Sell Like a Harley

Everyone knows Harley-Davidson. You need to wait in line if you want one of their motorcycles. And you’ll pay a premium for your hog because they’re so popular. Maybe you forgot when no one wanted to buy them. In 1981 when AMF tried to sell them, not one company offered to buy them. That’s quite a turn around from no one wanting you, to everyone who wants you standing in line. Their strategy for turning their business around has some powerful seeds of wisdom that can help us grow our businesses.

Know your business. Before they could focus on the customer they had to first focus on themselves. They had a product whose reputation for performance was less than stellar. They later got to poke fun at themselves in an ad. The ad had Malcolm Forbes’ hot air balloon hovering over a massive crowd of people. Forbes’ balloon was in the shape of a Harley bike. The caption said, “Thank G-d they don’t leak oil anymore.” They knew they had manufacturing and product problems. They focused on identifying the problems before they did anything else. They fixed their problems before they focused on their customers.

Know your customers. Harley-Davidson leadership identified who their customer was. Sure there’s the beefy, leather-clad tattooed rider who buys their product. Now their customer is most likely to be over 40. There are more women buyers than ever. When they examined who their true customer was, they decided it was their dealers. Their dealers were the focal point for the decision to buy a Harley. Harley-Davidson management decided that their job was to help their customers, the dealers, get customers. Their dealers became the customers that all programs were focused on.

Pay attention to details. Harley-Davidson now licenses a wide range of products. They range from helmets to clothing and accessories. You may have eaten at one of the Harley-Davidson Cafes. They even sell Harley-Davidson toys! Harley-Davidson is absolutely vigilant in protecting its logo in its placement and how it is used. They see every Harley-Davidson product with its logo as part of the Harley-Davidson experience. By paying very close attention to managing all the details in their licensing process, management can promote a positive Harley experience for their customers.

What Harley-Davidson does applies to everyone in sales. How they do it may be different than what each of us does in our businesses. The overall strategy works. Harley-Davidson went from losing $15.5 million in 1982 to earning $333.6 million in 1998. And they see themselves as a renewable company not a surviving one. Surviving companies don’t last. They are so focused on surviving that when the crisis passes, employees have nothing to hold on to. Renewable companies have continuity. They have employees who operate with a sense of personal responsibility. They don’t need a rulebook 2 inches thick. Their employees take the initiative to make the tough business decisions.

Harley-Davidson once had an ad showing the Harley-Davidson logo tattooed on a rider’s biceps. The caption said, “When’s the last time you felt so strongly about anything?” They don’t expect all their loyal customers to tattoo the Harley-Davidson logo on their arms. They do hope they’ll tattoo their Harley-Davidson experience on their hearts. Is the experience of buying from you tattooed on your customers’ hearts?

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Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/). She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is the author of the book Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.

Tools of the Trade

During every sales call the challenge is to send a message that will grab a customer’s attention, create awareness, and satisfy a need. You’ve got your work cut out for you. Now you need tools to do the job. Just as every craftsman works with tools, the salesperson works with words. Here are some words to consider that will build your sale.

No buts. When a customer voices a concern some salespeople hear ‘objection’. A concern can quickly become an objection and stall the sale when you make a poor word choice. Some salespeople first acknowledge the concern and follow with the word ‘but.’ The word ‘but’ effectively negates everything said before it. What your customer hears is the disagreement that precedes an argument. Instead, first acknowledge the concern and follow with ‘and.’ For example, your customer might comment that the process you recommend sounds complicated. You would respond “Yes, it is complicated and with our technical assistance…”

No problem. We are always delighted when our customers show their appreciation for special results and express their gratitude. Some salespeople reply with “No problem.” They’ve just lost an opportunity to generate some customer satisfaction points. Instead they left their customer associating their hard work with the word ‘problem.’ Every time your customer says “Thank you” the only response should be “My pleasure. I am always happy to help you.” Let your customer know that you look forward to helping. They will seek you out to serve them when they have problems instead of looking to your competition.

We write, too. The written word should also help us sell. Wordy language can put off your customers. You should avoid legal sounding words and phrases like:

· Enclosed please find · Contained herein

· Thank you in advance for your cooperation · Herewith

· Pursuant to your request · Under separate cover

Creating images. Understanding is everything. Selling involves listening as well as speaking. The salesperson listens while the customer speaks. Your customer has to listen while you are speaking so the sale can take place. You can choose words that make it easier for your customer to hear your selling message. Metaphors and similes are easy to listen to because they are word pictures that increase understanding. A metaphor is when we lend qualities to something that it normally doesn’t have. An example is “Lubrication is the lifeline of your operation” to describe how critical your product is to a plant’s productivity. A simile is a comparison of dissimilar things using like or as. An example is “Predictive maintenance is essential to production. It’s like heat is to coffee.” Look for ways to describe your products and services using metaphors and similes that create images. You will make it easier for your customers to listen and to hear your selling message.

As Mark Twain said, ”The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” By carefully selecting the best words for selling, you will enlighten your customers and avoid giving them some unexpected jolts.

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Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/). She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is the author of the book Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.

The Biggest Myth in Sales

Did you hear the one about great salespeople being great talkers? They have the gift of gab and they dazzle their customers into buying anything. Some salespeople even believe it. It's the biggest myth in sales. Here's how it got started and why it is a myth.

News travels fast. The poor salesman seems to leave a more lasting impression on the customer than the great salesperson, who makes selling look easy. Poor salespeople get remembered for their excessive talking and the word gets around. The myth is born.

These poor salespeople start talking about all they know the moment the sales call begins. They want to impress the customer with all their knowledge, thinking that selling is one-sided. Selling starts when you learn what your customer knows. Only when you hear what your customer needs should you start talking about your product or service. To really give yourself enough to work with, you should hear 3 needs before you begin your presentation. The way to do this is to question and listen.

Looks like I'm not doing anything. Some salespeople think they are selling and doing something only if they are talking. You are doing something when you actively listen. There are actual physiological changes in the body. Body temperature, heart rate and blood flow slightly increase with active listening.

A good listener focuses on the speaker and tries to determine what the speaker means. A good listener wants to gather clues about the speaker's message without judging. Try to gather clues about the speaker's feelings behind his message. Paying attention to nonverbal communication will give you more clues that you can use.

Enter with an open mind, ready to hear what your customer has to say about his business and job. Even though we know what we want to say in our selling message, we have to be flexible and respond to what our customers tell us. Selling is not a random event. Have several alternatives ready to provide solutions that meet your customer's needs.

Your job as a listener continues with providing feedback to the customer to check your understanding of his message. The feedback shows the customer what you've heard. This gives you an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings. It's also an opportunity to build a stronger communication bond when the salesperson taps into the customer's correct emotions.

The salesman's job as a listener is to translate what we hear from our customers into how our products and services can help them. Selling starts with our customers, not with us. If we're talking and not listening, we'll miss the clues. The myth of the salesman being a great talker got started by poor salespeople. Unfortunately, the great salespeople have to deal with this myth. Maybe they can address this myth while they're off golfing. That's another great myth.

Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in 1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or info@Bestatsellling.com.

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Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/). She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is the author of the book Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.

7 Habits of Less Successful Salespeople

Appeared October 2002 in Sales Pro News

What can you learn from others? Sometimes it's what to avoid doing. These examples are mistakes that will cost you business.

1. Thinking you can do it all yourself. Selling used to be a numbers game. In the past you could spend your time smiling and dialing and that might have worked. Today too many people are too busy to listen to a pitch. Cold calls are a low probability and only worth your time if your time isn't worth very much. The assistance sales people need from others is good solid leads and referrals to meet new customers.

2. Talking too much. Some salespeople think that the best salespeople are the best talkers. That's not true. The best sellers are great listeners and they use silence well. Silence is really golden in selling. Use it when you want your customers to talk more. Silence is appropriate when you are listening so you don't interrupt your customer. It's appropriate to use when you think about what your customer is saying. This will enable you to give him a thoughtful response.

3. Doing the same things in all situations. One of the predictors of success is flexibility or the ability to do different things in different situations. Some salespeople start their sales calls the same way and act the same way with every type of customer. Customers are different and the salesperson needs to respond to the type of customer he is talking to. It is appropriate to get right down to business in a sales call with an assertive, more emotionally controlled customer. It is inappropriate to do the same with a customer who is less assertive and more responsive.

4. Expecting things to happen now. Patience is a virtue that salespeople especially need. Some things do take time. If you want a piece of business badly enough you may have to be persistent and try to make contact over a period of months. Be patient and don't give up if the account is worth it. Negotiating may take time and impatience to close a deal can cost you money. Salespeople have to be able to deal with ambiguity and the unknown. Your patience is your power when it's combined with persistence.

5. Not telling the truth. Salespeople need to be honest not only with customers, but with themselves as well. Some salespeople fool themselves that a sale is going to happen when the odds are it's not. They tell their manager the sale will close soon because they hope it will. If a customer is still thinking when they could have said yes, it's time to move on to the next account. Be honest with yourself. Let go and get going to the next prospect.

6. Not taking good care of customers. Selling isn’t asking a question to find objections and then beating your customer into submission for each objection. If it's not a reasonable fit, forget the sale. Find the prospects that do need your benefits and value.

7. Thinking it's easy. People think selling is easy only because the great salespeople make it look easy. I recently spoke with a sales master who sold upwards of $50 million worth of construction contract surety bonds over the years. He said he never prepares for a sales call. When I asked him what he meant he said that when he makes a sales call he knows a few things about the prospect's business and general requirements. Then he asks questions about the areas he thinks might apply. I replied, "You may think you don't prepare, but you're using 30 years of preparation to sell." Selling is only easy when you don't know what you're doing.

You can learn from your mistakes. It's even better to learn from other people's mistakes. Avoid these mistakes and you will make your selling more successful.

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Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in 1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or info@Bestatsellling.com.

(c) Copyright 2004 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved.

Buyer's Score Card

How do you think a buyer prepares for your sales call? Some do more than you know. One buyer's work on rating suppliers' sales calls gives us insight into how other buyers are scrutinizing our selling. It can also teach us how to be effective salespeople.

A hospital that makes selling better. Ms. Vicki Perfect is the former Director of Employment and Education at Greenville Hospital System in Greenville, South Carolina. She led the project to develop criteria to evaluate vendors and the products and services they sell. The hospital needed to evaluate for a variety of reasons. They needed to better understand the diversity of their needs and to establish a shared vision for the expected outcomes of the product or service. Buyers from different departments were purchasing similar products for different application needs. This was impacting the bottom line of the hospital.

They also wanted to create a shared understanding of the relationship between cost benefits and customer satisfaction. With the hospital industry undergoing significant cost constraints it was easy to select from the lowest bid. However, ultimately that selection of the product or service had an impact on the hospital's ability to deliver quality care. By creating standard selection criteria the hospital was able to evaluate financial impact as well as the service impact of its purchase.

The checkup. Hospital management brought staff from different departments and different disciplines together in cross-functional focus groups. Their assignment was to identify and prioritize their product and customer satisfaction needs. They then developed specific evaluation criteria. These criteria were to address the hospital's operational needs; impact on patient care; product or service presentation/quality; and provide references from other companies. Cost was also a factor. Each vendor was rated on a 10 point scale for each item. Then each item's weighted priority was factored into the results.

The operation was a success. The hospital found that the evaluation criteria resulted in decreasing the time it took to purchase the products/services and deploy them throughout the hospital. The members of the cross-functional teams became champions for the products/services that were actually selected and used the selection criteria as a mini-education tool to implement the product or service in their department. An added plus for the hospital was that this effort developed intelligent buyers so that the hospital, rather than salespeople, determined what they wanted and needed.

So the next time you prepare for your sales call, remember that your customers may be doing their own preparation as well. Ask your customers about their purchasing criteria. If you're going to be evaluated for your selling, you might as well know what your customer is looking for. It's one way to deliver just what the doctor ordered.

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Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/). She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is the author of the book Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.

Danger Signals and Warning Signs

Life is filled with danger signals and warning signs. If you pay attention you can avoid the potholes and the problems that they cause. An oil leak in your car can be fixed with a $3 gasket. If ignored, your engine could seize and you'll pay $2000 for a replacement. Selling has its own danger signals and warning signs.

Not reading is dangerous. You need to learn about changes in business. Change is a warning signal. Any change is an opportunity for you or your competition. When staff or company needs change, salespeople need to respond quickly to ensure that their products continue to meet customer needs. Reading the newspaper is a source of knowledge about change. When you read the newspaper, you learn about changes in business that impact your customers' businesses and then your own. How else can you easily learn about mergers, strategic focus issues, competition, growth and failure to meet business objectives? Remember sales and business books, too. Even incorporating 15 minutes a day of additional reading will have a positive impact on your business knowledge and ultimately your business.

Having difficulty making call objectives for a sales call is a sign you're in trouble. Your job is to bring value to your customers. Another greeting by a smiling face is not a source of value. Objectives that add value to your customers' operations involve avoiding costs, reducing costs, or simplifying an operation for your customer. Planning before the sales call should include the steps to accomplish your objective. Having difficulty establishing your call objective is a clue that you might not be giving your customers a reason to do business with you.

Not knowing key decision makers is a bad sign. All accounts have critical decision makers. The economic decision maker reaches decisions based on cost. The technical decision maker decides based on specifications. The user makes decisions based on satisfaction with using your product. If you're only calling on one decision maker; if you're unfamiliar with all decision makers; or if you're unaware of each of their concerns, the red light goes on. Pay attention when your contacts move on and are replaced by others. You need to reestablish relationships with the new contact by identifying their key concerns and motivators. Forgetting to do the work to make a new contact loyal will leave you vulnerable to the past loyalties they've established with other suppliers.

No systematic process for prioritizing accounts is serious. Your selling time should be given to your accounts based on their probability of buying, their importance to your sales goals, and their need to see you. You need to ask and answer, "When is this account likely to buy? Is this a strategic account because of location, a particular product or volume? Is this a significant problem that warrants my time now?" In all cases the answer will determine what you should be doing and how much time you spend with each account. In all cases determine that your customer's needs are met with your lowest cost solution. If a phone call will work, why make a sales call? All customer contacts should be made after you identify your sales priorities and determine appropriate levels of service according to those priorities.

Do you find yourself saying what you would have, should have or could have done after you fix a problem? This is a sign that you ignored a danger signal. It's so much easier to avoid a problem than to fix it. When you hear yourself saying, "If only I had called on that new project engineer earlier I wouldn't have lost the account" it's time to start looking at your other business. You're probably missing some warning signs there, too.

Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in 1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or info@Bestatsellling.com.

Einstein's Theory of Selling

Did you know that Albert Einstein had a theory on selling? He said, "Doing things the same way you always have and expecting the results to be different is insanity." He may not have realized it at the time, but what better theory to apply to selling? Selling is complex and we face many challenges. We think that doing what we've always done is a strategy for success. Yet the choices we make are critical to our success. As your new year unfolds, what are you planning to do? Is it more insanity or getting different results?

Doing it. What do you want to do different? Sometimes when we're busy doing our job we lose sight of where our challenges are. What has stressed you? Think about all the times you thought last year "if only I could do X," "if only I knew more about Y," or "there's got to be a better way to do this." Maybe it was putting a bid proposal together, addressing the time inefficiencies of business travel, or improving your use of technology. Remember those thoughts and make a plan to incorporate them as goals in your 1999 selling. Write your goals down, set a due date and quantify how you will achieve them.

For some people, it's hard to be creative and come up with new ideas for change. Get others to help you achieve your goals. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are enough salespeople, books and Internet sites that can be ready sources of guidance. Expect that it may take time to see results. Just remember, if you're going to be complaining to yourself this year about something you faced last year, you're contradicting Einstein's Theory of Selling.

Showing it. We can plan to do things differently for our customers as well. How do you show your customers you appreciate them? Lunches are fine, but everyone does them. What else could you do that sets you apart that also builds rapport with your customers? When you read the newspaper and other journals, are you looking for articles that are of particular interest to select clients? What business book (or other book) could you recommend to your customer that would enhance his job performance? Each time you send information that helps your customers, you are also saying you care about them and their business.

What about our customers' expectations? We certainly demonstrate by our past actions what our customers can expect from us as suppliers. We also know the results we have gotten from our behavior. If these results are what you want, keep doing more of the same. If they're not, Albert would say to do something different.

Now that the year is new, you can make it a different one. You can choose what you do in your selling. You can set your own expectations for results. Then later this year when you examine your results, remember that selling is all relative. It's relative to your choices and your expectations. Even Einstein would agree.

Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in 1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or info@Bestatsellling.com.