Attempt to purchase a horse barn
offers lessons in good sales techniques
MARCIA GAUGER
For SBT
Question: I’m new to sales and would like to know what to do and what not to do if I am going to be successful. What suggestions do you have?
Answer: There are many foundational competencies that are required to be successful in sales. These competencies focus primarily on skills and knowledge concepts such as reading your customer, handling objections, utilizing questions appropriately, consultative selling techniques, building rapport and relationships, and so forth. If you are unsure of your abilities in those areas, I recommend that you complete a skills and knowledge assessment to reveal areas that you should concentrate on.
Beyond competencies are actions. There are some salespeople who know a lot about selling but still do stupid things when face to face with customers. A terrific learning experience for salespeople is to observe what others do well and what mistakes they make. Use that information to be conscious of your own strengths and weaknesses.
To help illustrate this, let me share a recent buying experience with you. After two years of dragging my feet, I finally agreed to buy my daughter a horse. Now I’m in the market to build a barn. I started out thinking, “This should be easy, I just need a barn. I’ll meet with some builders who have designs to choose from.” After initial conversations with builders, I realized there were more considerations than I had hoped for.
That process also affirmed the differing strengths and weaknesses of salespeople. The eight salespeople that I met with were far from perfect (or else I wouldn’t have met with that many). If I could roll them into one person, they’d be closer to perfect. Here’s examples of good and bad sales practices based on my encounters with those eight salespersons:
Step One – The Initial Contact – I phoned several pole-barn manufacturers hoping to find one that would understand my needs and make the process easy.
Good: Took time to ask me about my needs on the phone. Asked good questions about my lifestyle and plans. Then, gave me an idea of what to expect. Set up a follow-up meeting.
Bad: Contacted the manufacturer from an ad. They were unable to give me the phone number for a local distributor. Sent information with the name of a distributor who in turn referred me to yet another. By the time I was done, the markup dollars were ringing in my head. I didn’t bother to call either of them.
Bad: They contacted my husband to set an appointment even though I had made the inquiry.
Lessons:
Step Two: The Meeting – After my initial contacts, I faxed designs of what I was interested in and asked each contact to come prepared with thoughts on what would work.
Good: Recapped what I said I needed. Asked thought-provoking questions to encourage me to consider other options. Gave me a couple of choices at a time.
Good: Set up a follow-up meeting to deliver a proposal. Showed that he was reliable by sticking to it.
Good: Checked the pulse by asking, “It looks like this project will run you about $X. Is that in line with what you are thinking?” That gave me an opportunity to react, therefore enabling the salesperson to offer alternatives.
Bad: Came unprepared. Acted as if we never talked. Stumbled through paperwork. Wasted my time.
Bad: Arrived a half-hour late and proceeded to tell me how wonderful his life is and how much he enjoys his job. Told me way too much about the technical aspects of his product line. Wasted my time.
Lessons
Step Three – The Proposal
Good: Delivered the proposal at the previously agreed-upon time. Came prepared with a plan, but remained flexible.
Bad: Delivered something other than what we had talked about. I got the impression that he didn’t listen to me. Was nervous and anxious to leave.
Bad: Did not deliver at all. Three of the eight that I met with have not followed up at all, even though they promised a proposal within a week.
Bad: Covered the price on the proposal page with his finger so I couldn’t see it as we were talking. What was he unsure of? My thought was that it must be too high.
Bad: Called and left the quote on my voice mail. No follow-up.
Bad: Met at their location, expecting to give them my business. Their buildings were not well maintained. The partner was not able to meet with me as planned. Left scratching my head.
Lessons:
Step Four – Follow-Up
Sad to say, there has been little follow-up over the last three weeks. The only follow-up I received was an e-mail from one of the salespersons apologizing because he realized his pants fly was down when he met with me. I didn’t notice, and even if I had, I would have assumed it was unintentional!
Lesson:
Marcia Gauger is the president of Impact Sales, a performance improvement and training company with offices in Wisconsin, Florida and Arkansas. You can contact her at 262-642-9610 or marciag@makinganimpact.com. Her column appears in every other issue of SBT.
Dec. 7, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
