Closing Versus ConsultingDo closing techniques still have a place in the consultative sale?

oct 29th 2008 / issue 13

no Pain, no gain! a gen Y shares some olD school sales aDvice

oVerComing the Fear oF Failure

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 2

oct 29th / issue 13

4 Closing Versus

Consulting

Do closing techniques

still have a place in the

consultative sale?

7 this WeeKs must reaD

suCCessFul PeoPle

aren’t aFraiD oF

Failure

timely reminders For

When things Don’t Work

out

9 tWo minute toP-uP

no Pain, no gain!

a gen Y shares some old

school sales advice

10 nZsm CalenDar

13 BooK reVieW

the hanDBooK For

leaDers

24 lessons in

extraordinary leadership

by Jack Zenger and

Joseph Folkman.

13 sales training

DireCtorY

14 the Close

4

7

10

13

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 3

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nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 4

Closing Versus Consulting

Do Closing techniques still have a Place in the Consultative sale?

\\

traditional sales training used to include a focus

on teaching sales people a number of different

closing techniques. You have all heard of closing

techniques with names like:

the “george Washington close”

the “alternative close”

the “standing room only close”

etc

Yes, i believe that these types of closing techniques

may statistically improve your sales rate when you

are retailing fruit and vegetables or simple low cost

widgets. many training programmes go further than this,

suggesting that you should adopt an “aBc” (always Be

closing) mentality.

What is implied by aBc to me is that you are expected

to be so far out of step with your customer that you have

no idea when they will be ready to place their order, and

so you attempt to secure it at every possible opportunity

in case you miss the golden moment!

my problem with all closing techniques in a consultative

sales environment is the erroneous assumption that the

sale will be won or lost on what you do at the very end of

the sales process.

sure you could blow it at this point, but if the

customer has already made up their mind not to buy,

some devilishly brilliant close (that will momentarily

make the customer lose their reasoning) will cause

the customer to give you to the order, is unlikely. the

exception to this may be the, “i have got a gun to your

mothers head” close.

unfortunately, people who would disagree with me

on this have immediate feedback and perfect logic to

support their belief. “i used this closing technique and i

got the order” so therefore closing techniques work. or

“my closing technique was weak and i lost the sale at

the last minute, therefore i need to close harder/better/

more often”. their ‘close’ is the most immediate event

prior to receiving (or not) the order and so it easy to

assume there is a direct correlation between the close

and the success of the sale.

the reality is that what you do during the sales

By liam venter

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 5

development, such as discovering and prioritising

compelling issues, building value and creating a return

on investment proposition with the customer has far

more determination on the successful outcome of the

sale than any last ditch efforts at the end of the sale.

a consultative sale is a step by step process.

receiving the order at the end of the process should

not be a hurdle that you and the client suddenly have

to jump over.

While i have never thought closing techniques were

important i used to think that yes, you needed to ask

for the order. i believed how and what words you used

to ask for the order were not important. anyway, one

day i decided to analyse how i asked for the order and

surprisingly i discovered i was never asking for the

order. instead i found at the end of the sales process

I was typically making a confident recommendation

to the customer to purchase the solution i proposed,

and in placing their

order they were

directly responding

to this direction. i

also discovered that

this approach is very

common with other sales

people in consultative

selling situations.

my thinking on this

is that the client has

engaged with us in the

process because we add value (specific environment

and product expertise) to the sales process and

therefore our recommendation to them, when it comes

to decision time is highly valued and influential.

research in retail selling has shown that customers

put off purchasing decisions when faced with the

uncertainty that choices present.

and i think the same factors makes customers more

comfortable to place orders when sales people

confidently direct them to do so. Of course this would

be a very silly approach if you hadn’t already worked

with them to analyse their requirements and evaluate

possible solutions.

research in retail selling has shown that customers put off purchasing decisions when faced with the uncertainty that choices present. and i think the same factors makes customers more comfortable to place orders when sales people confidently direct them to do so.

liam Venter is an auckland based sales trainer and author of The Consultative Sales Professional. Visit his website at www.salesfish.co.nz.

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 7

suCCessFul PeoPle aren’t aFraiD oF Failure

timely reminders For When things Don’t Work out //successful people know that nothing ever goes exactly

as planned.

and no matter how hard you work, sooner or later you

must face the reality that you failed. You tried to do

something and weren’t successful. You didn’t get the

result you wanted. You didn’t get the job you hoped for.

You didn’t get the raise you deserved. You didn’t close the

big order. Your largest account just walked out the door.

You struck out with the bases loaded. You missed the

winning shot at the buzzer. There was a fly in the ointment.

there was a glitch somewhere. You failed. so What!

You don’t close every sale. You don’t win every game. You

aren’t going to hit a home run every time you’re up to bat.

You don’t always get what you want. Failure is oK. it’s part

of life. it should be expected.

the bigger question is: What do you do next? What do you

do after you’ve failed?

as Frank sinatra sang: “You pick yourself up and get back

in the race. that’s life...”

You don’t feel sorry for yourself. You don’t mope around.

You pick yourself up and do it again and again and again

until you get it right!

Failure is as much a part of life as success. losing is as

much a part of life as winning. the most important thing to

think about is how you can ensure that you won’t fail in the

same way a second time.

rememBer: You just can’t fail the last time you try.

life is a series of trial-and-error experiences. We are

taught something by a teacher, and then we try to do it

ourselves. The first time we do it we probably don’t get the

results we want. so we try again, and again, and again.

With practice we get better.

By Jeff mayer

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 8

then we push ourselves as we try to do something that’s

a little bit more difficult. As we succeed, our expectations

increase, and so does the satisfaction that comes from

the feeling of a job well done. so we set our sights a

bit higher-to improve our results as compared to what

we’ve done before and in relation to the results of those

with whom we are competing-and we try again. We

continue to push ourselves to new heights.

When we succeed, we once again raise the bar. and

when we don’t, we go back to work to improve our

skills and talents, and try again. that is why i feel that

the subjects of success and failure are so intertwined:

because it is through failure that we grow and develop as

individuals. We learn through our failures. Failures show

us our flaws, our imperfections, the areas in which we

need improvement.

In order to achieve your goals, to fulfill your desires, to

make your dreams come true, you’re going to have to

work. it is hard work that makes you better at what you

do, and failing from time to time is just a part of life.

rememBer: if you’re not experiencing failure, you’re

not working hard enough.

// overcome the Fear of FailureFailure is trying to do something and not getting the

desired results. Fear of failure is something else. Fear

of failure causes paralysis. it’s unfortunate, but many

people go through life with a fear of failure. they’re so

afraid that they’re going to make a mistake, that they

won’t do something right, that it won’t be perfect, that

they don’t try to do anything at all.

so what happens? they become paralyzed and don’t do

anything. and with this paralysis they lose the ability to

have a rewarding, meaningful, and enjoyable life.

it’s just physically impossible for someone who has a

fear of failure to achieve anything, because that person

has never tried. she never gave herself the opportunity

to succeed.

it is in doing, trying, and experiencing things you never

did before that you grow and develop. through practice

you get better and better at the things you do.

// learn From Your FailuresWhen you experience failure, take some time to reflect

upon what happened. pull out a pad of paper and start

writing down the answers to these questions:

Why did this happen?

What could i have done differently?

how can i do it better next time?

What changes should i make in my strategies?

What can i do to improve my planning and preparation?

study these answers. analyse them. then go out and do

it better the next time.

one day when i was playing tennis my instructor and

i had a conversation about strategies. he said that if

you’re losing, change your game. and if that doesn’t

work, change your game again. You may still lose, but

lose as many different ways as you can.

// overcome the six symptoms of FearFear is being afraid. it is being anxious. it is feeling that

you are in danger. in life, fear can be real and it can be

imagined.

But fear is actually nothing more than a state of mind

that is subject to your control and direction. You can run

away, or you can face the thing that is causing you to

feel fearful. it is in facing the thing that is causing you to

feel afraid that you grow as a person.

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 9

these are the six sYmptoms oF Fear:

1inDiFFerence: You write things off because you

feel they aren’t important. they’re beneath you.

You don’t want to be bothered with them.

2inDecision: You can’t make up your mind. You

don’t know if you should or shouldn’t do some-

thing. or you can’t decide if you should do a

instead of B. so you do nothing!

3DouBt: You’re not certain as to what you

should do. You can’t make up your mind. You’re

apprehensive.

4WorrY: You feel anxious. You’re uneasy. You’re

not sure you made the right decision. You don’t

feel confident.

5over cautiousness: You’re excessively or

overly cautious. You check everything over and

over and over again. You want to make sure ev-

erything’s right.

6procrastination: You put things off till later.

You defer action. You wait so long to do some-

thing that the window of opportunity has opened

and closed.

Don’t allow these six symptoms of fear to keep you from

achieving your goals.

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nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 10

no Pain,no gain

a gen-Y salesman passes on lessons From an old BuggerBy alastair noble

everywhere you look lately it all seems to be about

the pain.

endless “doom and gloom about retail spending” pain,

“finance company” pain, “business confidence” pain.

to a young optimist like me, 2008 is characterised by

the transformation of “emo” from a condition afflicting

surly teenagers with bad taste in music, to a condition

for journalists and anyone with a soap box to stand on to

succumb to en masse.

to me this emotional obsession with economic pain

is talked about so much, it’s impossible for even the

deafest and most stubborn young salesperson to not be

lead up the garden path of doom and gloom.

i remember having a rather elderly sales manager in

one of my first sales jobs. He had some wisdom for

times like this.

“toughen up, yah blouse!” was murray’s favourite

phrase.

Whether we were complaining about sales, or stubbing

our toes, it was all the same to murray. the universal

antidote for the world’s woes as prescribed by murray…

“toughen up...!”

For all his gruffness murray was quite sage. like many

in his generation he didn’t say much but he was a deep

thinker. murray was to communication what a machete is

to a samurai sword - that is to say blunt and forceful but

very intimidating. When we were moaning about deals

going south and murray told us to “toughen up” what he

really meant was “smarten up”.

see, what murray was saying in his old fashioned blunt

Kiwi manner was, “look son, you have structured the

deal all wrong. You’re trying to sell them on price without

understanding the motivating factors on their behalf. like

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 10 nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 11

alastair noble started his sales career in retail before joining an international radio communications company as an account manager and progressing up to national operations

manager. he is now a consultant and operations manager at the rev sales network.

the inexperienced young muppet you are, you’ve ballsed

the whole thing up and need to be a lot smarter!”

it took a few years until i learnt the lesson myself, selling

wasn’t so much about price, or even features, it was all

about the benefits baby, and not just the ones connected

to the features!

It was about the financial cost of the problem my solution

was fixing. It was about the synergy created between

divisions by using my solutions, the indirect production

capacity gain from

overall efficiency,

the saving from

making two

positions redundant

and automating

the functions much

more reliably!

talking to a lot of

sales managers or

business owners,

this is a common

trait they see

lacking in their younger sales staff. many old pro’s see it

when they are being sold to by their suppliers who keep

turning the conversation to price, when what interests

them more is certainty of supply, or quality guarantees,

or supply scalability.

so here is a tip from murray about sales 101. listen and

question, qualify and quantify the size of the problem

you’re fixing, and figure out in dollar terms the value

you are adding. In times of economic difficulty try to

use your business acumen to fully quantify the value of

your solution and show your client the return on their

investment.

so there you go salespeople, young or old, let’s stop

moaning about the pain and toughen up, i mean

smarten up…!

so here is a tip from murray about sales 101. listen and question, qualify

and quantify the size of the problem you’re fixing, and figure out in dollar

terms the value you are adding.

nZsm / oct 29th 2008 / 12

Fri 28 novthu 27 novWeD 26 novtue 25 nov

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thu 6 novWeD 5 novtue 4 novmon 3 nov

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sat 15 novFri 14 novthu 13 nov

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sun 30 nov

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nZsmcalenDar

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“ “i hated every minute of training, but i said, Don’t quit. suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.

Muhammad AlI