Part of the reason people panic is that selling seems like a mysterious process. We can solve that mystery. Selling is like any other journey: the territory you are covering may be new to you, but it has been travelled before, and there are certain steps you can take to clear the way.
Each step you take along the way matters. Let’s look more closely at the selling journey.
Building up
Selling a product or service is, in many ways, like a building project.
I have been involved in two major renovations for both a home and a commercial building. Here’s how the process unfolds:
1. You speak with an architect who presents you with some plans, drawings, or visual examples of what your home or building might look like.
2. Once you approve your plan, you seek a builder to do the construction.
3. If you want to approach the build with confidence, you’ll also want to be involved in the builder’s plans and timelines. Using excellent project management tools is key.
4. Still, even the best-laid plans sometimes change. You might go back and forth and change a few parts of the plan.
5. Even when you get started, you need to keep in mind the need to be flexible, adjust to shifting timelines, accommodate last-minute decisions, and possibly suffer some setbacks.
6. You need to be nimble, but it’s hard, because there is a lot at stake, financially and emotionally.
7. Soon enough though, you start to visualise the final product and then watch your home or building take shape. Finally, you see your completed project in front of your eyes. All of that planning has paid off.
Following a plan and actually building that home requires discipline and principles.
It’s the same with sales, which unfold in similar stages. With both types of projects, it is important to begin with the right mindset, so why don’t we do that when it comes to constructing a sale?
Why don’t we plan the process that will let us get a result we want? Most business owners jump in too quickly, assuming that their product is so magnificent that people should just buy it.
Or, they don’t bother to plan. Usually, salespeople do not follow any particular steps or process on the way to the sale of that product.
If you look at sales the way you look at building your home, though, you will see that there are certain processes you have to follow to get a good result. It does not have to be a complicated process, but you do need a plan.
Knowing a few simple steps in the journey to your sales is all that is required.
If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
Do you ever feel compelled to donate money to a charity because they have sent you a letter, accompanied by those return address envelopes, already printed with your name and address?
Or, have you been offered a gift, as a thank you, or for helping someone out?
Have you wandered down the street and been asked to donate to the Cancer Society, and in return you are given a pink ribbon?
If so, you understand the Hare Krishna Principle of Selling — a.k.a. the “something for nothing makes me want to listen to their sales pitch” theory.
A less expensive, but also effective, “gift” that you should consider giving your prospect is useful information.
You see this all the time, in this world of content and adding value.
Beneficial, little-known tips, specific to your prospect’s needs (e.g., “This weight loss programme for men over 65 that makes you feel 40 again…”).
Or interesting facts that make you look pretty cool to their family and friends. (e.g., “The press hasn’t yet got hold of this little-known fact about our new miracle cure…”).
The point I want to make here is that they feel like they’re getting something of some value from you — and they haven’t done anything to warrant it — there’s a chance they’ll feel obligated to buy from you.
One of the natural retail offers is a gift with purchase.
According to many insiders of the famous make up brand Estee Lauder, this offer contributes to up to 50% of their sales.
My question to you is “What can you do to help out your clients? What information can you share to help them add value to their clients?”
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
For the 30 years-plus that I have been selling, I have never once taken a salary.
In other words, if I did not sell, I did not survive, feed my family, or build my business.
I sold on results and commission, and I still do. However, that’s me.
I thought it might be useful to explore other ways to reward success.
Why you shouldn’t pay your salespeople commission
There are actually two other ways to reward success, and one to keep your clients loyal.
If you are thinking of a selling career, in my experience there are 3 sales types.
Commission Sales
Relationship Sales
Service Sales
Over the course of this article, I will go into the pros and cons of each.
Let me firstly set this straight; selling is a career, and there are many professionals (and businesses) that rely on selling to make a living.
It’s the greatest profession in the world and might be one of the oldest.
Nevertheless, millions of people struggle with it, and refuse to acknowledge that they are sales people. In fact, many quiver in their boots at the very mention of the word – selling.
Let’s dive into the difference between these three types.
Commission Selling What is commission selling? I define commission salespeople as those where all of their income is derived from commission. A share of a sale that has a percentage attached to it, which is paid to them once a sale is complete.
I’ll use my old company, NRS Media as an example. My staff were commission-based sellers who received a range of 10-15% of every sale we made.
In our case, we sold 12-month membership subscriptions to small business advertisers that used a radio, TV or newspaper to advertise their product.
As an example: For small media companies, we created an offer to advertisers with a sale price of $5,148 over a 12-month period. We got 10-15% gross for that sale.
$772.20 per year paid (monthly) based on 15%.
On average, we sold 100 of these annual memberships over a two-week period.
Doing the math at 15% x 100 memberships, that means we would sell 100 x $5148= $514,800 x 15% = $77,220.00.
We would charge the media company 1/12th of that each month.
The beauty of our business was that we had critical mass over time and relationships with hundreds of radio, TV and newspapers. It took time, but the rolling revenue was pretty good.
That was our model. The con of commission-only is that you have to take the risk upfront, with the rewards paid out based on your performance.
The next type of sales career is Relationship Selling.
This type of job, by my definition, sits alongside the commission sales role, but most have a base salary and a more modest commission structure, or some type of bonus plan.
The pro of this type of selling is that its suits salespeople that work with existing clients and need to build long-term relationships.
Relationship salespeople tend to focus on longer term sales cycles and usually are what we call soft-sellers, or soft-closers.
The challenge with these people is they are often happy with the base salary and therefore do not prospect or go that extra mile.
As a manager, there needs to be a firm expectation of building additional long-term relationships.
The final sales type is Service Sales.
I define a service sales person as one that usually relies more on selling to an existing client.
This is often from a service call or in a retail environment.
These people do not prospect, and generally, they tend to be uncomfortable with that type of approach. However, they are important in the sales environment.
Whatever career you decide to take in sales, it’s always good to get some help.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
In a sentence, you want a sales person that is independent of you, as opposed to dependent on you.
In this week’s blog we talk about the – People side of the Business.
You want people in your team that enjoy people, who remember and realise that those customers or clients pay you money for your product or service.
We would agree that the folk that have those skills tend to gravitate to being sales professionals.
In my experience, salespeople that are energised by meeting new clients, and establishing new friendships, tend to do better than others.
I think we know too, that these people enjoy this process of prospecting and meeting new people.
This, however, can trip some good salespeople up.
Don’t oversell
Genuine interest in other people is the key to building good long-term relationships. Asking lots of questions about this new person helps build trust, BUT don’t oversell.
There is nothing worse than meeting a salesperson and, within 2 minutes, they are trying to sell you something.
I have said this before; within 3-5 seconds, a potential person is asking “Do I trust this person, and can I work with them?”
How can you help your team be better at this?
Remind your team that if they have a natural interaction with people and find it easy, then it’s an opportunity to build rapport get to know the client.
Do a good job and these people become a great resource for referrals.
Teach them to be better at presenting your product or service. Build training and sales programme that bring the client into the conversation.
Sometimes we hear that salespeople are not good at listening. Training them in good listening skills helps. Get them to involve themselves in the community. Socially, they need to meet new people.
Warning – Why not me!
Sometime sales people who are very good at meeting people do not take rejection well. They often are so transparent that they think that everyone should like them and should buy from them.
You don’t have to be liked for a person to buy from you. It’s their needs that you have to focus on, NOT yours.
Next week, we look at the difference between commission sales people, and relationship/service salespeople.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
