To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others - Book Review

Happy Cyclists Riding in Los Angeles CA

Once upon a time Jim decide he wanted to get out of doors more and become more fit.  He considered many different types of sports or activities.  Eventually he decided that the aerobic, scenic, social, and enjoyment benefits of a bicycle made cycling his first choice.  So he headed over to his local bicycle dealer. 

Once there, he met a nice young man who proceeded to help him choose his ride.  He finally decided on a $1200 road bike and the nice young man rang him up.  On his way to the car, he wondered how he was going to transport the bike from the shop to home, which caused him to wonder about transporting it other places.  He walked back in to the shop, and the nice young man sold him a car carrier that was just right for his car and the bike. 

That evening Jim decided to go out for a ride on his new bike.  He headed over to a nearby bike lane and joined others pedaling along.  He soon noticed that most of them were wearing helmets, and thought he should probably have bought one.  In chatting with one of the folks on the path, Eddie, he learned that a friend of Eddies had been badly hurt in a solo accident when he hit his head.  Jim wondered why the nice young man at the shop hadn't sold him a helmet if there was such a danger in going without one. 

Eddie also mentioned that the local discount store had helmets cheap.  He also said that Jim might want to get a light for riding at night, a lock, a pump, and some other items.  Jim took the advice and headed over to the big box store and got a few things. 

Over the next month Jim really enjoyed his bicycle and met lots of friends.  He only had one real beef with cycling.  Flat tires.  Living in thorn country, he had several flats in that first month.  He always took the bike back to the shop where he bought it, even though the nice young man hadn't been very helpful in telling him about things he would need to make his riding experience more enjoyable and less dangerous.  The shop fixed his flats, but each time it was costing $15. 

So Jim started looking into walking, running, basketball and a few other ways to exercise, meet people and have fun.  He had almost given up on cycling when one day he complained to a cycling friend, Candy, about the flat issue.  Candy said that her bike shop sold her some tire liners called RhinoDillos and that she hadn't had a flat in months.  Jim was still on the fence about staying with cycling, but he wasn't on the fence about where to shop for bicycle items any longer. 

Then end

You will note that I slanted this story to end with a pitch for RhinoDillos, which is one of my clients.  However, the point of the story is far more pointed.  For my entire history in business, I have believed, preached and lived a philosophy that was summed up in a slogan we had at the factory I owned, AC International - Enhancing the Bicycling Experience.  Every product, every package, every marketing approach was designed around the idea of making cycling better, more enjoyable, and less problematic. 

Even the way that we sold distributors was with the proposition in mind that we needed to make them a pile of money, and make their dealers happy with them.  We provided spiffs to the distributor sales people, and created consumer advertising to help sell the product through. 

What are you doing in your business to serve your clients?  Are your sales people and customer service employees focused on making sure the customer has a great experience, or is the goal merely to move product out the door?  Is there a culture throughout your business of making a difference in the lives of the consumers or businesses you serve. 

I just finished reading "To Sell Is Human:  The Surprising Truth About Moving Others," by Daniel H. Pink.  I can recommend it without question, but with a caveat.  Read it with the following 6-point sales approach that I have been writing about for 35 years in mind.  I think you will see that the book reflects these approaches, while do a fantastic job of supporting them and adding to them

Enthusiasm - energy, love the product, the business, and believe in your ability to move people to action.  Engage each customer or client in a personal way.  Even exchange names.
Find the Need - Ask questions in order to determine the actual need
Fill the Need - Present the appropriate product or service, concentrating on benefits and the experience, not the features
Handle Objections with Questions - Further hone the need and establish a caring relationship
Trial Close - Test the waters with the client.
Close - Ask for the order using a choice close or other method (the book is not big on this).
Sell Add-Ons - CRITICAL - These are the key to the above.  The add-ons are necessary to make the experience work right.  They are also needed to make you money.

I certainly recommend that you read this book, and use it as a tool to motivate your sales
workers.  You might even make it required reading. 

Seven Salesman Traits You Should Look For in Hiring

"Nothing Happens Until Something Is Sold"

I'm pretty sure that I said this first.  Maybe it will show up in a book of quotations some day with my name after it.  The first time I wrote it for publication was in my first book over 30 years ago.  And this phrase has appeared in every book on business that I've written over those 30 some years.  However many times it is repeated, there are just millions of small business owners, managers, and marketers who completely lose sight of this critical statement.

Examples abound:

• Beautiful stores with $8 an hour sales people and no commission or incentive
• Amazing products with no sales force or strategy in place
• Beautiful websites, print ads, and brochures with no call to action
• Highly trained professionals who've never read a book on closing sales
• Phone customer service people who have not been trained to upsell

Do you recognize yourself or your business in that list.  It is the short list.  It could be so much longer.  The bottom line is that most owners don't like to sell, don't like and/or know how to hire, train, or motivate sales people, and aren't willing to learn.  Then, these same poorly trained and unmotivated owners place no value in sales professionalism, so they hire people that can't sell and pay them less than their housekeeper. 

The solution is to do the opposite.  If you hope to be successful, you as the owner or manager are going to have to learn to sell, and to hire, and motivate sales people.  There are classic books on this subject, including my own, Running a 21st Century Small Business by Warner Business Books, and available at Amazon.com.    However, I make no claim to having written the best book on sales.  No such hubris here.  Check out classics like Think and Grow Rich or anything written by Og Mandino.

 

Outstanding Sales Staff Makes All the Difference 

 

One client retailer had a stellar sales guy who left to pursue better money.  Over the next months he wondered why his sales were declining.  The rest of his staff had no background, talent, training, or even desire to sell.  They loved the product, but they didn't know how to sell.

I finally convinced the client that this was the issue, and he found another outstanding sales guy.  Sales shot up immediately, and even eclipsed earlier sales levels.

Basics for Picking a Sales Person for Your Company

Much has been written about this subject.  And there are at least 10 different approaches.  Here is my list in kind of an order of importance:

1. Competitive - Hire athletes with a history of setting goals and beating opponanats
2. Finishers - Hire folks who finish their tasks.  Have them tell you in the interview examples of finishing or not finishing.
3. Enthusiastic - Rare to find outstanding sales people who are not super enthusiastic
4. Learners - You want someone who will learn all there is to know about your store, products, services, unique selling proposition, how to sell, who is the customer . . .
5. Sell you - First impression, second impression, close you on the hire.  If not, what makes you think they will give a good first impression, second impression and close customers
6. Love commissions - Any good sales person believes that they will make more on commission
7. Interested in Filling Needs - Does the prospect ask about you, about the company, about your goals.  Then turn the information into a pitch for his being hired?  Good prospect.

What other sales traits would you put on the list?

Here are actions you should consider on this sixth day of the dare:

• How are your own personal sales skills. Purchase a book or video on selling and improve your capabilities.
• Set up a system to keep track of sales performance, especially closes and dollars per invoice.
• Review your sales staff. Anyone not closing at least 40% of their opportunities should be let go or reassigned to a non-sales position.  They are wasting an asset. A lead is an asset.
• Any salesperson not closing at least 50% should be retrained. 
• Train on how to increase dollars per transaction, and to create a client instead of just a customer.
• Consider commissions, incentives, bonuses, spiffs, contests. Salespeople are generally very competitive and will work for these incentives just to win.

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