Successful selling is not a transaction but a process.

Successful selling is not a transaction but a process.

Tim Connor

Two quick definitions:

The sales transaction approach: a one-time action or activity involving two parties where a transfer of services or property is offered in exchange for financial gain.

The sales process approach: a series of pre-planned actions or steps taken in order to achieve a successful outcome.

It doesn’t matter what you sell – homes, computers, services of any kind, aircraft or clothing.  It doesn’t matter whether your products or services cost less than ten bucks or more than ten million.

It doesn’t matter whether you are selling a product or service that has a global reputation or is a startup organization.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a long-term seasoned sales pro or just getting started.

Have I made my point yet?  When it comes to a successful sales outcome what matters is the approach you use.

One of the biggest mistakes’ many salespeople (anyone who sells anything to any one) make is they use a transactional rather than a process approach – let me explain.  Here are the short versions;

Example one (Transaction approach) – you make an appointment, you show up, you give your presentation    and you try to close the deal.

Example two (Process approach) – you do some prospect research.  You investigate any issue or topic that might impact their willingness or ability of them to buy from you. You attempt to establish buyer/seller leverage – a referral, an endorsement, etc. from someone the prospect knows. You ask lots and lots of questions before you launch into your presentation.  You maintain control of the buying/selling process. You tailor every aspect of your message and product or service to the profile of the prospect.  You ask for the business and close the deal.

So, here are just a few of the ways that poor salespeople fail to follow a process approach.  Yes, there are many more and in respect to your time, I am keeping these short and to the point.

1.They quote price too early in the process- just because the prospect has asked for a price doesn’t mean they need it right away or are even ready for it.  Prospects who want you to go to price early are generally price shoppers and may not be worth a great deal of your time.  Price is a function of perceived value.  If you have not had a chance to build value - the price will always seem high.

2. They talk too much. They don't ask enough questions early in the sales process. They just ramble on and on.  These salespeople feel or believe that people buy because of the various features of their product or service.  Everyone’s reasons for buying your product/service are unique.

3.They send out literature when asked, without first qualifying the prospect.  Billions of dollars of literature go in the trash every year. Requesting literature is often just a ploy or tactic to get rid of you.  You think, “Ah-ha… they want information.”  They are thinking, “Finally I have got this idiot out of my life.”

4.They rely too heavily on technology -using emails, websites, texts, etc. Selling is about trust and relationships and you don’t build those by typing a bunch of keys on a device and then hitting the “send” button.

5. They lose control of the sales process or never get it at the beginning.  I’m not talking here about manipulation but the ability to have the process proceed according to your plans and steps that are in the best interests of the prospect and not that of the prospect.

6.They don’t realize that if there is a trust issue in the sales relationship what will get that to the surface really fast is money. So, don’t wait too long in the process to bring up the issue of fees, terms, deposits, etc.  There is a professional way to accomplish this without referring specifically to the price of your product or service.

7. They leave 'will calls' when telephoning a prospect.  Please, if you are trying to sell me something don’t expect me to do your work for you. Trust me I will guarantee that fewer than five percent of your ‘will calls’ will ever happen and this includes less than 1% of your email reach-outs waiting for a response.

8. They fail to observe and pay attention to early subtle signals given by the prospect.  If you are focused only on yourself and your presentation and your product or service – you will miss some signs or signals during the process that will give you accurate clues as to the prospect’s real or serious intent.

I could go on, but I am sure you get my point. I’ll leave you with a simple question – are you primarily using the transaction or the process approach?

Are you wasting time & money - training employees?

Are you wasting time & money - training employees?

Tim Connor

Many organizations that invest in employee development or training are wasting a great deal of their time and money.  Don’t believe me . . .  read on!

Do you know the retention of new material, techniques or ideas after three to four weeks?  Well, it’s around 3%. So, the next time you send your employees to an all-day seminar and expect performance improvement that lasts - you are living in La La Land.

I have been in the training business for over 35 years and conducted hundreds of seminars in 26 countries for audiences between 10 and 3500 people and I have observed hundreds if not thousands of people sitting in seminars while mentally they were – somewhere else – the entire time.

There are many factors that determine whether an employee will learn, understand, embrace and apply new knowledge and skills.  Some of these can be controlled by the organization, but many are the results of an employee’s beliefs, expectations, mindsets, attitudes, and agendas which can’t be controlled by the training entity whether an outside outsourced firm or an in-house training department.

Over the years, as a result of extensive study and research, I have developed a unique training process and approach that can be described as “curriculum-based training” rather than short term or transaction-focused development.  If you want your employee investment to have a positive long-term return the only guaranteed way to accomplish this is by ensuring that any training initiative or approach takes the participants completely through this process.

Believe me, you can have the latest and greatest toys, software, products, and services, but if your employees lack the creativity, initiative, motivation, skills, attitudes, and empowerment necessary for effective performance - I’ll guarantee that these resources will be underutilized.

There are two ways to educate, train or develop employees.

-The transactional approach

-The curriculum based approach

Let’s take a brief look at both.

The transactional approach -

A transaction is a single event, a onetime interaction or a short-term approach.  Let me give you an example.  Let’s say you send your customer service representatives to a half-day seminar on how to improve customer relations and increase repeat business.  These people are exposed to appropriate and valuable material for a few hours with little interaction or participation.  They sit there all morning – and learn. 

After lunch, they head back to work dealing with many of the routine customer issues that the training was designed to help them with.

Now I ask you, if a person has spent ten, twenty or even only five years developing mindsets, attitudes, habits, routines, approaches do you think they are going to permanently change these because of a four-hour seminar?  Not going to happen.

The curriculum based process –

The curriculum based process is a longer-term approach where there are ongoing gradual incremental increases of information that are covered as well as some form reinforcement, coaching, inspection and/or accountability.

Let me give you an example.  If you took algebra when you were in high school, how did you learn it?  Let’s say after your first 45-minute class on the topic of algebra the teacher gave you your final exam.  Would you pass?  Of course not.  How do you learn algebra so that after three months of classes, three times a week you could pass the final exam?

Goes like this:  Class, homework, next class two days later you discuss the homework, then new material followed by homework on the new material. Two days later the process continues.  Three months later, you pass the exam.  Now, let’s apply this to a corporate learning situation.

You send your salespeople to a one-day training seminar on how to close more sales (the transaction approach) and then send them on their way.  They might improve their ability to close for a few days or a couple of weeks, but I’ll guarantee that within a short period of time they will default back to previous attitudes, approaches, and techniques.

See the difference between these two training approaches?

The curriculum-based approach has four necessary stages if you want to ensure the success and/or improvement or change in any employee’s attitudes, skills or behavior.

The stages are;

-The awareness level;

At this level of learning, employees have an awareness only of techniques, tactics, skills, and approaches to be more effective in their roles.  However, they lack the clarity and understanding to embrace the learning in a way that will allow them to put the information into practice in an effective way and for the long term.  At this level, the behavior will not change, and you will have essentially wasted corporate resources and the employee’s time. They will be alert and attentive during any training session but will lack the knowledge necessary to know how, where, when and why to use this new information.  The awareness level can be described as sharing information only.

-The understanding level;

At the understanding level, employees get it.  They see the relationship between the information they have learned and its value, but they still lack the ability to apply what they have learned to their roles and responsibilities.

-The integration level;

Knowledge if it is not used, applied or integrated into current mindsets, activities, responsibilities or approaches is essentially useless information.  Without a doubt, the biggest challenge in any training initiative is to ensure that the new learning is used and used whenever and wherever appropriate for the long term. At this level - learning must include a variety of activities such as; the customizing of the delivered material, interactive participation during the training sessions, homework (take-away activities for participant implementation and testing), ongoing coaching and inspection by management, holding participants responsible for implementing new tactics or approaches, management or supervision attends the learning sessions so they are aware of what the participants are learning.

-The mastery level;  

Mastery is the highest form of knowledge applied.  This is where wisdom becomes the standard for learning and skill and attitude development.  Mastery occurs when knowledge becomes wisdom and wisdom is utilized at every opportunity when the situation or circumstance warrants.  Very few participants in a typical “transaction” training session for a number of reasons achieve this level of knowledge or wisdom.  Generally speaking, people who achieve mastery in their chosen field of endeavor have made mastery their goal and they have followed through with discipline, persistence, and planning.

That’s it, folks – so – keep wasting time and money or start using the “curriculum-based training process” that works and gives you value for your time and resources.  PS: If you want more information on this process – contact me – I have been using this process with clients for over thirty years.