10 ideas for turning “sales” into “flourishing”
In some form or another, I’ve been in professional sales my entire career. Especially the last 6 years I’ve been focusing on studying how to turn sales into a positive rather than a negative force.
After all, according to Steven Pink we’re all selling all the time.
Sales has gotten a bad rap, much of the time quite deservedly. But it doesn’t have to be a nefarious undertaking.
Imagine if sales were a positive force in your company, a shining representation of your brand and values?
Here are 10 practical ideas that I recently shared in a presentation, for turning sales into a positive force for you and for your clients. Sales can be an incredible life-giving force for your organization. After all, what is a business if it’s not selling anything!? All too often though, leaders view sales as a necessary evil or even worse simply as something to make them more money.
It’s time to reclaim sales as a key part to any vibrant and flourishing business. Here are some ways I’ve found to turn sales into a positive force:
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Practice Attunement – “When we attune with others we allow our own internal state to shift, to come to resonate with the inner world of another”, says Dr. Dan Siegel. Magic happens when you practice attunement. It is not just asking good questions, but it is LISTENING intently. Not only will you understand your customers better, but you’ll be able to better design your products, services, and delivery if you understand them. If you don’t, your competitor will. Daniel Pink first taught me this idea.
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Practice the Platinum Rule – the temptation when dealing with lots and lots of prospects (often difficult people), is to start to become cynical and start viewing people as stereotypes or just a means to an end. This temptation must be resisted, because prospects can sense this and it breeds distrust. Instead, practice the Platinum Rule. We all know the “golden rule” – treating others as we want to be treated. The Platinum Rule goes a step further – it’s treating others as THEY would like to be treated.
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Give your client a seat at the table – Amazon literally saves an empty seat as a representation for their customers at their board meetings. Studies show that having your customer in the front of your mind helps you do better work for them. Robert Cialdini demonstrates this and other powerful principles in Pre-Suasion.
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Be a guide, not a hero – most sales people think they’re the hero. They’re not, the client is.
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Enlarge the pie – no more win/lose. Increase the size of the pie for everyone.
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Celebrate when your client wins (not just when you win) – thanks Joey Coleman for teaching how powerful this is in Never Lose a Customer Again.
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Demystify your legal contracts – nobody understands lawyer speak. It does no service to have contracts only a lawyer can understand. Demystify the language, it will serve your clients well. I have redesigned legal contracts for clients and turned them into “human speak”. It is a true gift for your customers, and builds trust. No more hiding behind legal speak. Oh, and yes they can be both understandable and legally binding at the same time.
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Re-think quotas – sales quotas often put undue pressure on reps at the end of the month or quarter, which they then put on the clients. That’s short-term thinking. Your clients don’t need that. Texon founder Terry Looper did away with sales quotas for all these reasons, years ago. You know what happened? Their sales team flourished, and they’re a 6 Billion dollar company now.
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Ask your clients – stop trying to guess what they want, and ask them. Build in routine ways of asking your clients how they are doing and what you could do better. You might be surprised how much you’ll learn.
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Show (trust), don’t tell – build in trust into your process. Buffer doesn’t just “say” they’re trustworthy, they publish all of their numbers, demonstrating radical transparency. They don’t say it, they do it.
SALES – NECESSARY EVIL OR VITAL PART OF YOUR THRIVING BUSINESS?
Have you relegated sales to a necessary evil, or are you investing in developing your sales team as a vital part of a healthy and thriving business? Is your sales arm helping you grow fanatical fans, or are they just doing business as usual? Fanatical fans of your business will talk about you, and give you the best free marketing you ever received. On the other hand, if your sales team is losing trust and sullying your brand then the reverse is also true – your reputation will flounder.
Which will it be? As a business leader, the choice is yours.
I’m grateful to Daniel Pink (author of To Sell is Human), Robert Cialdini (author of Influence & Pre-Suasion), Joey Coleman (Never Lose a Customer Again), Bob Moesta (Demand-Side Sales), and many other authors and mentors for teaching me these principles. I’m still learning!
Here are a few helpful resources to recommend:
Never Lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman
Demand-Side Sales by Bob Moesta
Talking to Humans by Giff Constable
Demand-Side Sales 101 by Bob Moesta. This is a wonderful book about turning sales into a positive force for your organization.
