observable behaviors: The Verbal -the actual words they use - the content, The Vocal: the way they say the words - inflection, intonation, and emphasis, The Visual: the way they subconsciously communicate their intentions through body language, facial expressions, and gestures.

Through the simple act of listening and watching what they say and how they say it, you can quickly and easily understand their behavior style and how they want to be treated. Your ability to adapt your behavior and meet them where they are is where theory and action meet.

The goal of The Platinum Rule is personal chemistry and productive relationships that results in more sales, faster. You don't have to change your personality. You simply have to understand what drives people and recognize the options you have when dealing with them.

Everyone possesses the qualities of each style to various degrees and everyone has a dominant style. The key to using The Platinum Rule is in understanding what a person's dominant behavioral style is and treating him/her appropriately.

Here is a very basic breakdown of the behavior styles defined by The Platinum Rule: Directors are driven by two governing needs: to control and achieve. They are goal-oriented go-getters who are most comfortable when they are in charge of people and situations.

Socializers are friendly and enthusiastic and like to be where the action is. They thrive on admiration, acknowledgment, and compliments. They are idea-people who excel at getting others excited about their vision.

Thinkers are analytical, persistent, systematic people who enjoy problem-solving. They are detail-oriented, which makes them more concerned with content than style. Thinkers are task-oriented people who enjoy perfecting processes and working toward tangible results.

Relaters are warm and nurturing individuals. They are the most people-oriented of the four styles. Relaters are excellent listeners, devoted friends, and loyal employees. They are good planners, persistent workers, and good with follow-through.

How can you apply this knowledge to grow your business? When you identify the behavioral styles of your clients and prospects, you will know how to sell to them by treating them the way they want to be treated. Let me give you some examples:

Directors are goal-oriented. When selling to Directors, the best approach is to give them the headline first, focusing on results. Since they like to be in control, let them give you permission to tell the rest of your story (if they like the headline).

Socializers like to have fun and they will sell themselves if you can get them excited about your products and services. Your message should focus on the outcomes they will experience, the fun they will have, and the recognition they will receive for being visionary enough to implement your solution. Thinkers don't like to be wrong, so you need to be prepared when selling to a thinker. They want to know that your facts and figures are correct. They will want to know the details behind the methodology and how the results were documented. Don't press a Thinker for a decision. They will decide when they are ready. Build credibility by doing what you said you were going to do.

Relaters want to know that you care for them. Relaters are concerned about the impact that the change will have on the team (family.) Spend time building a relationship.

The power of The Platinum Rule is that it is easy to learn and implement-but in order to experience great success, it does take some practice.

This material has been excerpted from 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. This book includes: 9 Winning Marketing Strategies, 8 Branding and Corporate Image Strategies, 6 Media Strategies, 3 Networking Strategies, 9 Technology-Based Marketing Strategies, 6 Event Strategies, 8 Sales Strategies. The book will be available second quarter 2006. To learn more check www.49marketingsecrets.com.

To learn more about sales: www.whysellingdoesntsell.com

The Platinum Rule(r) is a registered trademark of Dr. Tony Alessandra. Used with permission. For more information on The Platinum Rule, see http://www.alessandra.com/products/prrsproducts.asp


Related Tags: marketing, sales, revenue growth, sales growth

Ronald Finklestein, President of AKRIS, LLC, is a small business success expert, business coach, consultant, speaker, author, and trainer, and has published three books, Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company (http://www.yourbusinesscoach.net), The Platinum Rule to Small Business Mastery (http://www.celebrating-success.com) and 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales (available April 2007). He contributed to 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. Finklestein is available for coaching and consulting and for speaking engagements, workshops, and seminars.info@yourbusinesscoach.net or reach him at (330) 990-0788.

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: