Is Sales Simple

POST AN ARTICLE

Featured Sales Blogs

In Partnership Wth:

DiversityJobs.com

JustJobs.com

MAIN MENU

Is Sales Simple

Written by Tessa Stowe

Side Bar
American Idol Selling

I don’t know about your home, but my house is an American Idol home. I am not alone as American Idol is now the most valuable TV format in the world with an estimated value in excess of $2.5 billion. As we are in the midst of American Idol mania I was thinking about the lessons learned from seeing talented performers compete week after week. What makes an American Idol champion? What makes a winning American Idol performance? All things being equal how does one contestant rise above the others? Given that it isn’t always about the one who has the best voice – what makes an American Idol? The biggest reality of this reality show is the contestants need to sell themselves week after week to the American public. These 12 contestants (now down to 11) are therefore thrust into being top salespeople. The compensation plan is fierce, the payout is huge and the space in the President’s Club is limited.

Here are the characteristics that make up an American Idol:

The Right Place at the Right Time – a solid performer picking the wrong material is a sure fire way to get ridiculed by the judges and fall out of grace with America. Timing in sales is always important. Getting in front of the right decision maker with the right solution at the right time is more an art form than coincidence. You could be the best salesperson on your team but not returning a client call in time could be the difference between getting the deal and losing the deal. Knowing when your client is most open to your pitch is just as important as the pitch itself.

{sidebar id=1}You Gotta Have Heart – being emotional in what you sell is always important. People respond to those who really care about what they are selling. You have to always believe in what you are selling. If you don’t, then I suggest you sell something that you can get passionate about. Passion sells.

Honesty – a lot of the judges talk time on American Idol is telling contestants to be true to who they are. A country singer should sing country and a rock and roller should always rock and roll. Putting on a bandana and carrying a chain doesn’t make a person a rock and rollers and the customer is never fooled. Don’t try to convince the customer that your service or product does more than it really does. While you might get through the first few rounds, the likelihood is that you’ll soon get tossed.

Listen – nothing pains me more than watching these young performers acting smugly when getting advice from Simon Cowell. Simon, a seasoned recording professional is always trying to get the best out of the contestants. The show is his product and he strives for excellence. Those who listen to him almost always come back the following week to rave reviews. All they have to do is listen. Selling is just as much about listening to your customer as it is talking to them (maybe even more so). Hear the feedback from your customer. Why aren’t they as excited about your offering as you think they should be? How was your pitch?

Never Forget Your Lines – remembering the words to your song is selling 101 basics. Giving a presentation to a room full of people should be a conversation between you and your audience. Stopping the presentation to look up your notes ruins the flow of your presentation. Rehearse your presentation over and over again. Go over potential questions. Be prepared.

Nice Guys Don’t Always Finish Last – while American Idol is supposed to be a talent contest it is just as much a personality contest. An obnoxious, egotistical and arrogant performer no matter how good never makes it to the end. Simon is quick to point out who is nice – never as a matter-of-fact but always as an asset to any performer. People like to work with nice people. A sale is about forging a relationship between two parties. Choosing nice people to work with is the prerogative of the decision maker. When in doubt – be nice.

So, do you think you have what it takes to be an American Idol?

I'd like you to take a moment right now and, before you continue reading this article, decide whether you think selling is simple or complicated? Please now read on.

Before I start to specifically talk about selling, I'd like to first discuss 'complicated' versus 'simple'.

In the past we have been taught to respect and value the 'complicated.' Whole industries have cropped up to make complicated products, to convince us we need these complicated products and to then help us use these complicated products.

On the other hand, in the past we have not respected or valued the 'simple'. The simple is seen as common sense and by definition, since it's 'common' sense, its perceived value is diminished.

The absolute irony is that to make something complicated is simple and to make something simple is complicated! To make something simple requires a lot of effort and skill. To make something simple often requires a lot more time and expense than to make it complicated.

Recently people have started to demand the simple in their lives and are seeing the value in simple. Simplicity now sells and people are even starting to pay more money for the simple.

Now let's come back to selling and whether it is complicated or simple.

I think that not only have we been convinced that selling is complicated but we also use the perspective that selling is complicated as an excuse. Let me explain further.

We have been told that selling is complicated. We have been convinced that:

* As the products we are selling get more and more complicated, the selling of these complicated products must by definition get more complicated as well.

* As the number of people involved in making a single purchasing decision increases, the more complicated the selling becomes.

Since we've been convinced that selling is complicated, we believe we need complicated sales processes and sales tools in order to sell. As a result, lots of companies have appeared over the years to offer us complicated sales training and complicated sales tools that we believe we need because we believe selling is complicated. These companies make a lot of money from our beliefs and their very existence relies on us continuing to hold the belief that selling is complicated.

Complexity provides us with many additional sources of excuses and gives us the ability to cover up our failures. If you are selling complicated products, you can use the excuse that a prospect failed to see the value because the products are so complicated. If it is taking a long time for your prospect to make a decision, you can make the excuse that selling is complicated as there are lots of people involved. You could go on and on making excuses because selling is complicated.

I would like to propose that selling is not in fact complicated; it is in fact quite simple.

Even if the product you are selling is complicated, so what? You are not selling a complicated product; you are selling a solution to a problem. Your selling strategy and focus is around the solution to your prospect's problem and not around your complicated product. Whether your product is complicated or simple should not be relevant to the sales conversation.

{sidebar id=1 align=left} Also, even if the number of people involved in the buying decision grows, you will still be having sales conversations with individuals. The only difference when many people are involved is that you will be having sales conversations with multiple people. These sales conversations will be identical with respect to the process and principles. What you do with the information gathered from these sales conversations is identical no matter how many people are involved in the buying process.

If you are willing to take on the belief that selling is simple and you are prepared to give up the excuses you can use if you believe selling is complicated, then what is your next step?

With respect to what's next, I recommend that you look at the sales process you are using and if it is complicated, replace it with a simple sales process.

Commit to finding and learning a simple, end-to-end, sales process that focuses on selling solutions to problems (as opposed to selling products) and which works whether one person or many people are involved in the buying decision. If you do, you will naturally be a lot more successful at selling and you will enjoy it a lot more too.

Selling really is simple. Simple sells. Try it and see.

Tessa Stowe
		About the author:
		Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople how to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. For her free list of the 'Top 10 Sales Mistakes - and How to Avoid Them' .