A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

  Matthew Grant over at Purchase Realm here on the KMM network posed a question (OK, I'm being nice...he actually threw down the gauntlet) regarding sales technique.

His perspective, from that as a purchasing director, was that sales people believe that they can just memorize lines, learn certain techniques, and manipulate their way into their customer's checking account.

Is he right?  I wanted to answer some of his ideas in his post...

Matthew writes, I respond in bold:

What really made me want to write about this today is a line in what I was reading that mentioned mastering techniques that were described as "very effective" in order to "be equipped to close just about any sale." 

The irony here might just be that Matthew fell for a sales line from someone trying to get a sub-par sales person to purchase their books, CDs, course, whatever.  I say that because any real professional sales person wouldn't believe that. 

Do sales people really look at this whole exercise as a script?  You just memorize your lines and spit back whichever one matches whatever objection the Buyer throws at you? 

It's not so much memorizing lines from a script as understanding how effective communication works.  Sales is about making a connection, and establishing good communication.  There are certain ways that humans respond to others, and a good sales professional will learn how to guide that communication track towards an outcome that they want.  If they're really good, they'll make sure that the sale is good for them and the buyer.  Regarding specific objections that they might hear, there are some simple techniques to deal with those and get the conversation back on track.

Really, what this material says to me is that: the subject doesn't matter, the Buyer doesn't matter, even what you're selling doesn't matter - as long as you follow the instructions, you can close a sale.

Yes, that's right. 

  If they really believe this, it could explain a lot about some of the sales people I have met over the years. 

Well, hold on there...There are good salespeople who are loved by their customers (even purchasing agents), and bad salespeople who won't be employed for very long.

Same in any industry.  One of my early jobs in sales saw me frequent a large local hospital where I had to meet with the Director of Purchasing on a monthly basis.  She made it clear to me that the amount her department would spend with our company would depend on where she sat at an annual fundraising dinner we hosted every year.  Professional?  No.  I dealt with other PA's who were honest, fair and looking out for their company's best interests.  I met others who were lazy, dishonest and down-right stupid.  I worked effectively with all of them because I understood communication, human interaction, and the effective selling techniques that allowed me to keep control of the sales process.

Great topic, Matthew...thanks for including us in the discussion!