David
Kahle has the audacity to ask the hard question. This may be the most
difficult question to consider when working with sales professionals.
“Jus somthin to think about”.
Mel
Do
you have a Systematic Sales Process? by
David Kahle
I
have my own style of selling.”
That is a remark I have heard a number of times, usually
from relatively inexperienced salespeople. What they usually mean is something
like this: “I don’t have any real system to what I do, I don’t want any
scrutiny, and I probably am not going to learn anything from you.”
How valid is this position? Does every salesperson
have a unique style of selling? Are they just trying to hide from
accountability under the cover of individual “style”? Or is there some
other explanation? More importantly,
should your company allow every salesperson to have their own style, or should
you have system for selling to which everyone adheres? I will let you answer
that question yourself in a moment. For now, let’s consider the concept
of a “selling system.”
Can selling be systematic?
Almost any work can be systematic. “Systems” are how
good work gets done. McDonald’s did not grow its business by hiring
people and challenging them to figure out how to best do the job.
Instead, McDonald’s works on the basis that there is a best way to take an
order, greet a customer, fry potatoes, and assemble a cheeseburger.
They have figured out the best way, have gotten the
necessary tools, documented the most effective processes, and train everyone in
doing it that way. As a result, people work the system – and the system
works. Because of the system, McDonald’s can make almost anyone, regardless of
their capabilities, into productive, effective employees.
This truth – that
good systems make people effective -- operates in every area of work.
Even highly skilled, highly educated professionals apply this concept.
There are, for example, better ways to try a case, to perform a surgery, to fly
an airliner, and to counsel a mentally disturbed patient. Talk to effective
professionals in any of these areas, and they will verify that they use
effective principles, processes, and tools to complete these complex tasks.
They use a system.
In fact the more important and complex the task the greater need
for effective principles. How would you
feel if you buckled the seat belt on an airliner and listened as the captain
announced that he has his own way of flying this plane?
This is not to say that there is not room for individual
differences, for continuous process improvement, and for variations based on
the specific intricacies of the situation. But those are more
embellishments than structure – like the icing on a cake. Without the
cake underneath, the icing is meaningless. The system provides the
structure on which the individual can spread personal embellishments.
You probably apply this principle in every other aspect of
your business. Don’t you have a system for almost every important process
in your business? Don’t your accountants follow a well-defined set of
principles and procedures? Aren’t your customer service reps expected to
input an order in a certain way, and respond to a customer in a certain
fashion? Don’t your purchasing people follow certain procedures, and
aren’t they guided by certain principles and criteria to ensure that they make
the best decisions? Don’t your warehouse employees ship, receive, stock
and pick orders in a certain well-organized, duplicable fashion?
Why
should sales be different? It isn’t.
There are principles, processes and tools that have been proven to be more
effective than others in sales, just like in every other profession. It is like
a football game. No coach says to his team, “OK, you guys go out
and figure out how to be successful.” Rather, a coach develops a “best
way” to tackle, to block, to pass, to catch, etc. And then, the coach
develops the system, creates a game plan, and teaches his players that system
and that plan.
In a similar way, a selling system addresses the interaction
between the salesperson and the customer, providing a “game plan” for
success. Think of it as a template for the salesperson’s face-to-face
tactical encounters. It is based on the principle that, when it comes to
selling a specific product or service to a certain type of customer, there are
principles, processes and tools that are proven more effective than others.
Study any successful company that fields a large number of
salespeople, and you’ll discover that almost every one of those companies has
evolved a well-defined, duplicable selling system. And they teach that
system to their salespeople – “This is
the way we keep track of our files, this is the way we collect information
about our customers, this is the way we present this product or that one, this
is the way we think about strategy, this is the way we develop a weekly plan,”
etc. The larger, older, and more successful a company is, the more
likely it is to have a highly sophisticated and refined selling system.
The large old life insurance companies are great illustrations.
Go into the local Northwestern Mutual office, for example. Talk to a manager,
tell him you would like to sell for him, but you are going to do it your
way. See how far that gets you. Or perhaps IBM has an opening
for a one-of-a-kind salesperson. Maybe Microsoft and Johnson &
Johnson haven’t yet figured it out.
You have the idea. A well-defined selling system is
one of the essential components of an effective sales company. To be effective
and productive in your sales efforts, sooner or later you need to develop a
selling system. Your selling
system should have variations for each major market segment. For example,
the “best way” to sell to a truck line may not be the best way to sell to a
tool and die shop. Typically, a selling system would define a sales process
for each segment, and then address the best ways to accomplish each step in
that process.
Take truck lines for example. The most effective process
may be to make an appointment with a purchasing person, to collect information
at the first face-to-face meeting, to prepare a written proposal, to personally
deliver that proposal, and then to make a personal face-to-face follow up
call. That may be the process
piece of the system.
The tools
might consist of a script for making the appointment, a profile form to collect the information, a capability
brochure to use to describe and introduce the company, a standard “proposal”
form, and a set of carefully crafted questions to use throughout the
process. The tactics may be a series of techniques to facilitate
each step of the process – to accomplish each step well.
When all those pieces are put in place - the appropriate
processes, tools and tactics - you would
have a selling system. And when you have a selling system, and
when you have trained all your salespeople in that system, you will have taken
a major step forward. You’re ready for the big leagues.
