Identify the Pain in Professional Selling

I have been in sales in some form or fashion my entire adult life. Some might not think managing company generated business lines in a real estate brokerage is actual sales, but it is.  We sell what we do to our agents and to our sources of business and to our transferees and local clients, to our vendors and even to our leadership.  Even if your job title doesn’t include Business Development, you are likely responsible for marketing/selling services to one or more groups.

When buying non unique, tangible items, who we buy from often comes down to price or convenience which is why Amazon is wildly successful. With two clicks we can buy something that we don’t need to see in person before we buy it and it will come to our door the next day without paying for shipping or using our gas to go get it. Abstract services have a more complex selling cycle which is why having the right person ‘selling’ it is critical.  A recent LinkedIn report states out of the top 10 jobs US employers are hiring for, salesperson comes in at #2 behind registered nurses.

So what makes a good salesperson?

I work with a lot of business development people. I really enjoy it because they are usually outgoing, which is helpful since half the battle in professional selling is developing relationships that lead to trust which leads to sales.

Strong business development people:

• Have a growth mindset

• Are confident and knowledgeable about all elements of their product or service

• Believe in their product/service/company which makes consultative selling easier to do

• Do their homework on the company and the contact they are targeting

• Are relentlessly optimistic

• Unafraid to cold call

• Set big goals 

• Use systems and technology to help manage the process

• Acknowledge when they need help

• Are tenacious and don’t give up until they are told to go away

• Constantly provide value

• Do what they say they are going to do

• Be willing to negotiate their way into the relationship

• Learn and grow from failure

• Able to read a room and exhibit Emotional Intelligence by sensing when something isn’t working and pivot

Why do people buy from us?

When selling and marketing professional services, it can be harder to distinguish the unique attributes. Many companies and services seem the same of the surface. One thing I know is that selling professional services is not just about price. That is why reputation, reviews and personal relationships are so important. People can actually become a visual representation of the service. When you think of a city or a company or a service, you may actually picture the person your mind associates with it.  That is successful selling. To be the embodiment of a service means you are doing something right and that people would not think of turning to anyone else for help.

But consultative selling goes further than that. It is helping people realize that they need something they may have never thought of before. It is presenting your solution in such a way that you are making them aware of a need they didn’t know they had. It’s not just ‘how may I help you?’.

Focus on the benefits

But what if they already have a vendor that they believe they are satisfied with? Or what if their current situation seems to be going fine so they have no urgency in making a change or buying whatever service we are selling.  Selling is not about presenting a PowerPoint. That is why we need to stop always talking about the features of our service or company or of our own successes and talk more about the benefits to the decision maker.  No one really cares how many awards we have won unless we translate how those awards will benefit them. How will whatever service we are selling solve a problem or make their (or other) lives better or give them more satisfaction or make them more money?

Identify the pain

There is a well-known sales technique known as the Sandler Pain Funnel. It helps guide the prospect through a strategically organized set of questions designed to uncover pain. It means asking a lot of questions and talking less about why we are so great and why they need us. It helps them come to their own conclusion that they may need us.

When selling something abstract, we are often dependent on playing on the emotions of people to get them to a decision. We have to determine their pain points by revealing their challenges. How can we solve a pain point they may not know they even have? By asking them enough leading questions that they reveal the flaws in whatever they are currently doing or not doing. Are they meeting hiring/recruiting goals? Are they staying in budget? Are the survey scores good? How is employee or customer retention? What is their competition doing? Is their current vendor responsive and flexible? Are their metrics being met? What could be done better?  Would they be willing to add you to the supplier group as a backup? That’s when the features and benefits of what you are offering swoop in to solve their pain. Think through carefully all of the benefits that you and your company offer. Why you? It might be as simple as they like you and trust you will do what you say you will do.

Move on from setbacks

As part of the selling and prospecting process, we also have to overcome the gate keepers, the lack of urgency and hidden decision makers that may attempt to sabotage us along the way. We always need to be prepared for a brilliant sales call that results in no decisions made. That is why a strategic plan of follow up to avoid being ghosted is critical and it may mean many, many follow up touches to move them to a final decision. If your efforts don’t ultimately don’t succeed, learn from each experience and move on, it just may not be the right time. Keep them in your database and stay on their radar until they tell you to go away.

Have a plan, set big goals and recover fast when you have a sales setback. Even if you are only successful some of the time, you are still successful! When calling on a corporation, a relocation management company, a home seller/buyer or an affinity group, think about what they may be struggling with or a pain point they don’t even know they may have and how you might be part of the solution.

“If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they will do business with you.” ~ Zig Ziglar, author, salesman, motivational speaker

Sandler’s Pain Funnel, courtesy of Align.me