8 minute read
Stacking Up Value
In the previous edition of Winning You have to accept that you’re currently Edge (2018 Number 3) I examined playing ball on the same court and with the importance of salespeople being the same rules as all of the other happybrutally honest with themselves. In clappy salespeople. You need to get off this follow-up feature, I urge you to that level playing field and do something be equally realistic about the value differently. You need to be contrarian in that you actually add for your customers. order to turn the tables in your favour. VALUE, VALUE, VALUE need to work out how you really add value, Everyone talks about the importance of approaching every client as an individual, adding value, but few salespeople really truly understanding their business, know what value is or how to add it for their their challenges, and their plans. You have clients. The value versus price conversation to care about them and what is right for takes place every day all over the world as them, and then you need to make you salespeople moan that their clients just do and your solution the only option that is not see the value in what they are offering. in their mind. They complain that their clients are It sounds easy when put like that... comparing apples with oranges. They For most salespeople, that means you complain that their clients are just not getting PUT THE EFFORT IN it. And they complain that their clients are Stop lying to yourself about how much just not getting them. effort you actually put in. Most people have an inflated opinion of their abilities, an TOUGH LUCK inflated opinion of what they are worth in If someone does not see the value in what the marketplace, and an inflated opinion you do or what you offer, then they are about how hard they work. If you are one of right. If someone does not believe that your them, until you acknowledge this basic fact, special “added value there is nothing you proposition” is worth “If the client thinks you’re can do about it. the extra and decides to not worth what you’re Look around buy something cheaper instead, then it is you who has screwed up. charging, guess what? You’re not” your office at 9am. What are people doing? What do they
Value is always do at lunchtime? formed in the mind of the buyer. It doesn’t Late in the afternoon? How many are in the matter how good you say you are. It doesn’t office early and late? How much time do they matter how good you think you are. It doesn’t spend by the water cooler? Drinking coffee? matter how good or how relevant you think Chatting about what was on the television your solution is. It doesn’t even matter how last night? Off sick? good it actually is. The only thing that does One of my friends manages a sales team matter is what the client thinks. And if in a northern UK town. A couple of years the client thinks that you’re not worth what ago, it snowed quite heavily overnight. The you’re charging, guess what? You’re not. following morning, half of her team of 10
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Many salespeople ask me how they can failed to show up, four were late, and just one add more value. They ask what they need to was on time. say or do to demonstrate value. They ask Ironically, the one who was on time lives how they can persuade their clients of the on top of a moor and had walked 6 miles intrinsic value that they bring to the party. in deep snow to get to work. He made But they are focusing on the wrong part of the effort. Three of the five who did not the equation. Clients decide value, not you. arrive lived locally and could have walked it You cannot persuade them that you add in under half an hour. Pathetic. value. You cannot convince them that you’re I hear people talk every day in offices all worth what you are charging. You have to around the world about work-life balance actually add value from their perspective.You – about how they are working so hard and have to help them see it. You must help them they have no time to breathe... About work it out for themselves. how many sacrifices they make and how
To do that, you need to acknowledge that unappreciated they are. But they still have you’re not adding enough value right now. time to go out for lunch, go to the gym,
and visit the pub. Looks like they already have quite a balanced life to me.
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that everybody should work super-sized hours. I am not saying that everybody should focus on sales and work before everything else. I am not saying that a happy and contented life might not be one where you focus on loved ones and family first, always going home for lunch and leaving work on time. My grandpa did that, and he was superhappy with his lot – but that’s for another time.
TAKE BACK CONTROL What I am saying is that you should stop lying to yourself. That lie is toxic and misleading and will stop you working harder if you want to or need to. Measure and monitor your activity. I was reading an article about obesity, and it was saying that one of the problems with people trying to lose weight is that they forget what they have actually eaten. Even when they were asked to write down what they ate, many forgot to write everything down.
Salespeople are much the same. They work hard. They are busy. But they forget what they actually do during the day. They forget how little of what they do is actually linked to the results they get. They forget how much of their activity is focused on tasks that actually drive sales. When I ask salespeople what they actually do on a day-today basis, they look at me as if I’m mad, but few can actually account for their time.
The problem with this is that if you are not in control of your time, then you have little hope of achieving what you want to achieve. The sooner you face up to the fact that you don’t know what you do with your time, the sooner you can do something about it – and the sooner you can start doing things that are going to bring you the results that you want.
THINK LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR One of the most powerful exercises I ever run through with salespeople is to look at their habitual activities and get them to ask themselves, “What activities will help me make more sales?” For many, this simple question helps them to adjust their daily activities to bring them much better results. The key is to think like an entrepreneur, not an employee.
Many people think that someone else owes them a living. When things go wrong, they blame their company. When they don’t get the results they want, they blame the management. And when they lose sales to the competition, they blame the reputation of their company. They might complain about their salary, their working conditions, and their prospects, but they think that it is someone else’s job to sort these things out for
GAVIN INGHAM is a motivational speaker on mental toughness. He is a Fellow of the ISM. This article is an edited extract from his latest book, Be More, Do More and Have More. Visit www.gaviningham.com
them. They think that they are worth more money, but they never do anything differently or consider how they can add more value to achieve the increase they seek.
What I am saying, however, is that great salespeople do not have an employee mentality – they have an entrepreneurial mindset. They do not wait for people to do things for them. They do not blame others. They are self-starters who make things happen for them. They take action, and they hustle.
COMMIT TO SUCCESS Here are a few things to think about: l Do you make things happen, or do you blame others when they don’t? l Do you put your energy into devising a sales strategy that will help you maximise your sales results, or moan about your territory? l Have you devised your own personal marketing plan that engages and entices your prospects, or do you wish that your company would get a new brochure and a new website? l Have you implemented your own training strategy that will make you an expert in your industry, a world-class salesperson, and an authority for your clients, or do you sit around wishing that your company would invest more in training you to be better at your job?
If you’re not answering “yes” to the first part of each of these questions, then maybe you need to do a bit of soul searching. Being successful in sales is not hard. It rarely requires a PhD in rocket science or any other subject. It doesn’t require superhuman skills or abilities. But it does require passion, dedication and commitment.
If you make a decision and commit now, you can set yourself on the journey to joining an elite group of salespeople who enjoy enviable livings and incredible lives from the rewarding profession that is selling.
I know successful salespeople who have everything they could have ever wished for. Some sell cars, some houses, some complex IT systems, or ideas, or many other products and services, but they all have one thing in common – they committed themselves to being the best that they can be. They focused on how they really add value to help their clients, and they made a decision to work hard and keep working hard until they succeeded.
How much do you want to be one of them?
