This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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Last month, my friend Helaine and I did a mini-workshop/group coaching session for about a half dozen of her clients. We talked about small business selling, and how do do it better. With a 10 year background in sales, I’m always amazed at the reaction of most non-sales-people when they think of themselves in a sales role. It scares most people to death.
The biggest problem is the frame through which they understand selling is way outdated. You know, it’s that 1970’s-used car salesman frame they developed either from the movies or from an actual expereince with a salesperson who still uses that style of selling. Yes, they’re still out there, unfortunately (but we’re movin’em out as quickly as possible).
So back to our group coaching. The first thing we did was reframe the concept of selling.
Side Note: Reframing, by the way, is a great little coaching skill to learn. We sometimes get stuck with a certain way of looking at a situation or expereince; a certain frame though which we see it. Many times that frame can be disempowering or even disabling. Effective reframing gives you a new way to look at the situation. A way that helps you move forward. It’s not wishful thinking, and it’s more that "positive mental attitude." It’s based upon reality; usually a part of reality that escaped the client’s view prior to the reframe.
In this case, an outdated frame of selling was very disempowering to Helaine’s clients, as it is to most people. It would be to me too. After all, who wants to be one of those "back smackin, cigar-smokin, tell you anything to make a sale jerks" we’ve all come to hate.
So, I reframed selling for them. Here’s the first thing I did. I prepared a list of what selling is not (the outdated frame). It included things such as:
- Doing a slick con job.
- Pushing products or services onto someone who doesn’t want or need them
- Pressuring someone into making a decision.
- A win-lose situation.
- Putting one over on the customer.
- Manipulating someone against their will.
Then I created the new frame by sharing what modern-day, professional selling actually is. It included things such as:
- Establishing and/or building a relationship between 2 or more individuals.
- Forming a mutual, beneficial partnership.
- Discovering how your product/service can best meet someone’s wants, needs and desires.
- Providing additional information.
- Clarifying concerns and addressing any questions.
- Working toward a win-win relationship.
- Creating/exchanging value amongst all involved parties.
What’s interesting is one or two of Helaine’s clients were able to adapt the new frame immediately, and it empowered them in their business. Most, however, will need some time to adapt the new frame. They’ll need to repeat the reframe over and over before they can begin to see the world clearly through that frame. Or they’ll need to experience it for themselves somehow, either by engaging as a sales person in that way or by meeting a sales person who acts that way.
Not long after that workshop, I happened upon this post by Tom Asacker, author of A Clear Eye for Branding. Tom quotes Peter Drucker (known as "the father of modern management"), who wrote: "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous."
Tom drive the point home when he writes:
"Have you ever been approached by a Google rep? An iPod salesperson. Someone from IKEA, Ebay, JetBlue or Target? Me either. And that’s how you can tell that their marketplace offering is truly unique …
"Now am I saying that selling is dead? Of course not. It has simply changed (like everything else in the world of business): from trying to convince people of your point of view, to helping them achieve what they’re trying to achieve, or become what they’re trying to become."
See, there’s so much information out there today, and the world is so connected via the net that we don’t have to rely on a salesperson to convince us to buy a product. We can do a little (or a lot) research and figure it out for ourselves.
If you want to buy a certain book, you might read the Amazon.com reviews, for example. If you want to go out for dinner, you make your decision based upon your past experience or the experience of others who talk about the restaurant. If you’re curious about that new cell phone, mp3 player or other gadget, you might read reviews on Engadget or CNET. Or you might meet a really great sales person at Best Buy who demonstrates why the Creative Zen Micro is a better option for you than the iPod.
Marketing, selling and branding has become much less about telling and more about demonstrating. And demonstration is all about experience. Focus on demonstating to as many people as possible how effective or how great your product or service is. And focus on constantly enhancing the experience it helps people have. That’s what sales and marketing is all about today.