Majority of sales people fail in making a sale. That is a fact !
It is important that we look at why the rate of failure is high among sales people and rate of success in sales is limited to only a very few people for any profession or industry.
Sales is a process and those who understand the science behind it and are capable of perfecting that process, achieve extraordinary results compared to those who merely look at sales as a mean to an end or frankly speaking as a way to manipulate others to influence their buying decision so they can make money at it.
The steps in any sales process are as follows:
1) Building Rapport
2) Discovery or Assessment
3) Presentation
4) Education
5) Closing
According to late Chat Holmes, the author of best selling book, “The Ultimate Sale Machine”, 65% of the sales process happens in those first two steps. 45% in step 1, "Building Rapport" and 20% in step 2, "Discovery or Assessment". Most sales people fail at the first two steps; hence they never get to close a sale and if they do, the chances that a customer repeats the business with them in the future, is very low. So let’s look at why there is so much weight put on the first two steps.
Building Rapport
Building a genuine relationship with a customer at onset, is a significant part of building trust with our customers. Rapport begins from the time that a customer comes in contact with us. A non physical contact typically precedes a physical contact where we actually meet our customers in person for the first time. A non physical contact may be in a form of an advertisement or a website that a customer comes in contact with for the first time. No matter which way they come in contact with us, building a positive image about us in their minds must be our top priority. It is during this step that we build value about our offerings and by focusing our attention on building a long-term relationship with them than merely a one-time sale event, that our customers begin trusting our intentions. This is a foundation for any successful sales. For example, in a typical dental practice many dentists complain of low sales volume. However, from my observation of hundreds of clients across the globe, I have noticed that most dental offices do not have good systems and processes in place to respond to inquiries fast enough and those who do, they do not get the patients booked immediately. Most successful and highly paid professionals such as real estate brokers, attorneys and even doctors are very quick to respond to a customer’s inquiry as they understand the principle behind building rapport. If a dentist is operating a very high end practice with more comprehensive cases, it is nothing wrong for the dentist to get on the telephone when the patient initially calls to build rapport and ask good probing questions. This one technique alone has proved to be one of the simplest ways to build rapport and guarantee the new patient showing up for their appointment. Obviously, this will not work in larger volume oriented practice but a highly experienced person can do the same on the telephone instead of the dentist. Choosing the right individual to answer the calls is one of the key elements in building rapport with patients early on. Unfortunately, many dental practices utilize people that are too young who do not have the necessary life experiences to build rapport with patients or they have their calls answered by random individuals in the practice where answering calls becomes inconsistent. Remember, that, " Front line is the Bottom line. Pick your people carefully.
Discovery & Assessment
The second step in any sales process begins with truly understanding the needs of our customer. It is in this step that we need to show our customers that we are actively listening to them by taking the time and asking properly scripted, open ended questions, and paraphrasing what our customer is telling us. Unfortunately, many sales people, even those who are very good at building rapport with a customer, fail. The main reason is, they are more active talkers than active listeners and they are very quick to come up with a solution for a customer. If we don’t understand a customer’s concerns and if we are not able to dig deep into those concerns, our solution to a customer’s problem is typically very general and less specific. This is because we have not taken the time to listen to their specific problem. Here is an example that can illustrate this better. I visited a dermatologist in one of the prominent hospitals for a laser remove of a mole on my skin. My wife who accompanied me to the appointment desired to see the dermatologist at the same time as she was having concerns over face breaking out in the last several weeks. The short notice request for appointment was granted and she had the opportunity to see the doctor. The doctor immediately jumped into prescribing a treatment plan that consisted a series of anti-aging rituals including botox, lip fillers etc. and handed my wife over to her tx plan coordinator. Obviously, my wife declined all of her recommended treatment plan as her goal was to only find an antimicrobial that she can use on a daily basis. This illustrated how discovery of our customers' needs and wants are so important and why many doctors fail to have an accepted treatment plan. Customers rarely buy a product or service. They buy our products and services for what it can do for them. However, if we become good at probing questions and are willing to spend the time to learn about our customer’s challenges, then we can offer them what they want based on their own criteria. Without understanding the specifics of our customers’ problems and challenges, we cannot provide them with the benefits they will gain from doing business with us. This is where we can lose a customer as we become unconsciously focused discussing the features of our products and services rather than explaining the benefits. In the eyes of the customer, we become just another company who wants to sell our products and services and not really solve his/her problem.
The other steps in the sales process are also very important. However, without spending quality time to build rapport with our customers and going through a discovery session by actively listening and taking notes, even if you get to those other steps, the chances of closing a sale is very low. In my next article, I will discuss the remaining steps.
Dr.Allen Nazeri DDS MBA is a leadership and management expert. He is the founder of Dr. Allen Nazeri Consulting,Advisory and M&A Group focused on healthcare organizations where they like to improve operational efficiency, scale through strategic joint venture partnerships as well as raise funds from private equity investors or Initial Public Offering. He may be reached at Drallenci@gmail.com.
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