She stared at the glass and froze … By Steve
Waterhouse
I love it when companies grow, merge and change. It
makes wonderful opportunities for the sales people
involved. One of my newer clients has just gone thorough
a buying binge and acquired a host of smaller companies
that all offer related products and services. I had the
privilege of working with the newly formed sales force
which was comprised of seasoned pros from all of the new
companies. Each one was an expert in selling their
particular offering.
My job was clear. Get them all to sell everything.
Sell the whole portfolio.
So here I am with this group of about 100 pros and I
decided to pull out an old trick. I grabbed a water
glass and handed it to the closest person and said,
“Sell me this!” Ok, I put her on the spot, but that’s
fair in my rule book. What did she do? She froze! She
just sat their in front of 100 of her peers and said
nothing. Finally, after a very uncomfortable amount of
time, she said, “I sell services. I don’t know how to
sell a product.”
Bunk! Trash! Huey!
There is fundamentally no difference between selling
products and services. They all start with probing
questions that help you understand the customer’s needs
relative to your offering. Questions don’t care if they
are asked about a product or service.
Mr. Johnson, what were you hoping our fugerwump would
do for your company? Mrs. Smith, when you compare
fugerwumps, what is most important to you? Mr. White,
how are you planning to make your fugerwump decision.
Insert any product or service you want for fugerwump and
it works.
Let’s not trap ourselves into thinking that we only know
how to sell one thing or another. If you have good sales
skills you can sell many things. And if you have great
sales skills you can sell them all as a total solution
to your client’s ultimate need.
Oh, and the one that froze?
She is actually one of the top sales professionals in
the company they acquired. I predict she will go on to
be one of the best as she has the opportunity to sell
the entire suite of offerings of her new company.
You might also be interested in my article, "The 5
Steps to Keeping Your Sales Team Focused". To get a
free copy, simply email
article3@waterhousegroup.com .
Happy
Selling,
Steve
Steve Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse
Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales consulting and
training company that helps companies dramatically
increase their sales. He can be reached at
1-800-57-LEARN or
info@waterhousegroup.com.
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