I am sure we agree that teachers must be good communicators. No one wants his or her child to be taught by a poor communicator. If that happens, the chances are pretty good that the one being taught won’t learn much and will probably fail.

In the selling world, failure means loss of income and possibly loss of employment. So, let’s review some thoughts on selling communication. Someone once said that one definition of ignorance is “contempt prior to investigation.” The word contempt could be changed to “objecting” in the sales field. How many times has a prospect given you an objection before you have finished your presentation? I don’t think they are ignorant, it is just that we have not enlightened them on our fantastic product or service. That is where teaching comes in.

Teachers in school work out of a textbook and follow a curriculum. Most — if not all — of their presentations are carefully preplanned. As a seller, how well-planned is your presentation?

We are teaching during a sales presentation and we are also being taught. When being taught, in order to pass the test, there are a few rules: careful listening, taking notes, asking questions, and not interrupting or arguing with the teacher (your prospect). You need to learn about your prospect’s needs and concerns and figure out a way to solve them.

When making a sales presentation, there should be very little “casual conversation.” There may be a brief discussion about the weather or some other story of general interest, but from there on, from the seller’s side, it should be “engineered communication.” That means preplanned and it usually starts by asking questions.

My late and great partner, Oscar Koepell, and I had many conversations about “engineered communication.” Your engineered communication should sound like casual conversation. Space your questions so your listener doesn’t feel as though they are being interrogated. If this is your first call or an early call on the prospect, you need to find out about their needs and how your products may solve those needs. A few preplanned, open-ended questions should be used, such as: Who does the cleaning in your facility? How many people do you have on your cleaning staff? Part-time? Full-time? Structured questions works best.

Let’s say, for this scenario, you have just taken on a new line of equipment and you feel that one particular unit would be of value to your customer. You should engineer a list of questions that will determine, 1. If your customer has a need for this new equipment, and 2. Can they put your equipment to work with the current personnel? Finally, 3. Can they see the value and therefore spend the money to buy your new fantastic piece of equipment?

One sales blunder starts when you go into the account with all guns blazing, firing features galore out of both barrels. You get shot down because of any number of issues that you have not learned or been taught about. When teaching, a teacher starts out at a low level, such as two plus two equals four, before going on to higher mathematics. The same goes for a seller. Start with low structured questions and work up to the higher structured questions. In the above equipment example, a good low structured question might be: How do you clean your restroom floors? Then: Who cleans your restroom floors? How often do you clean your restroom floors? And so on.

What you are trying to do is build a case for your high-structured questions that allow you to offer your new machine for scrubbing floors instead of mopping them. I suggest you sit down and make a list of questions for any product or system you are selling. You name it, then start your plan.

To share your selling ideas, fax: (414) 228-1134, contact Mr. Dixon at (877) 379-3566 or e-mail.




POSTED ON: 12/1/2003