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:

1. Identify need / problem or become aware that a need / problem exists
2. Identify possible solution characteristics
3. Search for possible suppliers /solution
4. Request solution proposals from one or more suppliers
5. Analyse solution proposals
6. Evaluate solution proposals to determine preferred supplier
7. Negotiate terms with chosen supplier
8. Award contract
9. Integrate and induct supplier
10. 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!

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:
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www.neuro-sell.com

Are You Failing to Persuade People Successfully Because of Your ‘One Size Fits All’ Approach?

In the past, salespeople were often trained to follow a very standard “one size fits all” sales presentation or sales script.  The idea being that the standard presentation or script contained tried and tested selling techniques that would persuade the prospective customer to say ‘yes’.

This approach was symptomatic of the more traditional, transactional “push” style of selling that was prevalent in the past.  It is sometimes referred to as “spray and pray” or “show up and throw up”.  That is you deliver your standard sales message to every prospective customer and hope that sometimes it will get you a positive result.

As the world of selling evolved, perhaps in response to customers becoming more educated and resistant to the standard and all too common “push” approach, a shift towards a more consultative and tailored approach to sales became more common.

The salesperson spent more time understanding the customer’s context, circumstances and challenges so that a more customised solution could be devised that would more accurately reflect the customer’s unique needs.  This is sometimes referred to a “pull” approach, as the information the salesperson requires and, to varying degrees, the structure of the solution is “pulled” or elicited from the customer.

More and more salespeople began to be trained in consultative selling techniques and on the whole these have proved to be more effective than the traditional “push” approach.  In addition, more and more customers have experienced the consultative approach and have come to expect it and prefer it.

Criticism has sometimes been levelled at the more consultative approach that it is a lengthier and more time consuming approach.  Salespeople using a consultative approach have been criticised for being too customer-orientated and lacking the ability to challenge their customers and drive the sale to a conclusion.

So it would appear that broadly speaking we have two approaches to selling.  In my opinion debating the validity of the two approaches is short sighted.  What we appear to have is a continuum of selling styles and approaches ranging from at one extreme, a “push” or “hardball” approach and at the other extreme a highly consultative “pull” approach.

To debate the superiority of these two extremes adopting an either / or approach is to my mind a very narrow and unproductive exercise. 

What will be more productive and useful is to explore an approach to selling that is practical, flexible in approach (avoiding either a one size fits all or either / or approach and indeed incorporating the best of each approach as required), and most importantly is proven to improve sales performance.  Allow me to introduce you to – adaptive selling!

When using adaptive selling, the salesperson flexes, alters and varies their selling approach depending upon:

1.     The nature of the selling situation

2.     The stage of the buying process that the customer is currently in

3.     The specific interests and needs that the customer has in relation to the product / service in question

4.     The personality and buying style of the customer. The adaptive salesperson will tailor their questioning, probing, sales presentation and closing methodology based on the customer’s behavioural preference.  They will also respond to feedback (both verbal and non-verbal) that they receive from the individual and adapt accordingly.

Adaptive selling is a practical and powerful approach to selling.   Indeed research has demonstrated that the practice of adaptive selling is welcomed by salespeople and research has been shown that it increases their sales performance.

So are you adopting a “one size fits all” approach to your selling or are you adapting your approach according to the four areas outlined above?

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

To subscribe to Simon's "Neuro-Sell" newsletter please visit:
www.neuro-sell.com

How To Sell Effectively in the New Commercial Reality

We have discovered more about how the human brain works in the last five to ten years than in the whole of human history.  For example, we now understand more about how it functions when it makes decision, including decisions to buy or not to buy from salespeople.

How the human brain works is of great importance to salespeople. Due to advances in neuroscience we can now look into the human brain and discover what it likes and dislikes.  We can understand why it rejects certain things, such as some salespeople and some sales proposals!

However, a considerable number of selling techniques and selling systems that are used today are based largely upon a book that was published in 1922.  A very progressive gentleman called Edward K Strong wrote “The Psychology of Selling” and introduced salespeople to concepts such as open and closed questions, features and benefits, overcoming objections and closing techniques.

He was without doubt a man ahead of his time, and his work was so influential that its key principles survive to this day and indeed form the core content of most company’s sales training programmes.

As useful as Edward K Strong’s principles are, it is important to consider that the commercial world that existed in 1922 was very different to the world of 2014.  In the 92 years that has passed since the publication of Strong’s book huge advances in technology and society have taken place. These powerful changes have disrupted and changed the commercial reality that salespeople face almost beyond recognition.

In the new commercial reality customers are better informed and educated than ever before, they conduct on-line research to gain an advantage over salespeople, and profit margins are under pressure as they continually demand more for less. The relentless process of increasing competition and creative destruction accelerates on a daily basis, creating a highly competitive and cut-throat commercial environment that would have been unthinkable back in 1922!

In order to survive your business has upgraded its technology, its systems, its processes, and its business model.  However the vital question is: Have you upgraded your sales technology, systems and processes? Has your sales approach kept pace with the new reality, or are you in danger of being left behind?

The future of your sales success will increasingly lie in your ability to understand and connect with the brain that resides in the head of your customer.

Cutting edge neuroscience research, if understood and applied, will give you an unfair advantage that your competitors will hate. For example, neuroscience now shows us that only 5% of human decision-making (including the decision to buy from you) occurs in the conscious / rational area of the human brain known as the cortex. A massive 95% of decision-making occurs in the more primitive and largely unconscious regions – namely the reptilian complex and the limbic system.  I refer to this area of the brain as “the missing 95%”.

Although human beings have evolved our brains have not changed significantly in 100,000 years, leaving us with a largely primitive brain that has to operate in the new reality of our modern world. Due to our evolutionary history the more primitive areas of our brain exert more control and influence over the rational part of our brain than the other way around, allowing primitive unconscious mental processes and emotional arousal to heavily influence decision making and, at times, to dominate it.

The modern salesperson needs to understand how to connect with “the missing 95%”of their customer’s brain and help it to feel comfortable with them so that it is receptive to their sales messages.  Irritate or threaten it and the message receptors in the brain begin to shut down with the result that you and your sales pitch are rejected.  To succeed in the new reality salespeople need to master the art of “brain friendly selling”.

For example, you need to understand that hard-wired into the brain are the two most powerful motivating human drives - the instinctive desire to “stay away” from discomfort and to move “towards reward”. Stay away from problems / discomfort and move towards comfort / pleasure is the fundamental operating system of the human brain. These powerful forces are the triggers that cause your customers to buy.

To succeed in the new reality you need to be able to build these powerful motivating drives into your sales process, and motivate the customer to take action by showing how your product or service moves the customer away from the problems they are experiencing and towards the more comfortable future they desire.

If you can do this then you will succeed in the new reality. If you don’t then you are in danger of being left behind by competitors who have upgraded their sales approach to meet the increasing demands of the new reality.  If you harness the very latest powerful discoveries from neuroscience and incorporate these into your sales training, sales process and sales methodology your customers will become increasingly comfortable with you and will buy from you time and time again.

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

Are You Providing Enough Contrast?

In our modern, busy world the brains of people that you want to persuade and influence are being bombarded with sales and marketing messages every hour of every day. For your sales message to get through this cacophony you must provide their brains with a clear contrast.

Your customer’s and potential customer's brains (including the all important more primitive reptilian and emotional brains) responds positively to clear contrast.  To help it make the right decision to buy what you have to offer you must provide it with a very clear contrast.

For example:

Provide a very clear contrast between what the customer’s current situation is now and how much better the situation will be once they have chosen to purchase your product or solution.   Show them how their future (if they make the right decision to buy from you) will be an improvement on their present circumstances.

Your contrast needs to provide a   summary of their current state or situation, the problems they are experiencing and the costs / impact associated with these problems.  This provides the "Stay Away From Pain" motivation for their brain to want to move away from. This "Stay Away" response is hard-wired into our brains and is a powerful motivating force.

Then provide them with summary of their desired future state situation that shows the rewards and benefits that they will experience once their problems have been solved by the purchase and implementation of your product or service.  This provides the "Toward Reward" motivation (which is also hard-wired into the brain) for their brain to want to move towards.

Then show your product, service or proposal as the enabler that allows them to move between these two contrasting situations - from where they are now to where they want to be.

A further point of contrast that is important for you to consider is to demonstrate how you differ from and are superior to your competitors.  A good way to find out is to ask your existing customers why they buy from you and the advantages they perceive you to have.  What you may think differentiates you might be different to what your customers think!

If you ask your key customers your points of difference then you will rapidly develop clarity about what they are as common themes will occur.  You can then incorporate these into your sales pitch.   Your message needs to clearly differentiate you from your competitors and provide a strong point of contrast.  

Provide the brain with the contrast it needs to make a good decision - the decision to say "yes" to you.

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

Are The Two Most Powerful Motivations To Take Action Missing From Your Sales Presentation?

Neuroscience research shows us that a fundamental organising and operating principle of the human brain that drives your customer’s thinking, behaviour and action is to avoid and move away from anything that is perceived to be painful, dangerous or threatening, and to move towards anything that is pleasurable, comforting or rewarding.

At its core this is a hardwired survival instinct of the human brain.  It has played a vital role in our evolution and although it may not always be as practically useful in our safe, modern world (our brains have not changed significantly in 100,000 years) at an unconscious level it is still driving our behaviour and that of our customers.  

 “Everything you do in life is based on your brains determination to
minimise danger or maximise reward.  Minimise danger, maximise
reward is the organising principle of the brain.”
Dr Evian Gordon
Author of “Integrative Neuroscience”

Although the “stay away” and the “towards reward” drives are active all the time in the human brain, it is the away from drive that is stronger and faster.  If we consider the almost constant dangers our primitive ancestors experienced it makes evolutionary sense to prioritise keeping us safe.

This perhaps explains the fact that metaphorically speaking people will be prepared to pay more for help to climb out of a hole than to stop themselves falling into the hole in the first place!

At a conscious and particularly unconscious level (about 95% of all cognitive activity occurs below conscious awareness in the more primitive parts of the brain) your customer’s brain will be constantly asking “stay away” from pain and “towards reward” questions such as:

Does this ease my pain / solve my problems / ease my frustrations / reduce my stress / keep my job safe / get my boss off my back / stop me getting sacked / stop me looking stupid, incompetent, incapable?

Does this bring me pleasure / make me look good / get me approval / get me some more time / make me more money / help me to achieve results / make a wise decision / be positively recognised / achieve my targets / get my bonus / get me promoted?

When you are asking questions of your customers in order to understand their needs, make sure that you uncover the problems and pain they are experiencing.  If you can show their brains how to move away from these to something more rewarding then they will be interested.

Take a close look at your sales proposals and presentations.  Do they incorporate and harness these powerful motivating forces?  Do you clearly show your customer’s brain how it can “stay away” from pain and move “towards reward”? 

Help your customer to understand the costs and impact associated with the current problems or challenges they are experiencing. Help them to realise what this is costing them.  The more “stay away” motivation you can stimulate the less likely they are to do nothing.

If you are selling business to business three types of "pain" that you can stimulate are financial (money wasted, lost or not gained etc), emotional (stress, frustration, low morale etc) and strategic (things that are preventing the customer from getting to where they want to get to with their business.

Then show them the rewards and benefits of a desirable future state that they will experience once their problems have been solved by the purchase of your product and service.  Provide the “towards reward” motivation for your customer’s brain to move towards.

When you have these two motivating forces activated position your product or service as the vehicle that will take them from where they are now to where they want to be.  You can position yourself as the enabler that helps them to achieve their desired goals.

When you do this your customer’s brain is going to say “yes” to your proposal.

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

Why Salespeople Get Rejected

The reason that so many sales people get rejected by their prospective customer is to do with their lack of understanding about how the human brain functions.

According to neuroscience research, we are aware of only about 5 percent of our mental processes, so the vast majority of our decisions, actions, feelings and behaviour are dependent on the 95 percent of brain activity that is beyond our conscious awareness.

“At least 95 percent of all cognition occurs below awareness in the shadows of the mind while, at most, only 5 percent occurs in high-order consciousness.”
Gerald Zaltman
Author of “How Customers Think”

This unconscious processing influences feelings, decision-making, behaviour and actions. Indeed the vast majority of thoughts and feelings that influence your customer’s behaviour and decisions about whether to purchase your product or service occur in the unconscious mind.

“Most of what we do very minute of every day is unconscious”

Paul Whelan

Neuroscientist University of Wisconsin

 Although the human species has evolved, the brain has not changed significantly in over 100,000 years and the largely unconscious and more primitive parts of the brain (known as the reptilian and limbic systems) continue to exert a powerful and largely unconscious influence upon us.   And it is this unconscious influence that can lead to salespeople getting rejected.

When the human brain meets a stranger for the first time, such as meeting a salesperson, the primitive parts of it conduct a threat response and decide if the stranger is friend or foe. If the primitive parts of the brain feel uncomfortable or threatened by the salesperson then the automatic fight/flight/freeze response is triggered.  This can happen in a fraction of a second and part of this process includes the shutting out of some message receptors in the brain to shut down, effectively rejecting the salesperson and their potential sales approach.

Salespeople are largely ignorant of the influence the primitive, instinctive and unconscious areas of the brain have on people’s decision making processes and as a result they experience very high levels of rejection from prospective customers.  Salespeople who are too pushy will experience high rejection rates because they are making the unconscious parts of the prospective customer’s brain feel uncomfortable.

When a salesperson makes a prospective customer’s brain feel higher degrees of psychological comfort by being non-threatening and welcoming then their success rate will improve dramatically.

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

How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success

As a result of the challenging commercial environment that has become the new reality we are all operating within, sales professionals need an edge – and the latest neuroscience research provides it.

Knowledge and understanding about the brain is growing rapidly with the vast majority of major discoveries and knowledge about the brain being made in the last ten to fifteen years.

We are starting to get a better understanding of how the brain functions when it is making decisions. The more we understand about how the brain functions when deciding to take action (or not), the better able we will be to understand how to tailor our sales approach, messages and behaviour accordingly.

Neuroscience research is shedding new light onto how people actually make decisions - and the truth may surprise you.

“According to cognitive neuroscientists, we are conscious of only about 5 percent of our cognitive activity, so most of our decisions, actions, emotions, and behaviour depends on the 95 percent of brain activity that goes beyond our conscious awareness.“
Marianne Szegedy-Maszak
Journalist

The vast majority of human thinking (including decision making) takes place below the level of conscious and controlled awareness – in our unconscious mind.  In addition, emotions are an integral part of people’s decision-making process.  Emotion and reason are intertwined elements of our decision-making process.  They influence and are influenced by each other, and as a result if we want to sell successfully then we need to consider three areas of our customer’s brain:

The Sub-Cortical “Reptilian” brainIn evolutionary terms this is the oldest part of the brain. It connects the brain with the spinal column and all sensory nerves travel through it.

This primitive and unconscious part of the brain is primarily “concerned” with well being and survival.  At first contact with a stranger it will instantly conduct a threat response and decide if you are friend or foe.

It prioritises survival first (the avoidance of pain and danger) and then with achieving comfort - so it will respond to pain avoidance first.

The Emotional Brain

This is comprised of the limbic system and is also referred to as the “mid-brain”.

It is important to realise that although this part of the brain is also unconscious in function it has a profound effect on us because it links the brain stem with the higher reasoning functions of the brain and feeds information to it.

The limbic system can become easily aroused and can dominate and control the thinking of your customer, exerting a huge influence over your customer’s behaviour and decision making.

For example if initial contact with a salesperson stresses “the gatekeeper” (the Reptilian and Emotional brain) the automatic fight / flight / freeze response is stimulated. Part of this process includes shutting out all other message receptors which means your opportunity to persuade is severely limited.

Therefore, your first and most important task when meeting a new customer for the first
time is to appear non-threatening to the more primitive parts of their brain.

If the primitive part of their brain feels unconsciously uncomfortable then you have a mountain to climb to be able to successfully sell them anything!  If you get this part of your customer’s brain to feel comfortable then they will become receptive to you and your message.

The Rational Brain

This is comprised of the cortex and the neo-cortex and is also referred to as the “new” brain.  This part of the brain processes information received from the senses and regulates cognitive functions such as thinking, speaking, learning, remembering and making decisions.

To sell effectively we must make sure that we and our sales messages are “brain friendly” and target all three areas of the brain so that we can arouse the reptilian and emotional brains in a way that supports our selling rather than handicaps it. 

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