I noticed this subtle shift in sales beginning 20 -25 years ago. The old sales person who talked a “good game” and talked, talked, talked…was fading away. The necessity for the “old shtick” …the bagel bringer, the “used car” guy…is now heading out.
Herb Chambers, a huge auto dealership chain in New England, is making a living eschewing the old fashioned sales methods that car dealers made famous.
shtick
or shtik
(ʃtɪk)
n. Slang.1. a show-business routine or piece of business inserted to gain a laugh or draw attention to oneself.2. one’s special interest, talent, etc.[1955–60; Yiddish shtik pranks, whims, literally.
You are not in show business anymore and today the interested buyer needs help hearing that they need you or not. Your job is to help them hear that, by asking questions, listening intently to what they are looking for and to help the buyer find the best solution.
Interested buyers need to be talking about 70% of the time. A professionally trained sales person has the people skills and the communication skills to “hear when a buyer is a good fit or not. That’s right, you listen for the point that you move forward or walk away, leaving the buyer with another solution, even if it’s not you.
Personally having made multiple million dollar sales using this method, it’s why I am passionate about teaching it. It’s a method not for everyone. If you sell a commodity, it doesn’t take any selling skills. What skill does it take to ask for a copy of a buyers last invoice from the competitor?
Sophisticated selling skills are for complex sales as in software sales or healthcare equipment or large service contracts. It takes a skilled sales person to sell Genome Mapping Software and typically, sales people in these fields are interested in learning new skills and having the latest tools in their tool box. Many of the lesser skilled, like in commodity sales, have done no reading or learning since school because… quite frankly, they lack the intelligence or the drive to improve.
They are like the fax machine…you can still fax and the machine technology is dead…don’t let the new generation of sales pass you by.
Are you like the fax machine or the efax?
Learn something new today.
Gratefully yours,
Steve
