173: The Easy Way Of Selling

<p>The object of a sale is to exchange a good or a service for money.  The degree to which that money can exceed the variable and fixed costs associated with delivering it, determines the success and longevity of the company.  We all know that nothing happens in business without a sale.  If that is the case then salespeople have a critical role to produce as much revenue as possible for the firm.  There are prices set for goods and services.  Goods are tangible items and plotting the costs and the margin of profit are relatively straight forward.  Buy low and sell high is an old business maxim.  Services are more difficult to price because they are intangibles.  In both cases, the value proposition of the price against what is being delivered, is the communication piece that salespeople have to master in order to be successful.</p> <p> </p> <p>Imagine my surprise, as an expert in sales training, when I meet salespeople who have not spent even one second trying to master the bridging of the gap between value and cost.  Sitting in the audience at a speaker event, next to a thirtyish Japanese sale’s guy, I was astounded by a few things he said as we discussed selling over lunch.  I was interested in hearing what his sales process was.  He didn’t really understand my question because he had no defined process.  He had been selling for this firm for seven years so he was an experienced salesperson.</p> <p> </p> <p>He contacts a lead, gets an appointment, shows up and explains the service and submits a quote, he told me.  Really?  On the blank side of meal menu, I mapped out the elements of the sales process for him.  Prepare for the meeting and focus your intention on one thing – getting the re-order, not just the solitary sale.  Build trust through establishing rapport.  Create interest by asking extremely well designed questions to understand the client’s needs.  Now tell the client whether we can help them or not and if we can, explain the how of our solution. There may be points of insufficient clarity, concerns,