The Four Faces of Sales: How to Build Your Personal Value Currency in the Eyes of Your Customer - Softcover

Orvos, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1491704721 ISBN 13: 9781491704721

Verlag: iUniverse, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Selling a service or a product is about closing deals. As a sales professional, if you don't close, you're not making any money for yourself or your company. But closing won't happen without an approach that makes you stand out from the thundering herd of competition-one that can make you more valuable in the eyes of the customer. In The Four Faces of Sales, author John Orvos presents a unique, fresh, and practical approach to sales excellence. Drawn from his success as a sales leader in his own software company and from the years that followed, Orvos identifies, defines, and provides numerous examples of the four key steps, or faces, of sales-the sleuth, doctor, quarterback, and hero. His new sales approach facilitates success by building on what's known as personal value currency in the eyes of the customer. This guide goes beyond giving you the typical "what to do" and "how to do it" advice. The right skill used at the wrong time will not yield any better results than the wrong skill will. The Four Faces of Sales explains what skills you need, teaches you how to execute these skills, and ensures you know precisely when to use them. You can create a positive, branded buying experience by taking the right actions at the right time. Selling a service or a product is about closing deals. As a sales professional, if you don't close, you're not making any money for yourself or your company. But closing won't happen without an approach that makes you stand out from the thundering herd of competition-one that can make you more valuable in the eyes of the customer. In The Four Faces of Sales, author John Orvos presents a unique, fresh, and practical approach to sales excellence. Drawn from his success as a sales leader in his own software company and from the years that followed, Orvos identifies, defines, and provides numerous examples of the four key steps, or faces, of sales-the sleuth, doctor, quarterback, and hero.

Über diesen Titel

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

THE FOUR FACES OF SALES

HOW TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL VALUE CURRENCY IN THE EYES OF YOUR CUSTOMER

By JOHN ORVOS

iUniverse LLC

Copyright © 2013 John Orvos
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-0472-1

Contents

Introduction...............................................................
vii
Part 1: The Sleuth Face....................................................
1
1. Becoming Sherlock.......................................................
3
2. Understanding ICE.......................................................
8
3. Sleuth Hypothesis.......................................................
21
4. Making the Call.........................................................
25
5. Recap of the Sleuth Approach............................................
36
Part 2: The Doctor Face....................................................
39
6. Doctor Examination......................................................
41
7. Navigating the Initial Meeting..........................................
46
8. Making a Prognosis......................................................
58
9. The Doctor's Prescription...............................................
67
10. Recap of the Doctor Approach...........................................
72
Part 3: The Quarterback Face...............................................
73
11. Quarterback Challenge..................................................
75
12. Play the Game..........................................................
80
13. Tactfully Challenging Your Customers...................................
88
14. Call the Next Play.....................................................
95
15. Recap of the Quarterback Approach......................................
99
Part 4: The Hero Face......................................................
101
16. The Hero Closer........................................................
103
17. The Final Approach.....................................................
109
18. Finalizing the Agreement...............................................
113
19. Going for the Gold.....................................................
117
20. Recap of the Hero Approach.............................................
123
Conclusion.................................................................
125

CHAPTER 1

Becoming Sherlock

IN "JULIE'S DILEMMA," we saw Julie overcome a common obstacle insales. You uncover the customer's problem, present the product as a wayto help the customer solve it, and then the customer gets cold feet. InJulie's case, it's important to ask why the executives allowed us to makethat presentation to upper management. Julie's personal value currencyplayed a major role in her success, but there is more to it than that.

Learning from Julie

Let's go back to the beginning. Remember, Julie had invested agreat deal of time and energy on this deal. She had established herselfas a credible, trustworthy source of information and help for thesecustomers. She'd made many, many deposits into her personal-valuebank account, and in the end, she needed to make a big withdrawalfrom those reserves to close the deal. Developing this personal valuecurrency began with the very first call Julie made.

Most salespeople do not operate the way Julie did with thiscustomer. Even Julie herself did not when she was newer to sales.

We've all been there. You arrive at the office knowing thatyou're about to spend the day making cold calls. How many "no"answers will you receive? As usual, there were far too many to countyesterday. Today, you resolve, will be different. Today, you are goingto get that yes and get yourself in the door. But as the day begins, youfind yourself staring at the phone, which seems to weigh a thousandpounds. You resolve to push forward, because you must somehowfind a way in. You aren't exactly sure how, but you know this is yourjob and this is what must be done.

I remember the countless days of calls we all made, Julie included.She made tons of calls, "dialing for dollars" as we called it. Using hernicest voice, she'd politely ask potential customers to meet with her,saying something like, "I will be in the area and was wondering ifyou would like to meet," or "I would like to meet with you to let youknow about some of our new products," or "I was hoping we couldmeet to discuss your buying plans for next quarter." The approachdidn't result in many meetings.

"When": Calling Too Soon

In retrospect, Julie was not really asking but rather hoping thecustomer would feel charitable and responsive to her "polite beg."She was making her calls too soon, before she had a compellingreason that would make the customer want to meet with her. Inreality, this approach simply told target executives that she was notprepared. I'm sure they interpreted this to mean that if they met, theywould be doing all the work to educate her, rather than the otherway around.

Julie was essentially telling customers that she wanted to meetwith them to benefit her, not the customer. Focusing on "polite begcalls" without having done adequate homework caused Julie to makea poor first impression and yielded few positive results. She failed toidentify a compelling reason for the customer to meet with her. Shewas getting the "when" wrong by calling too soon.

Excelling in the initial call is about how tolook out for the customer, not what thecustomer can do for you to sell him or hersomething.

"When": Calling Too Late

Knowing she had to do research, there were times when Julieprocrastinated too much before making the call. She knew that sheneeded to know about her target customer during her initial call, andshe got caught up in thinking that more information was better too.Gathering a high pile of information would make sure she wouldalways say the perfect thing.

Like so many of us, she had analysis paralysis. Perfection can bethe enemy of progress. As Julie spent time planning, her call volumedropped, which in turn negatively impacted her pipeline.

I have seen many salespeople spend way too much time trying toget the perfect amount of information, and the sad thing is they don'tneed to be perfect. They only need to have enough information tocreate an idea or hypothesis about how they can help the customersolve a current or emerging problem. They need to play the part ofthe sleuth. Play a hunch and make the call!

Julie fell into a common trap. She let the cold calls intimidate her,causing her to do too much homework instead of taking action. Thistime, she was getting the "when" wrong by calling too late.

Your target customers endure a nonstop flood of calls fromsalespeople just like you. Customers are busy, and they often feelas if they are doing just fine. They cannot keep up with so manysalespeople asking for their time. They may be thinking, I am constantlygetting calls from salespeople wanting to sell me something. Why should Ispend time...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1491704721
• ISBN 13: 9781491704721
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 148
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland