When was the last time you asked a stranger for money?

‍

I don’t mean begging on a street corner for a handout.

‍

I’m talking about asking for money in exchange for goods or services. 

‍

I’m talking about sales.

‍

Asking for money is uncomfortable if you don’t do it very often. That’s true for everyone, even for veteran salespeople.

‍

It is also true that asking for money is the only way to get people to part ways with their hard-earned cash.

Learning how to sell is the most valuable skill that you can learn in business.

‍

Everything is sales

‍

The reputation for sales isn’t great. Many think it is gross or sleazy. Nobody wants to “be sold”. It feels beneath us.

But you are selling far more often than you realize, even if sales is not your profession.

‍

Sales is a part of nearly every interaction you have with other people. Any time you are asking someone to give you their time, attention, or other resources (like money), you are selling.

‍

- Doctors sell patients on a prescribed treatment.

- Teachers sell students on the subjects they teach.

- Coaches sell athletes.

- Managers sell employees.

- The most successful entrepreneurs and CEOs are good at selling. 

‍

You get the picture.

‍

So how do you learn how to sell?

‍

A simple Google search for “how to sell” returns 13,990,000,000 results.

There are an endless number of books, courses, coaches, gurus, frameworks, and how-to guides that will teach you how to sell.

‍

Learning how to sell is not a mystery. It is well documented. People have been doing it, teaching it, and learning it for centuries.

‍

I’m 100% confident that you can learn to sell as long as you are willing to put in the work to get good at it.

‍

But before you can start selling, it’s helpful to understand why people buy things in the first place.

‍

Why do people buy?

‍

People buy for one of three reasons:

1. To fix something that is broken and causing real pain

2. To accomplish something aspirational

3. To avoid a negative outcome

‍

In each of these situations, the person is looking to move from their current situation to a new version of the world where things are better.

‍

I’ve written before about the 5 stages of awareness that every buyer must go through to get to a purchase decision.

The sales process must match the buying process, you can’t skip steps.

Here’s an over-simplified sales process:
1. Educate the customer on the problem they are experiencing. Help them understand they are not alone in experiencing this problem.

2. Define the desired outcome once you have addressed the problem

3. Identify the available solutions for addressing the problem.

4. Illustrate how your product is the best choice of all available solutions.

5. Ask for the sale.

Every purchase goes through some version of this process, whether you are buying a new mattress or evaluating a new CRM for your business.

‍

Inexperienced sellers make the mistake of jumping to #4 too soon. 

‍

They think selling is all about the pitch. 

‍

But you only pitch your product once you have built a business case for the customer. You must be certain that you can deliver the desired outcome for the customer before you try to sell your product.

‍

That’s how you build trust in the relationship. You offer tons of value before you ask for anything in return.

‍

People buy from people they trust

‍

87% of business buyers expect sales reps to act as trusted advisors. (source)

‍

The best salespeople know that you must educate the customer by walking them through the evaluation like a trusted partner. 

‍

That’s how you build a relationship that leads to a sale.

People are smart. They know when they are being sold.

It’s OK to acknowledge that you are in a commercial relationship, but that doesn’t excuse poor sales tactics.

‍

You have to earn the customer’s trust before you ask for the sale.

And you build trust by delivering value long before you talk about your product or service.

‍

Most purchase decisions are emotional, not rational

‍

It’s easy to think that customers are rational, but remember that they are human. And humans are irrational.

You can make the best business case in the world with tons of ROI for the customer and still lose the deal.

Why? Because people make purchase decisions for emotional reasons rather than rational reasons.

This is especially true for B2B sales where you are selling to a buying group of 2 or more people.

‍

Any time you have a group of 2 or more people together, you have a dysfunctional buying group. There are politics at play. Some people are looking to get ahead in their career. Others may have a financial incentive to keep costs down. There are all varieties of motivations involved in any buying group, and these impact how that group decides to buy.

‍

Doesn’t matter if the benefits are obvious and the costs are reasonable. People buy with their heart and their gut much more often than they buy with their wallet. 

‍

Find the market, then sell the product

‍

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

‍

Same is true for a product that doesn’t have a clear market.

‍

It’s so difficult to force a product into a market where the fit isn’t obvious.

‍

Instead, start with the problem that you want to solve, then craft your sales motion to fit the market that experiences that problem.

‍

The best sales motions are built around a clearly understood problem that impacts a specific type of customer. This is your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

‍

If you don’t have an Ideal Customer Profile, write it down today. Here’s a simple template:

- Problem statement - What’s the problem that you solve? Rember Fix, Accomplish, Avoid.

- Company profile - What types of companies have this problem? Fill in the firmographic details: revenue, number of employees, industry. The more specific you can be, the better.

- Champion profile - Who specifically at the company cares about this problem? What’s their title? What associations or organizations are they involved with? Where do they go to learn how to get better at their job?

- Executive buyer profile - Who is the C-Level or VP-Level executive that will write the check for your product

- Desired Outcome statement - What does the “city on the hill” look like for this customer where they have addressed their most pressing issues?

- Alternative Solutions - List all of the available solutions for addressing the customer’s problems

- Unique Selling Proposition - Explain in 5 sentences or less why your product or solution is uniquely qualified to solve the customer’s problem

‍

Run through this exercise before you pick up the phone to speak with a customer. If you already have customers, you can use them as inspiration for your Ideal Customer Profile.

‍

Build your List, Craft your pitch

‍

Now that you have your ICP, it’s time to create your sales execution plan.

If you are new to this, I recommend keeping your execution plan simple:

1. Build a list of 100 companies that fit your customer profile, more on that here.

2. Find at least two contacts at each company, one prospective Champion and one executive-level contact

3. Create your outbound email and call scripts based on your Problem Statement and Unique Selling Proposition.

4. Start reaching out to customers to set meetings. Lead with the problem that you can solve for them. Make it about them.

‍

That’s the plan. No frills, just sales. Don’t be fooled, it’s a ton of work. You will get rejected. You will make mistakes. But you will learn and hone in your sales approach.

‍

This is how you sell in the very early days. It starts by understanding the problem you are solving and who you solve that problem for. Then you build a list of targets and you go set meetings through phone calls and emails.

‍

Once you are in the meeting, build value by educating them on the problem. Then help the customer understand that you are the right partner to help them achieve their desired outcome.