Selling for Managers

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Selling for Managers

Written by Jacques Werth

I got a call from someone who wanted to learn High Probability Selling. "What do you sell?" I asked him.

He said, "I don’t sell anything. I’m the Engineering Manager."

"Why do you want to learn how to sell?" I asked.

"I’m the youngest manager in a huge division. All the other managers are at least ten years older than me. They don’t take me seriously and some even resent me. I can’t get my job done well without their cooperation. I read your book and I want to learn how to communicate the way top salespeople do."

During the HPS course, the "product" he was selling was the redesign of all division software using a modular structure, which enabled quick, inexpensive program changes and add-ons. That is what he designed his prospecting offers around and that is what he used in all of his role-plays.

After he completed the twelve week course, he used our prospecting to get cooperative, one-to-one meetings with each of the other managers. It took frequent contacts, each time with a different "prospecting offer" before he was able to meet with all of them. During those meetings, he used our sales process to learn what the conditions of satisfaction were for each manager, which had to be met in order to gain their full cooperation. He also did the part of the process that develops relationships of mutual trust and respect.

This approach was successful enough that he now has two job titles. He is still the division’s Engineering Manager, and he is also the Special Assistant to the division Vice President. He will become the division’s Deputy Vice President when his replacement is fully trained to take over his engineering manager job.

Selling is about effective communication, and so is management.

Jacques Werth
		About the author:
		Jacques Werth, MBA, is president of High Probability Selling, a sales consulting and sales training organization. The High Probability Selling Process can provide dramatic increases in sales productivity. Werth has observed hundreds of salespeople in many different industries while they interacted with prospects and customers. He learned what the top 1% of the world’s best salespeople do that the other 99% do not do, and this is what he teaches. For more information, see www.HighProbSell.com .