The Sales Training Series: Sell Yourself Before You Sell Your Company

Research has proven that customers make five major buying decisions in the course of any major purchase. These decisions are always made in the same order. The first is whether to "buy" the salesperson—you. The second is whether to "buy" your company. Only after those two decisions are made will the customer seriously consider whether to buy your products.


This means that you need to sell yourself to the customer—by building rapport while conducting a good needs assessment—before you begin to sell your company and its capabilities. Not coincidentally, that needs assessment will also allow you to sell your company far more successfully. Why? Because you must first understand your customer's needs, before you can answer the customer's most important question about your company.
You must understand the customer's needs before you can effectively sell your company.
In deciding whether to do business with you, customers have three basic questions about your company:
1. What does it do? 2. What is it known for? 3. Is your company a good match for mine?
The first two questions usually can be answered with a rehearsed sales presentation that explains what your company does and the benefits that other clients have gained from doing business with you.
The third question is most important, however, and you cannot answer it with a generic presentation that relies on standard information. To persuade customers that your company is a good match for theirs, you must tailor your answer to their specific needs.
The best way to do this is to tie your company presentation directly to needs that you uncovered earlier in the sales call. You thus are able to present your company's capabilities as solutions to the customer's key problems and opportunities.

For Example:
"You told me earlier that service from your current supplier is taking more than 24 hours and that this causes you problems meeting your production goals. We would be a good match for you because our service response averages less than four hours. With our company handling your service you will find it far easier to achieve your goals."
"Are we a good match?" is every customer's most important question about your company. You cannot answer it before you have uncovered, understood, and agreed upon the customer's needs. "Sell yourself" first by demonstrating that you care about those needs. You'll be amazed at how much more effectively you can then sell your company.
In The Field:
If you are in a commodity business and competing with rivals who sell on price alone, it is especially vital to tell your customers a powerful "company story" that explains why they should do business with you. For National Camera Exchange, which competes in the commodity-oriented business of photographic equipment, differentiating itself from the myriad of price-only suppliers is a daily challenge. National Camera's added-value proposition lies in the expertise and consulting skills of its sales force. Its equation for success or failure is simple: If the story of that consulting capability isn't told effectively, the company loses to lower-priced competitors. Sales and training manager Sean Morgan says that an Action Selling sales training program made a world of difference. "Since more of our salespeople are telling our company story, we are posting higher numbers, and they look less like a roller coaster," Morgan said. "When the customer needs an education on camera equipment, it is critical to sales success to show them how National Camera is a good match for their needs."

What Are The Benefits Of Sales Training?

There is a real argument amongst salespeople that sales cannot be taught and that it is a natural skill that cannot be taught. People that are good at sales have always been good at sales and always will be. There are a number of salespeople that perpetuate this myth and claim that there is a knack of making sales that cannot be grasped by many people. They claim that it is some kind of dark art for which only a select few have the skills to do well at it. This is of course ridiculous.

This myth like many myths does have a link to reality but nevertheless it is very easy to teach skills that can be transferred to any kinds of sales and these skills can be taught to anyone. So what is it that makes a salesperson good at what they do and can it be taught to anyone?

Attitude

It is said that 'sales are contingent on the attitude of the salesman not the attitude of the prospect' (W.Clement Stone). The attitude of the sales person is probably the single most important aspect that leads to success. At best it can be a really positive force in making a sale. If the sales person is genuinely enthusiastic about the product that they are selling then the customer will respond well. If they can see passion in the eyes of the salesperson they are far more likely to buy. Statistics seem to back this theory up with 75 percent of purchases made as a result of a gut feeling as opposed to being logical or rational.

The attitude depends on someone's passion for what they are selling. As a result anyone can be a great sales person as long as they are selling something that they are passionate about.

Knowledge

Once the salesperson has demonstrated a great attitude and reeled the prospect in they need to be well equipped with in depth knowledge about the product or service that they are selling. It is vitally important that the salesperson can answer the questions that the prospects ask and volunteer the most important bits of information with ease. The skill is to impart this knowledge without pressing the prospect too hard and to do so by avoiding jargon.

Integrity

It has to be said that sales people are not renowned for demonstrating integrity but nevertheless it is an important part of the job and those that can deliver on the promises that they make will invariably be more successful than those that let their prospects down.

There are well publicised stories of savage door to door sales people that bully old age pensioners into parting with their well earned pensions for something that they don't need. These types of sales people will not only die a slow and painful death and be condemned to hell they will also get found out and it will inevitably affect their sales. People that buy products usually respond well to honesty from their salesperson and even if the salesperson highlights the flaws in the product they will still make a sale if it is done well.

Training

There is a common misconception that salespeople can't be trained and that it is a skill that is purely natural. Although there is definitely a knack for sales it has to be noted that there are plenty of techniques that can be taught to anyone regardless of their natural aptitude for sales. Anyone can be taught to utilise these techniques and improve the level of sales that they make. When these skills are mixed with the right attitude and knowledge anyone will become a master salesperson.