Neuro-sell: June 2014

Monday, 9 June 2014

Do Salespeople Make Good Negotiators?

Do you think that your sales team you are as effective at negotiating as the procurement professionals they are facing across the buying table?

I’ve got some bad news for you. In the course of my work as a consultant and corporate trainer in the areas of sales and negotiation I have spent increasing amounts of time working the “other side” of the buying table. Over the last few years I have trained both sales professionals and procurement professionals in approximately equal numbers to negotiate.

And I have come to a disturbing conclusion - in the majority of cases salespeople just aren’t as good at negotiating as they need to be. As this concerning reality became increasingly apparent I spent much time and thought working out why this is the case and what can be done about it. My conclusions are as follows:

At an early stage in their career sales people are usually told to “keep the customer happy”. They have been taught that happy customers are good customers and go out of their way to placate unhappy customers. Professional buyers know this and will deliberately make salespeople uncomfortable by appearing to be “unhappy” as a way of tipping the power balance in their favour.

In addition selling and negotiating are two distinct skill sets. Although selling and negotiating are inextricably linked there are distinct differences:

In selling we are attempting to persuade, convince, enthuse, justify and explain.

By contrast in negotiation we are stating our position, considering, making and weighing proposals and making demands for what we want.

In the majority of cases sales people are far less comfortable with negotiating than buyers are. If salespeople receive sales training the majority of the time will be spent on the process of selling and very much less time (if any at all) will be spent on the process of negotiating. Buyers on the other hand will usually only receive training in negotiation. Therefore when it comes to the negotiation stage of the sales process - buyers have the advantage.

Buyers will attempt to short cut the sales stage and pull the salesperson out of their selling comfort zone and into their negotiating discomfort zone. The experienced buyer will increase the levels of discomfort as much as possible using psychological ploys and tactics. The uncomfortable salesperson will often pay their way out of discomfort in the form of (at best) some form of financial concession or (at worst) a non-reciprocated “give away”. They will literally pay their way out of discomfort with their employer’s profit margin. For salespeople to become more effective negotiators they need to recognise this and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Having spent countless hours running realistic negotiation training simulations, I have often seen the salesperson’s selling comfort zone once again rearing its ugly head in terms of negotiation behaviour. Salespeople will tend to do far too much information giving in the negotiation– driven by their predilection for persuading and selling. In doing so, they miss out on gathering the necessary information that would enable them to make effective negotiation proposals. They spend far too much time “in their own head” thinking about things from their perspective and not enough time where their focus should be – inside the buyer’s head, understanding things from their perspective. Professional buyers will tend to exhibit higher levels of information gathering, giving them far more knowledge and information that they can the use to their advantage. In negotiation knowledge is power.

If this situation continues sales professionals are going to continue to be taken advantage of by the procurement professionals they encounter. The sales profession must put more far more emphasis than it currently does on equipping sales people to be more confident and capable negotiators.

Good luck and good negotiating!

Simon Hazeldine

Simon Hazeldine MSc FinstSMM is an international speaker and consultant in the areas of sales, negotiation, performance leadership and applied neuroscience.

He is the bestselling author of five business books:

· Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success

· Bare Knuckle Selling

· Bare Knuckle Negotiating

· Bare Knuckle Customer Service

· The Inner Winner

To learn more about Simon's keynote speeches and other services please visit:

www.simonhazeldine.com

To subscribe to Simon's hard hitting "Selling and Negotiating Power Tips newsletter please visit:
www.SellingAndNegotiatingPowerTips.com

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www.neuro-sell.com

Saturday, 7 June 2014

How Thinking Like a Buyer Will Help You To Sell More Successfully

There is a process involved in selling successfully. Indeed selling is a process. Some companies have a structured sales process that their sales leadership encourage and train their salespeople to use – far too many do not.

In this case their salespeople do the best that they can and to some degree they “make it up as they go along”. They will have some approach that they follow, but it is likely to be largely unconscious and based upon historical trial and error. Although there will be successful salespeople within companies that have not adopted a structured sales process, their success will be more as a result of accident rather than design. In general, an under performing sales force is usually the result, with all categories of salespeople from under performers to those at the top of the sales league table never fulfilling their true sales potential.

The degree of success that salespeople experience is often directly related to their ability to follow a tried and tested and proven sales process. When a proven sales process is followed correctly the result is increased sales.

Even with companies who do have a structured sales process very few consider the customer’s buying process and how to align their sales process to it.

If we pause for a moment to consider then this becomes a concerning situation. The salespeople will be orientating their sales process (if indeed they have a conscious process) to their own aims and agenda. They will be largely viewing the sales process from their perspective. It is a sales process that they, in some way, take the customer through. The focus is largely on the result that the salesperson wants to achieve.

This is concerning because the customer is the most important person in the sales interaction. It is the customer who will make the final decision whether to buy from you or not, and they will only do so if they believe that the purchase will benefit them in achieving their aims and objectives. It would therefore make sense to consider things from their perspective, wouldn't it?

If you don’t do so already, I am going to invite you to consider the sales process in terms of the customer’s buying process. Let us assume the customer’s perspective, identify the process that they will be going through as they move towards a purchase decision and then align our selling process to match their buying process. In doing this we will be providing the customer with whatever it is they need to move through their buying process to a successful conclusion. When this is done well the successful conclusion will usually involve making the decision to purchase from you.

So they key question is - what does the customer’s buying process look like?

What follows is a typical buying process that your customer may follow:

Identify need / problem or become aware that a need / problem exists

Identify possible solution characteristics

Search for possible suppliers /solution

Request solution proposals from one or more suppliers

Analyse solution proposals

Evaluate solution proposals to determine preferred supplier

Negotiate terms with chosen supplier

Award contract

Integrate and induct supplier

Review supplier performance.

If the customer has an identified and structured buying process then they will usually share this with you if asked. Your task is then to align your sales process to the customer’s buying process. An awareness of their buying process allows you to get ahead of the game and be well prepared as each stage presents itself.

If, as is often the case, the customer does not have a formal or conscious buying process then it is important to elicit the process they will go through.

Asking questions to elicit their (largely) unconscious process will be useful.

Examples include:

“What process will you follow to make your decision?”

“How will you be making your decision about what is right for you?”

“How will you go about selecting the right solution / supplier?”

In helping the customer to get clarity about how they will make their purchasing decision will add value to the customer and help to position you as a credible, helpful and useful supplier.

Become involved in the buying process as early as possible. If you can get involved in the first stages of need / problem identification (or are the catalyst that causes the buying process to start in the first place) and identification of possible solution characteristics then you will be best placed to influence and shape their understanding of what they need.

Good luck and good selling!