The Curious Salesperson

It is interesting that today's effective seller attributes include: the ability to demonstrate insight into the customer and their challenges and to do this they must be adept at the skill of questioning (including insight led and disruptive questions).  Yet when listing the attributes of today's winning sellers, curiosity is often omitted.  How can you discover insight or effectively use questions without the prerequisite attribute of curiosity?  It is missing in The Challenger Sale by Dixon and Adamson and also in Richardson's Changing The Sales Conversation. Both of which, I think so highly of, as to have them as texts in my selling class.  However curiosity is listed as a key attribute of winning salespeople in the book Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently by  Mike Schultz and John. E. Doerr. They make the following comment: " Without curiosity: sellers don't have the depth of knowledge to apply insight selling across the 3 levels of connect, convince and collaborate. The sellers often comply with insight selling as a strategy but never commit because they aren't drawn to knowledge itself.  Also sellers without curiosity can have difficulty with opportunity and account research, needs discovery and listening."

So being a sales teacher, instructor and coach, how do I coach curiosity?  This question led me to a new book by Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman, A Curious Mind, The Secret to a Bigger Life.   For those of you who do not immediately recognize Brian Grazer, he is a very successful movie and TV producer. He founded Imagine Productions with Ron Howard and has many successful films (Apollo 13, Parenthood, A Beautiful Mind, to name just a few) as for TV he was the executive producer for the series  24 (one of my personal favorites).  Brian Grazer has made curiosity a fundamental of his life and career and the book outlines how he has done it.  He talks of curiosity as precursor to innovation and creativity, attributes we value in salespeople. In fact his whole life has been a series of Curiosity Conversations with many of the worlds most interesting people.

As I read on I could not help but realize that Brian Grazer is one of the worlds very best salespeople and curiosity is the key to his success.

Normally at this time of the year I like to make professional recommendations for the salesperson's summer reading list.  Topping this years list, you guessed it, is:  Grazer's A Curious Mind, The Secret to a Bigger Life.  I believe you will get more help for your professional development from this book than a whole host of "sales books."

"The Theory of Everything" in B2B, High Tech Major Sales Engagements

After seeing the movie, " The Theory of Everything", and reading  Isaacson's biography of Einstein,  I wondered if it was possible to have a formula for success in high tech, B2B major sales engagements. While it is not as elegant as Einstein's theory of relativity, E=mc²     I would like to propose:

 S= CV (I+B+F+P) x #B + EC + CD.

Where S is for  Sales. CV is the Created Value made up of Insight, Business, Financial and Personal components.  This Created Value is then multiplied by the number (#) of Buyers.  Finally you add Emotional Commitment  and Competitive Differentiation.

Let's look at each of the components of the formula:
There are a lot of different types of sales: inside sales, outside sales, transactional, consultative, enterprise, B2B and B2C etc.  I believe it is difficult to have a success formula that works for all types. So for our purposes this formula is for Sales that are B2B, high tech and major sales engagements (high value, longer sales cycles team sells).

Created Value.  Selling today is not about articulating value.  It is about creating value for the customer/prospect. You need to create four types of value to be successful.  First is Insight which is a new perspective or way of looking at the business challenge. Second is the specific value to the Business that this solution brings. Increased customer satisfaction, market share etc.  The third type of value is Financial value.  The specific financial savings/return this solution brings.  This is typically expressed in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) and/or Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The fourth type of value, often neglected is the Personal value that this solution brings to each of the buyers.  This can be value in terms of quality of life, job satisfaction upward mobility etc.

Once you have totaled the created value you need to multiply it by the number # of Buyers.  Today's companies are risk adverse and large sales decisions are more often made by a team of consensus buyers.  To be successful the salesperson needs to create value for each of these consensus buyers.

It is not enough to create value for all of the buyers.  The salesperson must Emotionally Connect with each of them. Connect the buyers, personally, to the pain of the challenge and the reward of the solution.  This creates the personal motivation to buy.

If you do not add the final component, Competitive Differentiation you are in great danger of losing the sale after doing all the work!.  So far you have created the value for each of the buyers in such a way so as to get them to commit to acting. In the final step, and all through out this process you need to make sure you are leading/guiding them to your unique solution. Otherwise all you have done is to set the competition up to steal the sale.

ROI and The Salesperson, Don't be a "Fool with a Tool!"

I'm sure you have heard the old adage "a fool with a tool is still a fool."  It is certainly true when we start talking Return On Investment tools.  Today with wireless Ipads and tablets, salespeople are equipped to present mobile, personalized presentations to prospects and clients.  Marketing and Sales Enablement organizations have worked hard to support these efforts.  Often ROI calculators are included as a part of these presentations tools.  Herein lies the danger.  ROI is part of calculations used in the cost analysis by many purchasing departments, Chief Purchasing Officers as well Chief Financial Officers.  ROI used by sales persons is just a part of, not the sum total of  the value assessment process and should be presented in that context. If you try to present ROI outside of the value assessment process you could very well become the fool with the tool.

When speaking about the book ROI Selling,  by Michael J. Nick and Kurt M. Koenig, Brian S. Sommers, Vice President, Research Services, Aberdeen Group said " selling tools to top executives is okay as long as the executive is a mechanic. ROI Selling isn't about having an ROI calculation tool. It's about guiding a buyer to a solution that solves a real business problem and keeping them engaged through the benefits delivery."  Value assessment , of which ROI is a component, is a process in which the customer/prospect is a key participant.  To use ROI successfully, as part of that process, the customer/prospect must buy in and participate in that process.  If you have a tool that calculates ROI without that buy in and participation by the customer/ prospect, good luck! and you are a good candidate for being a fool with a tool.

To help you use ROI as  a part of the value assessment process, I suggest the following resources:
1. ROI Selling, the book by Michael J. Nick and Kurt M. Koenig.
2. Pretium Partners,  Columbus, OH, a consulting firm that provides some of  "the best" sales training in the value assessment process. Go to their website http://www.pretiumpartners.com/ and sign up for their free webinars and the email delivered newsletter "Sharpen Your Edge."
3.Alinean,  http://www.alinean.com/ value messaging , interactive tools and training for today's more skeptical, frugal buyer.

The Evolution of Questions in Selling

One of the most important skills in selling is questioning! With the advent of The Challenger Sale by Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson the importance of questioning seemingly diminished.  They positioned that the questioning, typically used in the needs diagnosis/discovery phase of the typical consultative sale provided little value to the customer and prospect and led to a condition they called "questioning fatigue."  They proposed that successful sales people, like the  challenger profile, shared insight with the prospect.  The discovery was not conducted with questions but rather with what they called "hypotheses." The research of the Challenger was so compelling that many of us in an attempt to change to its insight principles "threw the baby out with the  bath water.".  The subsequent writing of Linda Richardson puts it best in her latest book Changing The Sales Conversation, when she writes: "It is the combination of questions and insights that is one of the distinguishing marks of the new sales conversation." It might be useful to look at the evolution of questions in selling to see how we got to this point.

The earliest sales conversations used closed ended questions or those that could be simply answered by 1 or 2 word answers such as yes or no.  This occurred frequently up until the 1970's because before this time sales conversations were heavily scripted and closed ended questions stayed with the script.  In the 70's sales leaders such as Neil Rackham and and Linda Richardson  introduced SPIN Selling and consultative selling which introduced the use of open ended questions.  Rackham in SPIN Selling introduced a progression of questions: Situation questions, Problem questions, Implication  questions and Need- Payoff questions that helped the client/prospect discover the value of the product/solution.  Richardson's consultative approach also used a variety of questions open as well as closed .  The SPIN, consultative, solution selling was very successful through the 70's, 80's, 90's and the 2000's.  With the world financial crisis, starting in 2008, the world of selling turned upside down.  The techniques that had worked so well for the previous  four decades no longer were effective.  Enter The Challenger Sale research, in 2012, by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), which, as we stated earlier, talked of questioning fatigue and replaced questions with hypotheses and insights.

Also we have now seen a new type of question introduced, the disruptive question.  The disruptive question is just that one that is disruptive.  It is designed to move the prospect out of their comfort zone.  For a prospect to buy they have to be in the proper mindset.  They must believe the problem/challenges introduced in the insight are real and affect them.  You need to emotionally connect with the buyer.  The disruptive question is often the first step in this process. Typical disruptive questions start with why or how.

Since 2012 the subsequent writings of Linda Richardson and the research by the RAIN group in, Insight Selling Selling : Surprising Research on What Winners Do Differently by Mike Schultz and John Doerr, the reactive changes we made as a result of The Challenger have been softened .  Solution selling and questioning are not "dead."  However, they have been modified by what we learned from the Challenger research.  The key point is that we,as sellers in this new age, must show insight, unique ways of looking at situations/problems.  Questioning is fine as long as it is coupled with that insight and creates value for the customer/prospect.

For a more detailed look a The Evolution of Questioning in Selling go to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rNy5AyQEQQ

The Importance of Teaching and "Clock Speed" in Today's Selling

Since the publishing of The Challenger Sale in 2012, teaching has been highlighted as a key skill of effective salespeople.  The whole insight selling approach focuses on "tell me something that I don't already know about my business. "  How this insight is communicated to the prospect is all about teaching.  Brent Adamson and Matt Dixon talk about teaching as one of the three key attributes of the Challenger Seller (Teach, Tailor and Take Control)  More specifically they talk about "commercial teaching," and they say commercial teaching is more than just teaching the prospect/customer something they did not know about their business (an insight).  It is doing so in a way "that reliably leads to commercial wins."  To do so they say" commercial teaching has four rules:'

1. 'Lead to your unique strengths
2. Challenge customers assumptions
3. Catalyze action
4. Scale across customers"

Subsequent research and writing has reinforced this key concept.  Linda Richardson, in her latest book Changing The Sales Conversation,  actually suggests a balanced teaching approach not a "commercial" one or leading one. She does add that your example insight should be backed up with data, experience and financial return and you must communicate the contrast between the new approach and the status quo.  This is similar to the "reframing" that Adamson and Dixon talk about in "challenge customers assumptions.".

In Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently, Schultz and Doerr of the Rain Group talk of Convincing as on of their three qualities of  Insight Seller (Connect, Convince and Collaborate) Convincing is very similar to what Dixon and Adamson refer to as commercial teaching.

So we can now say that the ability to teach is a key attribute of today's effective salesperson.  However before you can teach you must first be able to learn.  The Gartner Group has a term for this very effective skill they call it "clock speed."  Learning is such a key ingredient, in today's information age,that you must not only be able to learn, but you must be able to do it quickly.  

When you are evaluating the skills of your sales force or hiring new salespeople be sure you measure their clock speed and their ability to teach.

Creating a Social Profile for a Salesperson

Why should you, as a salesperson, think about creating a social profile? First of all, whether you have created one or not, you already have one.  Google your name and you might be quite surprised at what you find!  One of the first things you do before calling on a prospect or client is to look them up on social media.  Don't you think they do the same for you?  You want to be sure what they find paints a positive, professional image.

Professional is critical.  You want a professional brand that reflects positively on you.  To do this be sure you keep your private social self limited to your family and friends and the public persona you will create is the professional one.

 Let's look at the typical functions of social media connections:

1. Connecting is the new prospecting.  Your professional connections become the key to prospective clients.So you want to grow your network with quality additions.  More is not always better. People you let in your network have access to others in your network and reflect on you.
2. Sharing key information with your professional  network about your industry, your company, your competitors and with your clients and prospects is a key function of social media.  Sending valuable information to your clients and prospect improves and grows your professional brand.  Make sure you do not overload your prospects and clients with information.  Make sure it is valuable and will be perceived by them as such
3.  Discussing the information you share with valuable comment and insight can also grow your professional brand.  When you share a link to an analyst insight you can highlight, with a comment, what you think is critical to them about the insight.  This grows your brand!
4. Publishing is your opportunity to weigh in on issues, trends happenings etc.  It can be small to start, Twitter- 140 characters but can grow to blogs and then larger content vehicles such as YouTube or iTunes (podcasting) 

How to begin: (a sample professional social profile for a sales professional)

1. Connect with Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube and Blogger
2. Use LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to Share valuable content with your clients and prospects.
3. Discuss valuable content with your comments though Linkedin and Twitter
4. Publish and Share with  Linkedin, Twitter and if you wish to take deeper dives YouTube and Blogger ( for example Twitter could be your headline, Blogger could post your overview and YouTube or Itunes for content deep dives.

Good Luck and Prepare to Win!

For a deeper dive into this subject please go to YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv9w4vSYDTM

Connecting: Relationship Selling is Alive and Well!

The Challenger Sale, in 2012,  heralded in a new age of selling, not based upon the relationship/solution selling  model that has become the defacto standard for the last two decades, but rather one that is focused on "challenging" the prospect with "disruptive questions" leading to "insight".  An article, in the summer of 2012, in the Harvard Business Review, announced the "end of solution sales." In the succeeding years sales forces shelved relationship selling and abandoned principles of solution selling.  As Lee Corso is so famous for saying on College Gameday, "not so fast, my friend!"

Books by Linda Richardson, Changing The Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate and Close and Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr , Insight Selling : Surprising Research on What Winners Do Differently suggest that we may have been premature in "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."  In fact both   say "connecting" as the first step in selling.  Yes, connecting as in relationships, but instead of relationships based on  mundane tasks such as getting donuts or filling out purchasing forms for buyers the relationships/connections, are based upon value.  Specifically the value that the solution delivers to the individual  customer.  That value is quantified and the risks of solution are mitigated.  Doerr and Schultz suggest that the relationships in relationship selling and in insight selling are formed at different times.  In traditional relationship selling the relationship is made at the beginning. You establish the relationship and then you make the sale.  In insight selling the relation comes after you deliver value.  In other words the relationship is based upon the value you deliver.  Until you deliver value there is no relationship.

This brings us back to Connecting.  In sales today Connecting is the new prospecting.  Instead of prospecting we connect with prospects.  This connection is done through social media and again is based upon the value you deliver.   For more detail regarding this subject please go to my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stK2sgq_Sik

 My next blog will discuss a strategy for sales people to connect through social media.  Until then "Prepare to win!"