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Everyone's a Salesperson by Brian Tracy
Sometimes I ask my seminar attendees, “How many people here are in
sales?” It’s interesting to watch how people respond to that question.
There are always a few people who will raise a hand at first, and then
another hand goes up, and then another, and soon perhaps half the people in
the room have a hand up, even though they may be in fields such as
management, administration, finance and accounting.
I then smile and ask again, “Now, how many people here are really in
sales?” At this point, virtually every person in the room has raised a
hand. We all smile at the realization that each of us is in the business
of selling every single day.
From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at
night, you are negotiating, communicating, persuading, and influencing
- trying to get people to cooperate with you to accomplish the things
that you want them to accomplish. So the pivotal question with regard to
selling is not if you are doing it, but if you are good at it.
All top executives are excellent salespeople. All effective parents are
wonderful salespeople. All effective employees use sales techniques to
get their coworkers and bosses to go along with them and to cooperate
with them in getting the job done. Everyone who is effective in
virtually any are of life that involves other people is an excellent
salesperson of some kind.
Unfortunately, over the years, a stigma has grown up around the selling
profession. Many people feel that selling is a low-level type of
activity and they don’t like to be associated with it - even people who are
in sales! Virtually no colleges or universities have a “Department of
Selling,” even though almost 15 million Americans make their living by
selling something to someone. It is the largest single, identifiable
occupational group in the United States.
Salespeople are the movers and shakers in every business and industry.
They are the key people who create the demand for all the products and
services that keep everyone employed at every other occupation.
The basis for all successful sales efforts is a discipline called gap
analysis. Gap analysis is clearly defining what your idea, product, or
service can do for a person and then deciding how to demonstrate that in
a compelling way.
People tend to buy based on how they anticipate feeling as a result of
owning and enjoying a particular product or service. In fact, they make
their decision based on whether or not that feeling is more valuable to
them than the money they will have to part with.
In selling or persuading anyone to do anything, there is an “ABC theory
of motivation” that is very powerful. In it, “A” represents a state of
“felt dissatisfaction.” This means that the individual is not satisfied
with his or her current situation or condition.
The “C” represents a state of greater satisfaction. If the individual
can get to this state, the felt dissatisfaction in his or her current
situation will be relieved.
The “B” in this ABC theory is the product, service, idea, action, or
activity that you are trying to persuade the person to acquire or to
engage in.
So, to repeat, the “A” is the existing state of dissatisfaction. The
“C” is the future anticipated state of greater satisfaction or relieved
dissatisfaction. The “B” is what you are offering as a means to that
relief.
According to this theory, getting people to do something that they
would not have done in the absence of your influence is possible only when
a gap exists between their current situation and the ideal situation
that they would like to enjoy.
The very best persuaders, communicators, and salespeople are those who
concentrate their attention on identifying the exact gap that exists
and determining how big it is. They then focus on widening that gap in
every possible way, until the prospect begins to feel more and more
dissatisfied with his or her current situation and more and more desirous of
enjoying the preferable situation that is achievable by the use of the
product, service, or idea.
Let me give you an example. I was quite happy with my car until
recently. It was a nice car, it was paid off, and it was running fine. Then I
took it in to the dealership for a regular checkup and service. The
service manager did an excellent job of analysis and came back to me with
the sad fact that the car required not only new tires all around, but
also a complete new set of brakes, a wheel alignment, and a lot of other
things. The total cost would be about $3,000.
You can imagine my reaction. I was shocked. I had no idea that the car
required that much service. Well, I thought, what the heck, at least
it’s cheaper than buying a new car. Then a salesman at the dealership
pointed out to me that the car would drop another $2,000 in value at the
turn of the model year, which was coming up in about 60 days. He told me
that if I kept the car, and repaired it, I would lose $5,000 off the
total value of the car, which I could never recover.
Suddenly, I went from complacency about my car to dissatisfaction, and
then to great dissatisfaction and an intense desire to improve my
condition in some way. The salesman then went on to explain that he could
take my car as a down payment on a brand new luxury automobile, with no
cash out of my pocket, and he could spread the payments over three,
four, or five years so that the cost to me would be very reasonable. At
that, all my resistance vanished. I started out satisfied with my car,
then became so dissatisfied with it that I bought a brand new, expensive
luxury car - and, surprisingly enough, I drove away happy.
Here are some of the key points in gap analysis that my salesman
applied. You can use these same techniques to persuade people to move from
where they are to where you want them to be.
Remember that people buy solutions to their problems, not products or
services. In fact, as a salesperson, you need to be more of a problem
finder than a vendor. The more you focus on the problem, or the gap that
exists between the real and the ideal in the customer situation, the
faster you will find a place where your product or service can plug the
gap.
The bigger the problem that the customer or prospect has, the bigger
the potential sale. One of the most powerful questions you can ask a
person is, “How much is that problem costing you?” Help him to identify not
only the obvious, direct costs, but also the not-so-obvious, indirect
costs.
Ask the prospect, “What are the implications? What is the meaning of
that problem to you? What other things does it affect in your work or
personal life?”
The most astute salespeople are those who are capable of finding a
small gap and then expanding it into a wide gap. They are capable of
discovering a small problem or dissatisfaction in the mind of the prospect
and then, by questioning and commenting, increase it until the prospect
develops an intense desire for the solution they are offering.
If you are selling to companies, you have to ask what the decision
makers in the organization want to accomplish. What is the gap between
where they are and where they want to be? How is the decision maker
rewarded, and for what? What does the decision maker have to do to earn the
respect, esteem, and support of this or her superiors and coworkers?
One of the deepest subconscious needs of all people is the need for
self-esteem, for feeling valuable, important, and worthwhile. If you can
ascertain what people need to do to increase their self-esteem and their
perceived value in their organization, and then show them that by using
your product or service, they can earn the approval and appreciation of
the people around them and above them, they will often be very
motivated to buy what you are selling.
When you meet prospects for the first time, you will find that they are
usually unaware that a gap exists between where they are and where they
could be. They will often say things like, “I’m not interested,” or “I
can’t afford it,” or “We’re quite happy with our current situation.”
These are normal and natural responses. No one likes to change. Your job
is to describe a state of even greater satisfaction that they could
enjoy if they did something different. Virtually all advertising is aimed
at showing people how much better off they could be with a product or
service that they have not yet acquired.
Gap analysis is based on asking good questions - questions focused on
discovering problems that might be troubling the prospect. There is a
direct correlation between the use of good questioning techniques and
sales success. The more and better questions you ask aimed at finding a
problem or uncovering a dissatisfaction, the more interest the prospect
will have and the more sales you will make. The person who asks
questions has control.
Good salespeople always plan the wording of their questions, rewriting
them and practicing them before they get face-to-face with a prospect.
Poor salespeople, on the other hand, make up their questions as they go
along.
Here are some great questions for gap analysis.
The first question is an application of the “magic-want technique.”
Imagine that you have a magic wand that you can wave over the prospect’s
situation and you ask this question: “Mr. [or Ms.] Prospect, if this
situation were absolutely perfect in every respect, what would it look
like? Then remain completely silent. When the prospect begins to describe
that perfect situation, you’ll uncover the gaps you can fill to create
his or her ideal future. When you explain how your product or service
can bridge those gaps, you will greatly enhance your chances of making a
sale.
A great set of questions begins with the words What if? For example,
you can ask, “What if we could achieve this particular result for you;
what effect would that have on your current operations?”
Good questions that grab the prospect’s attention will start him or her
visualizing and imagining an ideal future state, exactly the state that
your product or service is meant to achieve.
A final key to effective selling through gap analysis is to share some
of the experiences of people who have previously purchased your product
or service. Use third-party references, testimonials, and anecdotes.
Say something like, “I have a very good customer who had a similar
situation to yours not long ago.” Then go on to explain how your customer was
able to rectify that situation in a cost-effective way by accepting
your recommendation.
To be truly persuasive in the selling process, use gap analysis.
Instead of trying to overwhelm your prospects with reasons and rationales for
doing what you want them to do, ask questions aimed at uncovering their
current problems, needs, and dissatisfactions. Listen carefully to the
answers they give you, and ask additional questions to help them expand
on their situation. Take a few moments to feed their answers back to
them, to show that you were really listening and that you really
understand their needs. Then position yourself to influence and persuade your
prospects by showing them how your product or service just happens to be
the ideal way to solve their problem, satisfy their need, or achieve
their goal.
When you take this low-pressure approach to getting people to do what
you want them to do, they will buy from you with pleasure, and they will
recommend you to their friends. They will feel they are being helped to
improve their lives rather than being pressured into buying something
that they may not want or need.
The wonderful thing about selling is that it is a learned skill. No
matter what level of selling ability you possess today, by continued
practice, you can become better and more persuasive. And the more effective
you are at selling, the more successful you will be in every area of
your life.
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