For a free copy of Bryan's book
"Success - Chance or Choice?"
E mail: poppy@bryandunlop.com
News
A 200% increase in sales and no sales skills training?
28 August 2009
In his first two articles in Business First, Inspirational Coach, Bryan Dunlop described how we become the person we are and the impact of the beliefs we hold. In this article Bryan goes on to see how we actually go about adjusting the beliefs we have that hold us back.
Whether we know it or not, we all have a belief system. Our belief system is full of the perspectives we hold about ourselves, our friends, the world, the economy, in fact anything you decide to think about. As I said in the second article, the important bit is not necessarily the beliefs we hold, it is the consequences of the beliefs that hold that we must be aware of. What we believe is at the heart of everything we do. I worked with a sales person in a well known high street bank. He was 550th out of 1000 sales people in his business.
I observed a sales meeting. He was actually very good. He definetly had his customers best interests at heart, was good at building relationships, was knowledgeable and was well prepared for his meetings, yet his results weren’t very good at all.
I noticed that even though the customers were ready to buy from him, he became nervous and a bit twitchy as the meeting neared its conclusion. This change in his body language was almost imperceptible, but it was definetly there. In the end he just asked the customers if they would be free for another meeting, the following week. Because they liked him so much they obviously assumed that this was the normal practice and agreed immediately. The meeting ended on this note.
After the sales meeting we went for a coffee. I told him that I thought his skills were great. He was pleasantly surprised. I then asked him why he had sought a second meeting when I thought the customers would have been happy to buy from him.
He said that he was very concerned about coming across as pushy and for this reason preferred to allow the customers additional time to think about everything that had been discussed. The last thing this guy was was pushy. Far from it. He managed the sales meeting at a pace to suit the customer and was very conscious of they’re being able to follow him.
So what was the thing that was holding him back? It wasn’t his skills. They were good (though the results were poor). The issue was that he was worried about coming across as pushy. The bottom line was that he had an inner held belief that only a pushy sales person would ask for the business at the end of the first meeting.
Now some pushy sales people do use techniques to get people to buy in this way. Some of it is actually ethical, some of it is unethical. Our sales person was very ethical so it was quite easy to understand his reservations.
We agreed that in the next meeting, that when he got to the point where it was possible that the customers might be ready to buy from him, that he would test the water by saying “is that a fair summary?”
If they said “Yes” he would assume that they were now ready to consider taking action so he would then ask another soft question along the lines of “shall I draw up the paperwork?” again, if the customers said “Yes” he would then start to fill in the paperwork on the computer, print it off and ask them to check it. If when they checked it the detail was accurate, he would then say “If you sign the forms we can then get the ball rolling for you”.
Towards the end of the next meeting, I could sense that he knew he was coming to the point in the meeting where he would now have the opportunity to say “Is that a fair summary?” to his credit, he asked that precise questions.
The customers said yes. He said shall I draw up the paperwork, they said “yes, thank you, we’re very happy with that idea”. They signed his order form. At the end of the meeting, the customers left thanking him profusely for his time.
He deserved this outcome. I could go as far as saying that I knew he was going to get this outcome. The question is this: what did this outcome do to the belief that he held about him being perceived as a pushy sales person?
It removed it in one go.
In the next meeting he asked the “is that a fair summary?” question with a little more confidence. When the customers said “yes” he asked again if he could fill in the paperwork. He was a little more confident again.
He moved to 17th out of 1000 sales people and stayed there. The skills were always there, adjusting one limiting belief unlocked the potential we could all see but which was invisible to him.