Category: Sales Management

Effective persuasive techniques in sales are critical to the outcome of any discussion or sales process and form a crucial part of what I have labelled micro-selling skills.

It’s generally accepted that salespeople have what is described as the gift of the gab. They develop this gift as part of their life education system, which includes school and continues throughout personal interaction with people.

Very few salespeople have had someone follow along passively listing to them as they engage in the selling process, nor have they had the privilege of having someone spend time reviewing their writing skills to seek an understanding of the purpose behind what has been written and why it was phased in a particular way.

However, salespeople use persuasive language, verbal, nonverbal, and written, to convince prospective buyers to agree with their perception of facts, share their values, accept their arguments and conclusions, and adopt their way of thinking.

So, let’s break it down into subcategories we can better articulate and understand.

Analogy: Analogy is a form of reasoning which compares one thing with another to make a particular point.

Cause and effect: Arguments may claim a cause-and-effect relationship when there is just a relationship, and other factors should be considered.

Connotations: The connotation is the emotional meaning associated with the word. Persuasive salespeople often choose their words carefully so that the connotation suits their purpose.

Colloquial language: Colloquial language is an informal, everyday, conversational language that includes down-to-earth views. It is seductive because it appears friendly and can make the prospective customer feel that the salesperson is on the same wavelength as them.

Evidence: Using evidence is very persuasive as it allows the prospective customer to understand better the sales proposal and the logic behind why they should purchase the goods on offer.

Formal Language: Formal language can make the salesperson sound knowledgeable while removing emotion from the issue. This can make the argument sound reasonable and rational, and the contention seems balanced.

Generalisations: Make sweeping statements about a whole group based on only one or two members. These can be persuasive if the prospective customer believes the generalization is appropriate but can undermine the argument if they do not.

Humour: Humor, such as puns, irony, sarcasm, satire, and jokes, can be persuasive by dismissing opposing views, providing a more engaging and friendly tone, and swaying a prospective customer by having them join in the joke.

Inclusive and Exclusive Language: Inclusive language such as ‘we’, ‘our, us, and exclusive

Language such as ‘them’ can be persuaded by including the prospective customer or by creating a sense of solidarity or responsibility.

Jargon: Using specialised terms, the salesperson can persuade the audience that they are experts.

Repetition: By repeating letters, words, and phrases, the author can reinforce an argument and ensure that the point of view stays in a prospective customer’s mind.

Rhetorical Questions: Rhetorical questions do not require an answer and are asked for effect only. They engage the prospective customer and encourage them to consider the issue and accept the salesperson’s answer, or they imply that the answer is so obvious that anyone who disagrees is foolish.

Conclusion—None of the persuasive techniques outlined above will be beyond improvement in any situation delivered by any salesperson, no matter how skilful that salesperson may be.

Therefore, as a Sales Manager (Coach), you must be present and have the skills to identify how the technique could be improved before possible improvement.

At that, my friends are what I have called “Micro Selling Skills”.

What Are Micro Selling Skills

Other Items Covered in What Are Micro Selling Skills

1. Active Listening Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Negotiation Skills
4. Persuasive Skills
5. Problem-Solving Skills
6. Presentation Skills
7. Self-Motivating Skills
8. Story Telling Skills

What are the Negotiation Skills You Must Learn to Succeed if you genuinely want to be successful in sales?

The main goal of any sales negotiation is to reach an acceptable agreement for both parties. During the negotiation process, buyers and sellers communicate what they want and need and where they are able or willing to make concessions.

The environment will dictate the level of Negotiation Skills required, the required outcome, and the people or businesses involved in the negotiations.

The following are several key negotiation skills that apply to many business situations. By no means is the list complete, but it will provide the reader with an improved perspective of the skills they will need to develop.

Active listening

Active listening skills are crucial for understanding the other person’s position in all negotiations. Active listing skills are all about retaining information, taking excellent notes, and understanding the priority/importance of the prospective buyer’s focus.

Communication

I have covered essential communication skills in a previous post, so please revert to that post.

Decision making

Good negotiators can act decisively during a negotiation, given that it may be necessary to agree to a compromise as part of the negotiation. You need to be able to react decisively, keeping in mind that your decisions may have lasting effects on yourself or your company. It is important to think through your options carefully without overthinking your decision. Going back and forth between your options without a clear answer might bring unnecessary stress.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to control one’s emotions while reading other people, given that the dynamics of any meeting can change quickly.

If you’re unsatisfied with the negotiation’s progress at any time, don’t be afraid to call a halt and seek to reconvene at a later date. However, it is vital that you do so with a fresh perspective.

Integrity

Integrity, having strong ethical and moral principles, is essential in any negotiation.

Being thoughtful, respectful, and honest builds trust in what you say.

As a negotiator, you must be able to follow through on any commitments you make during the negotiation process.

Manage Expectations

Ensure that before you enter negotiations, you have a clear understanding of what you would prefer to gain and what you are prepared to accept. You have to understand that both parties in any negotiation have set similar boundaries, so unless there is a chasm between the parties that just cannot be bridged, a negotiated outcome is highly probable.

Patience

Some negotiations can take longer to complete and involve multiple negotiations and possible counteroffers. Patience will always win out, so let the process unfold, and you will reach a conclusion that suits both sides.

Persuasion

The ability to influence others about the importance of your product/solution is no less important than the skills used to negotiate an outcome of more significant benefit to you. Persuasion starts with the product/solution offered, which is highlighted by the actual or perceived benefits the product/solution offers, and finally, any additional inducement you may be prepared to provide to close the business.

Planning

Negotiation requires planning to determine what you need from the sale and what you are prepared to negotiate away to win the business.

It is essential to know the value (RRP) and the cost (product cost, including the cost of materials, labour costs, and manufacturing overhead costs)of any product you may offer as part of the negotiation. For example, a widget may have a product cost of $50 and an RRP of $159, so offering the customer 10 widgets as an inducement to purchase provides them with $1,590 in value while your costs are only $500.

Problem-solving

Negotiation requires the ability to see the problem and find a solution. If a price is too high, how can it be lowered? If a resource is in short supply, how can it be increased? Finding unique solutions to problems may be the determining factor in compromise.

Other Items Covered: What Are Micro Selling Skills

1. Active Listening Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Negotiation Skills
4. Persuasive Skills
5. Problem-Solving Skills
6. Presentation Skills
7. Self-Motivating Skills
8. Story Telling Skills

Effective communication skills are essential for salespeople if achieving the sales forecast is a priority. So why should sales managers invest time and energy in investigating their effectiveness and commitment to improving the skills of each salesperson in their team?

With over 50 years of experience in sales and having coached dozens of salespeople, I have witnessed it all: the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly.

In my early days, I rescued sales that were unquestionably going to be lost, and I found that all these salespeople had learned was to rely on my closing skills.  

I learned the power of pre-and post-sales call conferences, where I would ask before we made a sales call what our purpose was and what we were trying to achieve in the call.

When the sales call was over, I reviewed it, seeking an understanding from the salesperson of what they thought we achieved compared to what we wanted.

After every sales call, the salesperson better understands the prospective customer, and that new perspective allows them to replay the call, taking into account this new perspective.

So, after each sales call, I also asked, given this new perspective, if we could walk back into that sales call and do it all over again, what would they say or do differently?

I stopped rescuing sales. Instead, I allowed sales to be lost—well, not necessarily lost; let’s just say delayed—because the lessons learned by the salespeople and this new perspective always allowed us a further opportunity.

As I have consistently said, “A coach doesn’t run onto the field and make a tackle for his payer. A coach looks at how the player can make a tackle more effectively and then coaches that technique.

Communication skills, what a salesperson said, how the prospective customer responded/reacted, and how the salesperson adjusted are things that can only be identified by being in the room as a passive observer, as a coach who is looking to determine what needs to be improved and their sets about trying to improve those skills.

Every time two people try to communicate, many things can happen. Here are several possible messages that can be sent when one person speaks to another:

1. What the speaker intends to say.
2. What the speaker says.
3. What the speaker is understood to have said.
4. What the hearer wants to hear.
5. What the hearer hears.

These simple communication points are often the difference between a sale being lost, stalled, or won. They happen when the salesperson is too busy thinking about what they need to say or show next to appreciate what was lost in communication.

This is where the Sales Manager acting as a passive observer earns their salt. It’s where the sales coach identifies the Macro Selling Skills that need to be improved. It’s the “Compound Effect“, the 1% improvement built on top of all the other 1% improvements.

Communication skills include but are not limited to the following:

1. Verbal (face to face)
2. Verbal (phone)
3. Witten (proposals, emails, messaging, etc)
4. Social
5. Presentations
6. Video Conferencing

Of these, written communication is the most important simply because, unlike everything else, it remains a permanent measure of a person’s communication skills.

So, let’s start with the best definition of communication.

The act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviours to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else. Formal: a message given to someone, such as a letter, telephone call, etc., is a way of sending information to people using technology.

By definition, communication embraces a great number of engagement options with prospective customers, so you will have to spend time on face-to-face calls, in Zoom meetings, listening to telephone conversations, and reviewing all written communications.

In many ways, good writing is good writing regardless of its particular purpose, but the following characteristics are essential for business writing.

1. Clear Purpose
2. Clarity
3. Awareness of Audience
4. Appropriate Tone
5. Attention to Form
6. Story Telling

English Professors and Sales Managers will assess the writing skills of a salesperson differently, and we need to be mindful of it. Our prospective customers are rarely English Professors but simply people who want and or need the product/service we are selling.

The primary objective of all salespeople is to have a strong understanding of the prospect’s requirements to ensure they are included effectively in any communication.

Secondly, a strong understanding of what benefits the prospect would gain from using the product/service will ensure they focus on these benefits and confirm their importance.

The best way to measure the six points I have listed above is to rank each salesperson between 1 and 10, with 10 being the highest; no one ever gets a 10 out of 10.

While this method of assessing a salesperson’s communication is subjective, it is better than not evaluating their skill.

Other Items Covered: What Are Micro Selling Skills

1. Active Listening Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Negotiation Skills
4. Persuasive Skills
5. Problem-Solving Skills
6. Presentation Skills
7. Self-Motivating Skills
8. Story Telling Skills

Based on the many conversations and exchanges I have had with people, the first question I am often asked is, “What Are Microselling Skills?” So, I thought I would detail in several posts the definitions and measurement criteria I used while coaching the salespeople I worked with.

I believe the following list of skills is essential when looking for success.

1. Active Listening Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Negotiation Skills
4. Persuasive Skills
5. Problem-Solving Skills
6. Presentation Skills
7. Self-Motivating Skills
8. Story Telling Skills

So, let us start with Active Listening Skills.

It requires the salesperson to actively engage with the prospect, qualifying their requirements, understanding what benefits they would gain from the product/service you are selling, and describing the decision-making process used to purchase.

While the salesperson may know of several benefits, the prospective customer would gain from using the product/service, knowing which benefit is of greater importance to the prospect will increase the possibility of making a sale and shorten the timeline.

Understanding the consequences of not buying the product/service is as important as knowing the benefits the prospect would gain from its use.

So, let’s just get down to how you rate and look to improve a salesperson’s Active Listening Skills.

Your participation in any sales call must remain passive, even if the sale will be lost. Remember a coach doesn’t run onto the field and make tackles for the player they are coaching, they coach the player after the game to improve the skill.

1. Does the salesperson spend time conversing at the beginning of the sales call, or do they jump into the sales pitch?
2. Does the salesperson actively seek to understand the prospect’s requirement or deliver the standard presentation?
3. Does the salesperson vary the presentation depending on information gleaned from the prospect?
4. Does the salesperson seek to understand what benefits the prospect would gain from using the product/service, or do they tell the prospect what benefits they would gain?
5. Does the salesperson seek to understand the consequences of the prospect not buying the product/service?

I haven’t listed all the criteria that I used because the balance applies to the capital equipment industry, where I have worked for most of my career.

Secondly, I want and need you to consider criteria that apply to your industry and consider including them in anything you do going forward.

Why? That is how I have always managed: I give them something to think about and ask them what they think and what can be added or improved.

As an example of Active Listening Skills, let me give you an example of how a face-to-face meeting could go.

Before I start, I have looked at your website, and I think I have a fairly good understanding of what you do and the markets you serve. But rather than relying on that observation, could I ask you to take a few minutes to gain your perspective on the company’s current and future direction?

Take notes because you are building a relationship with the prospect built on your interest in the person, his view of the company, his thoughts on its future direction, and a thousand other points of interest.

The information gleaned from these few minutes will allow you to ask more questions, gaining a first-hand insight into how your product/service is going to fit into this company and what benefits it is going to offer

Active Listing Skills are all about the ability to collect information and use it in your sales presentation.

Join me next week for an outline of the Micro Selling Skill “Communication Skills. “

Coaching Sales Managers how to coach winning sales teams can best be described by a quote from the great Mohammad Ali – “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

Effective Sales Management is all about coaching individuals, helping them to become better people, realising their true potential, and, yes, in some instances, helping them realise what that potential is.

When I was nominated for Australian Sales Manager of the Year over 30 years ago, I was interviewed along with the other nominated people. In that interview, I was quoted as saying that Robert believes that priorities and profit should follow people in management. “My most important responsibility as a Sales manager is people, “he says. “Without that, the rest doesn’t matter. Look after your people, and the business will benefit.”

When it was published, that article caused great concern among my peers but not with my manager because being 180% over forecast gave me lots of latitude.

So here are several quotes that have helped shape my thoughts. I hope one or more are of interest to you and inspire you to find ways to help the people who look to you for guidance, direction, and, most of all, inspiration.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” – Muhammad Ali.

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up”. – Vince Lombardi.

“The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable and comfort the troubled.” – Ric Charlesworth.

“Set goals – high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good.”  – Bear Bryant.

“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” – Billie Jean King.

“The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. The will to prepare to win is important.” – Bobby Knight.

“There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” – Tommy Lasorda.

“Don’t stop three steps short.” Bennett barked this with particular emphasis during training runs, Don’t Die With The Music In You.”– Wayne Bennet

“As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a ‘V’ formation, the whole flock adds 71 per cent to the flying range.”– Phil Jackson.

“When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds in front.” – Phil Jackson.

“If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” – Vince Lombardi.

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing,” he said. – Vince Lombardi.

“You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi.

“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if willing to pay the price.”  – Vince Lombardi.

“If what you did yesterday still looks big to you, You haven’t done much today.” – Mikhail Gorbachev.

“A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.” – Mike Krzyzewski.

“Sent off, carried off, but never backed off.” – David Dunworth.

“Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible; one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.”  – Roger Bannister.