The World Isn't Flat
SST® Newsletter July 1997
Quietly, there's been a revolution in selling. Like the fall of the Roman Empire, it's hard to pinpoint exactly when it started. Its origins may reach back o mid-century when counselors began to adapt the "client centered" approach ushered in by Carl Rogers. Basically, Rogers found that counselors were more effective when they focused on their clients using skills like "empathic listening" . Prior to Rogers, the focus had been on the counselor and the "frame of reference" he or she had honed in graduate school.
While I can't find a precise reference, it's a safe bet that the Rogerian led revolution in counseling influenced the shift to a "consultative" approach in sales which surfaced sometime in the early 70s. Consultative practitioners began to move from a
"buyer-seller" approach to building "consultant-client" relationships. Like Rogerian influenced counselors, consultative sellers focused on their clients and understanding their needs, rather than pitching features and benefits honed in product training (grad school for sales reps).
From mid-century to the turn of the century, the quiet revolution in selling has slowly, but steadily made progress. Perhaps it ‘s been quiet and slow because there are many in sales and sales management who haven't bought (pardon the pun) the premise that focusing on the purchaser is a superior way to approach selling. These are the sales reps in the field who can't wait to pitch their products or services and their distinctive features and benefits. Fondly, we refer to them as "show-up and throw-up" practitioners. They are the sales managers who achieved their success through working harder by pouring more prospects into the top of the funnel and memorizing thirty-two Hopkins closing scripts. Now, they write ads for sales talent with catchy headings like,"Only Closers Need Apply."
If it worked for them when they sold why shouldn't it work for those they supervise?
Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling, Managing Major Sales and Major Account Sales Strategy holds the answer. Through voluminous (as in studying 35,000 sales calls made by 10,000 sales reps in 27 countries) Rackham has found that there are two different universes of selling: small transactions and major sales. And, while tactics like throwing dirt on a prospect's carpet as a means of gaining "attention" (good old AIDA) may be an effective tactic if you're selling vacuum cleaners, it's hardly advisable to sabotage a hospital's air conditioning system if you represent HVAC systems for the McClure Company.
Hold onto your hats superclosers, the world isn't flat. According to Rackham, "Research shows convincingly that, in larger sales at least, the use of closing techniques is negatively related to success." (Rackham, P. 122). Both SPIN and SST® provide means of understanding "buyer" behaviors, which is the key to success with major account; at least among us revolutionaries.
Indeed, when the needs assessment and SST® presentation stages are done well, the "close" is seamless.