The Art of Selling

            The task for week five of the first season consisted of seeing which team could make the largest profit using flea markets in New York .  Both teams purchased item for resale at the next day’s flea market.  Nick’s team, Versacorp, sold women’s clothing and jewelry that they made themselves, while Kristi’s team, Protégé, sold rice-paper umbrellas and other Asian inspired items.  One of the biggest differences in these two approaches was that Protégé was reselling the same products purchased elsewhere, while Versacorp was selling products produced from the less expensive items purchased.  Versacorp actually produced something of value from their supplies, while Protégé was selling something you could go to Chinatown and purchase cheaper.  This is a simple lesson in itself.  If you can take resources to produce something, you can sell it for a profit.  Profit will not be as high when you are buying the product to resell.  The reason retailers make money doing this is due to volume.  When you only have one day to sell, volume will obviously be limited, therefore producing something is a much wiser course of action.  As we saw, the results were dramatic when the money was counted.

The next general lesson we can learn from this task is regarding sales.  Everyone is in sales.  Regardless of what you do, you are a salesperson.  The more skills you possess in sales, the better you will do in any enterprise.  This does not mean everyone is gong door to door or waiting in car lots and department stores to sell products.  Attorneys, accountants, doctors and other professionals sell their services.  Non-profits and charities sell their causes.  Politicians sell their platforms.  You sell your ideas in business and personal life.  Everyone sells, regardless of what they do.  In the first part of this section, we will look at one of the keys to any sale, prospecting, and a simple four-step process for selling success.

            Prospecting:  Regardless of how great your product or service, your presentation skills, and your closing skills, you will not make the sale if you don’t have someone willing to buy.  If you do not have prospects, you will not have business.  Prospecting is one of the keys to sales success.

            A prospect is an individual or group capable of making the decision on the product or service the salesperson is selling.  This differs from a suspect, who is an individual or group that could be a prospect.  A prospect needs the product, a possible desire to own the product, and the financial capacity to decide to purchase the product.  The good salesperson spends time with suspects, but invests time with prospects.

            You must prospect all the time.  By being genuinely interested in people, you find out what people do and who they know.  Conversations will often turn to what you do, and what they do.  Potential buyers will pop up in the most unlikely places.  Always be ready to make a deal, or make a contact that could lead to a future deal. 

            Sell By Design, Not By Chance:  Zig Ziglar, founder of Ziglar Training Systems and popular author and speaker, teaches a planned selling process consisting of a four step formula that has produced tremendous results in those that have learned from him.  The four-step formula is: 1. Need Analysis, 2. Need Awareness, 3. Need Solution, and 4. Need Satisfaction.  Successful sales professionals use a blueprint, or process, for selling.  Ziglar’s process works regardless of product or service and will work for you too.

            Step One: Need Analysis.  The successful sales person must look inside the customer to discover existing needs.  Uncover the needs that are there, rather than creating needs the customer does not have, and you will be able render a real service when you make the sale.  Don’t create problems, identify existing ones and offer solutions through your goods and services.  You identify these existing needs by asking questions.  You must comfortably converse with your prospect and gather information that helps you discover the needs that your service or product can provide the solution for.

            Step Two: Need Awareness. The first part of need awareness is to identify one or more specific needs that can be clearly articulated.  The second part is to ensure the prospect understands the need and the specifics of the need.  Questions are the key here as well, but different kinds of questions.  You must identify the proper need and make that need clear to the prospect or the sale will not be made.  To do this, you must ask questions, listen, and find the real concerns of your customer, and then help your customer see those needs and how they can be resolved.

            Step Three: Need Solution.  This is the step where you present your product.  You stop asking questions, and begin presenting solutions to needs.  However, don’t lead with your product.  People do not buy products, they buy what the product does for them.  People do not buy a bed, they buy a good night’s sleep.  People do not buy an outfit, they buy the way they look and feel in particular clothes.  People do not buy books, they buy the information or stories within them.  Lead with the need.  Do not tell what the product or service is, tell what it can do and why it will do it for them.

            Step Four: Need Satisfaction.  This is the most important step.  If you want to help others, believe in your product or service, and want to succeed in sales, you must ask for the order.  You must ask for and get the order.  Everything else could be great, but if you do not close the sale all your hard work will be of no financial benefit to you.  Once you have analyzed the need, made the customer aware of the need, and have illustrated the solution and how your product will solver their needs better than anything else, you must ask for the order.  Close the deal.

Trump Time Out – You’ve Gotta Believe

            “You’ve gotta believe in what you’re selling.  If you don’t believe it, if you don’t really believe it yourself, it will never work.  It will never sell and you’re going to be miserable.”  - Donald Trump from The Apprentice, season one episode nine.

            The task for week eight of season one was pretty straight forward, sell the most Trump Ice.  The team that sold the most of Trump’s new branded water in two days would be the winner.  Each of the teams had their problems with sales.  Ereka seemed to be telling restaurant managers that she was there to create a “buzz” about Trump Ice, prompting one manager to incredulously ask, “Is that your sales pitch?”  Omarosa, who Heidei said, “couldn’t sell her way out of a paper bag,” jumped in while Amy would be pitching a sale and offer to sell small quantities of the product.  Amy believed that Omarosa turned potentially large sales into small ones.  Nick on the other hand failed to research customers and seemed to turn them off with his hard sell.  Rather than finding out what his customers needed, he focused on how many pallets of water he wanted them to buy.  It was Troy , the country boy from Idaho , who had epiphany and came up with the idea of not just looking for one-time sales, but to sell several week’s worth of water to each customer.  He adapted this plan to the needs of each customer and was the star of Protege as they marched to victory, selling more than $6,000.00 worth of Trump Ice to Versacorp’s $4,000.00.  In the boardroom, Trump did not buy Nick’s statement that he was a great salesman.  He told Nick that he had no idea why he thought he was so great.  However, Nick was saved because Trump thought it even worse that Ereka let her emotions rule her.  Ereka was fired.

            The episode raised some very valuable points concerning sales and selling.  You cannot focus on what you want to sell.  You must sell what the buyer wants to purchase.  We will briefly look at this and a couple other considerations for selling.

Sell What The Buyer Wants

            One of the most important keys to selling is not selling what you want, but selling what they want.  A great salesperson sells the benefits and features that the prospect wants to buy.  This seems so basic, but many people get so caught up in what they want to sell that they forget this simple truth.  The person you are selling to does not care what you like, or what you own.  The only time they will care is if they happen to like the same thing.  You might discuss how fast the car you are selling goes because you desire speed and high performance while your prospect’s concerns are with safety ratings and fuel economy.  See how they can be quite different?

            The champion seller does not sell benefits and features before finding out what benefits and features the buyer is interested in.  If the prospective buyer is sitting there listening to the salesperson go on about things he does not care about, he will leave and sale will not be made.  So, sell the features they are looking for.  Satisfy the buyer’s need’s, not your own.

            People want and desire many things.  Many times these wants contradict each other.  They want a fast car, but want good gas mileage as well.  They want good tasting food, but also want it to be nonfattening.  They want investments with high return, but low risk.  They may want it all, but they cannot have it all.  The key to sales, and determining what the buyer wants to buy, is focusing on their problem and how you can solve it.  Diagnose their problem and determine how your product or products can benefit them and solve it.

Sell To The Person Who Can Buy

            To make sales, a salesperson must spend time with the people who can say yes.  Too often, much time is wasted trying to sell to people who do not have the authority to buy.  To make matters worse, sometimes there is no one who can say yes.  Some governmental agencies and organizations require that everything be approved by a board or committee before a purchase can be made.  However, even in these circumstances, a person who does have the authority to say yes can often be found.  Sometimes the “committee has to approve it first” line is just that, a line.  It might take a little work, but a little persistence can often lead you to the people who make things happen in the organization and you will be able to make the sale.

            Finding the right person to sell to is not only important when dealing with organizations.  When dealing with families, the salesperson must also be aware of who the right person to sell to is.  The sales person must determine which person in the family has the power to say yes, and which person has the most influence in family purchases.

Sell Emotion, Not Logic

            Seldom is logic behind purchases.  Emotion drives more sales than logic any day.  This does not mean that people get emotional over every product.  Water after all, even with Donald Trump’s name on it, is not the most emotional product out there.  So what can the purchases become excited about?  Supply, costs, prices, and so on.  It is up to the salesperson to create emotional ties to the product.  Selling strictly with logic is nowhere near as effective as when emotion is involved.

            Positive emotions trigger sales.  Negative emotions may destroy sales, so focus on the positive.  The salesperson who evokes emotion in the customer will make more sales.  However, if the emotional setting is not controlled, sales can be lost as rapidly as the emotions are evoked.  Everything about the salesperson can evoke emotion.  Actions, manners, language, grooming and clothes all project an image and the image can evoke emotions.  Poor grooming, shabby clothes and foul language can repulse and disgust potential customers, and once these negative emotions have been triggered, the sale will be lost.  A pushy salesperson, coming on too strong can evoke fear, another negative emotion that will prevent sales.  Patronizing a prospect can anger him, resulting in a lost opportunity.

            You can trigger positive emotions by being genuinely interested in solving your prospect’s problems.  You guide him toward the solutions right for him.  When you find the solution and you get a positive stimulus from the customer, reinforce their image about the purchase.  The classic example is the clothing salesperson telling the customer, “It looks great on you!”  Positive emotions that enhance the buyer’s self-image create opportunities for sales.  Negative emotions destroy these opportunities.  Create positive emotions regarding an enhanced self-image and the customer won’t just like the product, they will want it, need it and then buy it.

Sell – Don’t Beg

            The final issue to address in regards to selling is the difference between selling your product or service and begging someone to buy.  In the chapter about sex, we looked at Ivana during episode thirteen of the second season, dropping her skirt in frustration over not being able to sell the candy bars for a high enough price.  In the very first episode of season one, we saw David almost attacking people, trying to get them to purchase lemonade.  There were a number of times we saw candidates begging, rather than selling, persuading, and negotiating during the tasks.

            To be successful, you must learn to negotiate, persuade and sell.  The information in this book will get you started, and it is up to you to continue to hone these skills.  They will pay off in many ways.

Trump Time Out – Beggars Can’t Be Choosers

            “Never beg when you’re trying to sell something.  If it doesn’t work out, take your lumps and relax.  But you’ll never sell through the begging route.”  - Donald Trump from The Apprentice, season one episode eight.

 Lessons From The Apprentice Main Page