Track Selling Times: The Voice of the Sales Profession

Track Selling Times - August, 2001

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Track Selling Times
The Voice of the Sales Profession
Issue No.141
August 1, 2001
Published by Max Sacks International,
Home of 100% Guaranteed World Class Sales Training
Developers of the Track Selling System™.
"We Take the Mystery Out of Selling!"™
Author/Editor: Roy Chitwood, President, MSI

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In This Issue:

Feature:

People do business with people they like

by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE

Sections:

World Class Sales Management:

"Selling non-sales professionals on selling"
by Ron Holm

Track Selling System

Focus on the Professional:
"Rick Rhoads"

Book Review -
A Complaint Is a Gift:
Using Customer Feedback As a Strategic Tool
by Janelle Barlow, Claus Moller (Contributor)

Ask Roy: Ask Roy Chitwood
One reader asks, "I've been reading about the Track Selling System and have been trying to apply its seven steps. I have a few prospects who absolutely dislike small talk and I'm wondering if there's a time when it's all right to skip the first step, Approach, and move right into the second step, Qualification?"

Survey - Reader Survey

Newsletter Archives

"People do business with people they like
by Roy E. Chitwood, CSP, CSE

A colleague of mine was recently sharing with me an experience he had while remodeling his home. He was spending many thousands of dollars and was planning on doing much of the work himself. Since he was paying cash for the needed materials rather than taking out a home equity loan, he was definitely price conscious.

When he totaled up the needed materials, the national home warehouse chain had all of the materials in stock. The local hardware store, however, would have to special order many of the materials such as cedar siding, which would delay the project several weeks. What's more, the warehouse store's bill of materials would be about 20 percent less due to its tremendous buying power.

Knowing this man for several years and his frugal spending habits, I thought this was going to be yet another David versus Goliath example of a local merchant being unable to compete with a national chain. I was shocked, however, when my friend told me that he chose to pay more at the local hardware store.

I asked him why, and he said, matter-of-factly, "Because I like them."

Now he did continue by saying that he negotiated with the owner to reduce the amount he would pay, but it was still significantly more than the warehouse chain would have charged. I asked why he willingly overpaid and he said that it ran deeper than price.

He told me that the owner and the employees at the hardware store had given him hours of free advice over the years, and in the past, had even sent him to the warehouse chain when they couldn't find a product faster or for less. He said their complete honesty and integrity had won him over and that the extra money he spent was worth every penny if it helped keep them in business. Plus, they (the staff) had demonstrated complete integrity when they previously referred him elsewhere, and he felt he had a contract with his conscious that dictated he do the same.

My friend's experience made clear one of the primary truths of selling:
people do business with people they like.
Period.

It's ironic, however, how so many companies and their salespeople overlook this truth. Companies typically arm their salespeople with data sheets to include a bulleted feature and benefit list that depicts why their product or service is superior to each competitor's in specific categories. Perhaps their company offers a shorter implementation time, expanded options, or a lower price. Rather than building personal rapport and initiating relationships with their prospective clients, the salespeople at these companies are taught to focus only on the tangible and pay no mind to the intangible - themselves.

This is an incorrect approach because selling is a people business.

A company's product or service doesn't have to beat the competition on every specific point. This is impossible. Honestly, the product or service sometimes doesn't even have to be the best on any single point alone. Consider my friends example above. The only 'best' that matters is that the prospect likes you, the salesperson, best.

Sure, you have to be competitive in pricing, product functioning, delivery schedules, etc. However, the intangible value of you, as the salesperson, and all of your experience, expertise, honesty, integrity and rapport building ability, is great even if it can't be quantified. If it were not, the local hardware store would have long ago been run out of business. What's helped this specific hardware store and thousands of other companies compete with the giants is the loyalty of their customers.

So how do you, as a salesperson, build this loyalty?

Well, consider the successful relationships you've built in your professional and personal life. Without question, the primary reason most of them exist is because the other person likes you. And they like you because you've probably been honest, courteous, trustworthy, friendly and positive. This trust takes time to develop and your positive attributes can't be listed on a product data sheet. But if you've worked hard at building these relationships, they won't be easily lost when a seemingly more attractive offer appears.

World Class Sales Management:
Selling non-sales professionals on selling
by Ron Holm

Ron Holm is owner and president of Business Application Software, a St. Paul, Minn.-based software reseller. He is also an authorized distributor of, and a certified trainer for, the Track Selling System. Ron has had much success training traditionally non-salespeople such as CPA's and software developers, to sell successfully. For more information please call (651) 633-2044 or visit www.basoftware.com.

In a sluggish economy that's experiencing rising global competition, more and more non-sales professionals are being called upon to help sell their company's products and services. And more so now than ever before, these traditionally non-salespeople are realizing the impact their efforts can have on their companies. The line between success and failure is becoming so thin that it's sometimes the contributions made by these employees that determines a company's survival.

With this in mind, it's important to highlight several specific steps that management can take to help "sell" these key employees on the importance of selling and of the value their contributions can make.

First, if your company offers a technical product or service, it's imperative to acknowledge that technical professionals are often process oriented.

This is why my firm has had great success teaching technical professionals to use the Track Selling System - because it's a process. For instance, in most technical professions, the people have learned to follow a process going from step one to step end. They know that if they're faithful to the process, they'll be successful. The Track Selling System allows the same, which helps to increase their confidence and their enjoyment of selling.

Second, more companies are recognizing that everyone within a company sells.

From the secretary to the technical field staff, these companies are realizing that many after-market or cross-selling opportunities exist that their field salespeople don't uncover. Left to untrained people, any resulting sales will occur merely by chance.

For example, after a contract is signed, many times it's the field technician who has the first encounter with the customer. And it's naÏve to believe that every installation, setup, deployment, etc. is going to be 100 percent smooth. This reality can lead to customer concerns and discontent. This is why it's so important that these employees have the sales and/or communication background to interact with these customers and alleviate their concerns. Without the proper training, these people often offer up knee-jerk reactions that refute or rebut the customer's concerns, souring the relationship from the onset.

With the proper sales and communication training, however, these occurrences are limited. Even better, the field team will become more skilled at identifying and capitalizing on after-market sales opportunities that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. This can create a surprising revenue pipeline that can become the difference maker during tough economic conditions.

And third, in most organizations, someone is in a supervisory or a coaching capacity.

It's important that this person have a set communication process like the Track Selling System that he or she can train his or her non-salespeople in. Much as an architect uses a blueprint to build a house, this manager should use a blueprint for sales and communication success. Once these non-salespeople realize that by just following a proven, duplicable process, they too can be successful, the odds of their adopting the process increase, thereby increasing the odds of the success of the company as a whole.

Ron can be contacted at ronh@basoftware.com.

Focus on the Professional -
"Rick Rhoads"

Rick Rhoads is the founder of Rick Rhoads & Associates, which produces print and electronic marketing and sales materials for its clients. In business for sixteen years, you can learn more by calling Rick at (310) 559-9921.

You and I know how well the Track Selling System works when you're face-to-face with a prospect. How possible is it, however, for a sales professional to apply the concepts of the Track Selling System to their writing?

It's very possible and I strongly recommend sales professionals to consider the Track Selling process prior to writing a single word of any sales letter or marketing collateral. When you apply the concepts of Track Selling to writing any type of persuasive business communication, it works very well for the same reasons it works in face-to-face selling: it helps meet the buyer's needs.

What impact can this have?

Potential buyers don't want to read about your "extensive experience, personal attention" and other vague and abstract attributes. They want to read about what you're going to do for them. If you can convey, in a compelling way, what you're going to do for them, your marketing material will stand out from those of your competitors. And when your material stands out, you're more likely to win-over the prospect.

In a utopia, your sales writing alone would sell your product or service. In reality, however, your objective is to get in front of the prospect. Remember, you are hoping to peak his or her interest to hear and see more. You do this by writing just enough, and leaving the rest in reserve.

What suggestions do you have?

1. Listen to yourself.
When you're in front of a potential buyer, you tell great stories. You'll have much good material to use that's not sterile. An easy way to help write your piece is to use the same words and emotions you use when talking to a prospect in person. Listen to what you're saying the next time you meet with someone. People say wonderful things about their products and services, the essence of which you want to capture for your written material. However, when the same salesperson sits down to a computer all that flies out the window - pun intended - and lifeless, formalistic copy appears. Listen to yourself, and then write so as to "tell it like it is."

2. Use stories that illustrate your points.
At every opportunity, refer to satisfied clients who were in a similar position and 'show' how you helped them achieve the desired result. The value of third party endorsements, such as testimonials, lie in their credibility. The thinking in your prospects mind goes, "If it worked for them, it can work for me."

3. As taught in the Track Selling System workshop, you must list the benefits and not just the features.
Follow up that, "It's 50 percent faster than the competitions..." with the benefit this specific person cares about. This could be, "...which means you'll have more time to spend golfing, shopping, etc."

Rick can be reached at writeroads@aol.com.

Book Review -
     A Complaint Is a Gift:
     Using Customer Feedback As a Strategic Tool
     by Janelle Barlow, Claus Moller (contributor)

In "A Complaint is a Gift: Using Customer Feedback as a Strategic Tool," author Janelle Barlow suggests that companies should turn one of the most negative of business communications - customer complaints - into positive business opportunities.

As any salesperson knows, it takes a great deal of time and money to win new customers. Logically it follows that a company should want to do everything possible to retain its existing customers. This book offers an eight-step process for doing just that. And it's Barlow's premise that with every customer complaint comes an equivalent business opportunity. These opportunities include satisfying and retaining once unhappy customers, improving business procedures to avoid repeat mistakes, improving the effectiveness and morale of customer service workers, to name a few.

She then explains how front-line employees - the customer service representatives who bare the brunt of the customers anger - can keep their cool, empathize with the customer and help ease his or her stress. Finally, she offers tactical steps management can take to make their organization more open to hearing complaints so as to yield the resulting goldmine of information.

A Complaint is a Gift is written matter-of-factly and contains numerous real-world examples. It's not theoretical or convoluted which makes for an easy and worthwhile read that can prove valuable to your company's reputation and bottom line.

Ask Roy

Jennifer Bliss of Austin, Texas asks:

I've been reading about the Track Selling System and have been trying to apply its seven steps. I have a few prospects who absolutely dislike small talk and I'm wondering if there's a time when it's all right to skip the first step, Approach, and move right into the second step, Qualification?

Roy's Answer:

Step One: Approach

Step Two: Qualification

Do what the prospect wants. If the prospect wants to talk business first, do it. Afterwards, you can turn to establishing rapport. You can do this because Step One and Step Two, and only Step One and Step Two, are interchangeable.

Whichever step comes first, be sure to fully complete both. You must first take care of selling yourself and qualifying the prospect before you move on to Step Three: Agreement on Need."

Reader Survey

1. What do you think of Track Selling Times?
2. What else would you like to see included?
3. If you have sales questions for Roy, or know of a salesperson, sales manager or integrity story that should be featured in Track Selling Times, mail it to:

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