Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Continuing our discussion around sales core competencies, something has come to my mind that just has to be asked and that is this:  How do you spend your time now when it comes to professional development?  Aside from any company sponsored development program you might attend, what else do you do and what do you focus on?  Certainly, continuing to learn the technicalities of your business is critical, but in all the years I've been working with sales people, no one has ever told me they lost the deal because they where technically unprepared. The reason people lose business typically is due to lack of sales ‘know how', or lack of preparation for the sales aspect of the meeting.  E.g failing to help the prospect overcome objections, inability to overcome price issues, failure to undo the current relationship and the inability to get someone to act.  These are the symptoms dealing with the core competencies  where you should address your attention to when working on ‘fixing' the choke points in your sales system.

Next 7 core competencies:

1. No need for approval - People, by their very nature or nurture, have a need for approval. It's part of the DNA or part of what they've been taught. This need for approval has an impact on how we conduct our business. If we would rather be liked (don't want to upset the prospect, don't want to make them mad, don't want to come across as aggressive, fear of saying the wrong thing) then we won't have the fierce conversations that Susan Scott talks about in her book Fierce conversations. We won't challenge people and their closely held beliefs and, certainly when someone tells us they want to think about it, we will let them. Of all the core competencies that can impact your success in effectively closing business, this, along with buy cycle, is the most important one to address.
2. Recovers from rejection - It isn't about fear of rejection, most of us have some level of that in all situations. The issue is what happens next? How long does it take you to recover? If you hear no at 10:00 AM and you are still whining about it at 2:00 PM then you have a problem that WILL impact your ability to perform with great posture and high esteem.
3. Comfortable talking about money - As bizarre as this may sound for sales people, sales people are collectively guilty of not talking about money at the appropriate time, and usually have a tough time sticking to suggested pricing (that's another issue). The symptom of the money issue is when a sales person hears money objections during the presentation. This is a clear indication that a sales person either has learned, incorrectly, that getting budget issues out of the way is not important in their sales process, or they are uncomfortable talking about it. If you have money objections or ‘think it overs' about money at time of presentation, you need to address this core competency.
4. Supportive buy cycle - We all have a ‘buying cycle' and this cycle is either supportive of EFFECTIVE selling or inhibiting to hit. Let me make this as simple as I can. If you like to think things over, you will be vulnerable to letting prospects do the same thing. Thinking it over is not part of an ‘effective selling' strategy. Yes, you might eventually get the business; but we want to focus on effective selling. If you allow think it overs, shopping, and looking for low price, you must identify if you, in fact, do the same things when you buy.
5. Consistent, effective prospecting - In Dave Kurlan's book "Baseline Selling' this is what has to happen to get to first base. More importantly, it is the consistent nature of your prospecting that is more important than the effective. If you prospect consistently enough, you will get suspects to turn into prospects. Only once you begin to prospect consistently does it make sense for us to talk about becoming more effective. If your pipeline has opportunities that seem to be stuck, it is probably a result of inconsistent prospecting, as much as a problem of qualifying.
6. Reaches decision makers - Your ability to get to decisions at the beginning of the sales process is critical in your ability to quickly qualify and close more business, more quickly at higher margins. If you don't get to decision makers, then you are setting yourself up for long sales cycles, lower closing ratios, and endless time spent on prospecting contacts that cannot tell you YES.
7. Effective questioning and listening - If there is one ‘skill' that is critical to effective selling it is effective questioning and listening. This is where it all begins as you deliver your positioning statement on the phone, and continues as you conduct your initial appointment with a new suspect. Here is a key to becoming more effective at the questioning part of this core competency: Pre-plan your meeting and write down the specific questions you will ask to qualify the prospect. The key to listening - stop thinking, stop writing notes immediately when the suspect is talking. Listen to understand. Digest the information. Ask permission to write the IMPORTANT information down.

So there you have the next 7 of 21 core competencies.  If you would like some information about some of these core competencies call our office, mention this blog post and ask for an account to listen to some of our self - directed library modules. (513 791 3458)