Sighted Squirrels Find More Nuts
SST® Newsletter March – April 1998
"Are you telling us everything we have been taught is wrong?" This is not an unfamiliar refrain when doing an SST® workshop. Sometimes we're tempted to respond, "Well, yes." However, that wouldn't be perfectly accurate. While there are some necessary and important traditional selling techniques, there are others that should be discarded from modern major account selling.
Old school selling went something like this: Prospect, Qualify, Demonstrate, Trial Close, Handle Objections, Close. The process starts with the essential sales behaviors known as "Prospecting" and "Qualifying". They are 95% will and 5% skill. Both are absolutely essential selling behaviors. After all, if you don't have a qualified prospect, you can't make a sale.
It is once we get in front of a prospect, however, that differences between "Old School" and "SST" selling surface. The old school emphasizes a demonstration that wows the prospect with the latest and greatest FAB (Features, Advantages and Benefits). It is followed by the infamous trial close. "Would you like your first order, Monday or Friday?"
If they say neither, the old school seller is driven by the single phrase that has done more to produce obnoxious sales behavior than any other, "The sale doesn't begin until your prospect says ‘no'". Undaunted by the first "no", the old school seller handles the objection with something like, "I can appreciate that sentiment, however if you will sign today, we can save you considerable money on the cost of shipping."
If a skillful handling of objections doesn't work, the poor prospect is in for an endless series of closes. Students of Tom Hopkins memorize thirty plus closing scripts. If the Ben Franklin doesn't work, hit them with the Puppy Dog. Ad nauseam.
SST is based on the premise that effective sales people have much in common with good counselors. Both ask good questions. Then, they listen attentively to responses. Once they understand the problem from the perspective of the client, they help him or her choose a solution. They take care to communicate in the preferred style of the client. In other words, they don't walk in pitching what they happen to have in the trunk of the car.
Step one Preliminaries should be brief. It's important to warm the call up. But be ready to get down to business, early. Step two, the Investigation is crucial and modeled after Neil Rackham's SPIN system. With SST®, we not only uncover business problems and their implications, we also learn the preferred way the client would like to see Capability demonstrated, which is step three.
When the Investigation and Demonstration of Capability are done well, the "close" is seamless. It doesn't require tricks and manipulation. Obtaining Commitment flows naturally when the client is understood and communication is in his or her preferred style.
But, in order for SST® to payoff you still need qualified prospects to interview. And, this is what Old School" selling and SST® have in common. The world's greatest SST® practitioner will not make sales without prospects to interview. Conversely, an annoying schlepper using manipulative techniques will still make sales if he or she has lots of prospects to interview. Blind squirrels find nuts.
Prospecting and qualifying are matters of "will". If your sales team has the "will" to prospect and you give them the "skill" of SST® your sales will increase; perhaps as dramatically as Penn State Geisinger Health Plan's. After all, sighted squirrels find more nuts. AJT