It felt like a deal. The client seemed excited - anxious even. Then, inexplicably, everything seems to stall. Calls go unreturned. Communications end abruptly. Finally, obtaining that golden signature on the contract evolves from probability, into a mere hope.
Immediately, come the self-recriminations: where did I fail? Should I have been more aggressive, clever, friendly? Finding these answers has become a career for Joseph Roman, CEO of Accelerant Sales Group in Montville. “In almost every case,” he says, “it’s not what you do during the sales process, but what you failed to do beforehand. All too often, sales people instead of going Ready - Aim - Fire. Go Ready - Fire - Aim.”
* Chart the Campaign. The first step Roman suggests is to shift concentration away from your marvelous product, onto the client’s needs and operation. Using his website, and conversations with suppliers and customers, find out the potential client’s mission. Learn his primary current projects. Discern his real goals from his published ones, and study how his operations are leading him forward. And, of course, know a few personal facts about each of the individuals with whom you will probably meet.
If time is short, a fifteen-minute browse of the company can at least reveal the corporate philosophy, what the company is working on now, and executive biographies. This due diligence allows the sales person to find a compatible fit for his product. It also instills the confidence that comes with knowledge, making the the meeting a calm dialogue, rather than a nervous sales pitch.
* Blunder Calls. Roman lists a few, all too common phrases that at any stage are almost destined to kill a sale. 1. “We’ve got this standard solution for firms just like yours. I’m sure we can fit into your process. Let me tell you all about it.” The message comes through loud and clear that here is a sales person with a product to push. No shaving, no customizing; he sells the exact same widget to anyone who will buy it. 2. “I sold a unit exactly like this to your competitor only the other day.” Just what a client wants to hear. 3. “I sent some material out to you, and I’m just calling to check in.” What does this sales person expect? That each word of his pamphlet has been devoured? Does he think his “Checking in” will instill some sort of client epiphany?
* Fireside Chat. “More ideally, the initial calls should go like fireside chats,” says Roman. Because the sales person has studied his client’s situation so well, he can open with an intelligent dialogue. This conversation is designed to elicit the various needs of the potential customer. The key here is to prompt and listen; really listen “It is the kind of conversation in which you might be sharing a beer with a friend, and listening to the woes and complexities of his business,” says Roman.
Eventually, as with all good hunters, the game comes to you while you sit and wait. Out of sheer curiosity, the potential client may intimate that he needs help, and perhaps even ask about your product. Now, the avenue is open for your carefully scripted, individually customized response. Yet even after having done all this - the homework, memorizing a flexible script, and eliciting a interested response from the prospect, clinching the deal can prove elusive. The actual sale can begin to wither and die on the vine.
* Analyzing the Gap. It may be a deliberate stall. The customer is politely dismissing the sales person because he simply did not like the product. He may have liked it, but has no ready cash at the moment. Or it may be a case of distraction and neglect. The enthusiastic client on Tuesday, on Wednesday becomes embroiled in putting out fires for two weeks, and that new purchase drops on his priority list. Either way, the ball now lands in the sales person’s court.
Some sort of follow up is obviously needed. To break the temporary barrier and catch the customer’s eye, this follow up call must be something that conveys information - and it has to be new information. Often this pause in the sales person/client communication affords the sales person time to make what Roman calls the gap analysis. This is simply looking at where the company is now, and where it wants to be at a given time, then developing a program that will get it there.
This is the sales person’s golden service opportunity. When you finally do obtain an audience by phone or in person with your reluctant client, mention enticingly that you have worked out a solution. Let him know that you have been working for him, based on the information from your last chat. You might say that e.g. you know his company is currently working at this level, and within two quarters, needs $50,000 in new sales. It is an alluring teaser for even the most recalcitrant buyer. Then try to present your solution to all the project’s stakeholders.
Before as many company senior management and involved individuals as possible, explain how, for example, your firm can set up a task force to contact thirty new people a day achieving so many calls monthly, with an estimated percentage of favorable response, etc. (Absolute times, numbers of personnel, and cost-per-unit always add an air of precision and make your bill believable.)
No matter how steady your ready - aim - fire approach, you’ll not always hit the target. Despite what the hordes of get-rich mentors say in their expensive books, selling is an art, not a science. It involves a healthy percentage of just pure luck. You may have been center forward on your college basketball team and the prospect dislikes dealing with tall people. Yet, by laying out a precise campaign strategy, from the first study to the final path to closure, you can better your odds, keep the sales process alive, and come away with that golden signature. B4
Joseph Roman has very much followed in the family trade. Growing up in Parsippany, Roman’s father worked in management and sales, mentoring at least 50,000 employees throughout his 30 year career in business. Roman attended Alvernia College in Reading, Pennsylvania, graduating with a bachelor’s in business administration in 1991. While earning his master’s in management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Roman concurrently worked as a researcher at Market Solutions, Inc.
In 1995, Roman joined Dialogic Corporation, and served as sales manager for that firm’s partnership with Intel products. In 2001 Roman formed the Accelerant Sales Group, bringing his father’s expertise aboard, as well as that of his mechanical engineer brother, who acts as director of sales. Today, Accelerant Sales provides consulting through its high tech sales division, industrial and retail division, and its individualized sales training programs. Accelerant specialists will also join with existent sales forces to meet company goals.
