Hardwood Flooring February March 2018

SALES SAVVY BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES

IS YOUR SALES APPROACH BUILT ON PRINCIPLES OR TECHNIQUES?

“It is principles, and everlastingly principles, not data, not facts, not helpful hints, but principles which the rising generation requires if it is to find its way through the mazes of tomorrow.” - Robert Hutchins, President of Yale University

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Salespeople must focus on making a difference, not just a deal. It’s not just about making sales. It’s about solving problems and serving people. Value-added salespeople help customers make better decisions. Value-added salespeople are not measured just by their ability to hit a sales quota; they are measured by the difference they make. Buyers, not sellers, define value. For buyers, it’s value received, not value added. The customer’s definition of value is the only one that matters. It’s not value until the customer says that it is value. Each customer defines value in a unique way. For some customers, it’s quality. For other customers, it’s peace-of-mind or performance. And some customers define value through cheap prices. Customers prefer to buy what they need from salespeople who know what they want. Salespeople must be sensitive to the rational needs and personal wants. Rational needs are those things that buyers need in a solution. Rational needs include quality products and service, performance, on-time delivery, durability. These are the things buyers have to have in your solution. Personal wants are the things buyers would like to have in your solution. Personal wants include peace-of- mind, recognition, power, image, security. Buyers might need a durable, quality floor, but they want their friends and family to be impressed. People are more price-sensitive about the things they need versus the things they want. Perceived value raises expectations. Performance value affects satisfaction. Perceived value is sensory. It’s the look and feel of things. It’s your company’s reputation. Perceived value is the promise you make to the buyer. Performance value is delivering on that promise. Performance value is more quantitative and concrete. Some salespeople believe you should “under-promise and over-deliver.” Buyers don’t get excited about under-promising. Imagine trying to sell a buyer by saying, “When you compare our solution to all the other alternatives, we are by far the most mediocre of them all.” Average is not exciting. Make big promises and then deliver. There’s no commodity in creativity. There’s no traffic jam on the extra mile. Your worth as a salesperson is measured by the value you create. Every salesperson has the unique opportunity to create value. Customers tell us that the salesperson brings 25 percent of the total value

Great thinkers have staying power. Their ideas endure. Two great management thinkers from the twentieth century, W. Edwards Deming and Peter Drucker, worked into their 80s and 90s.Their ideas are still relevant today.This is the test for ideas.They stick. Deming’s and Drucker’s ideas persist because they are truths, not merely techniques. Techniques change with technology, but truths remain constant. Salespeople often ask us how sales have changed over the years. Change is inevitable. Although technological differences have changed the way we tactically compete, the underlying principles of value-added selling remain the same. Value-added selling is built on principles – the kind of which Hutchins spoke. Value-added selling is rich in techniques. Yet, techniques yield to the underlying truths of value-added selling. Underlying truths become principles.These six principles are foundational to value- added selling.

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