THE SALES CYCLE: PART ONE
“Here, let me show you . . . do it this way . . . just get on and ride . . . it’s easy, really.” But as many of us recall from our childhood, learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels wasn’t all that easy in the beginning. And everyone seemed to have his or her opinions and ideas on how you should to do it.
First the initial, tentative, wobbly attempts with bruised shins, skinned knuckles and elbows, followed by more helpful suggestions from a father, brother or a friend, more practice, then finally it got to the point where miraculously it all came together and you could just get on and ride. And what do you know; at that point, it was easy . . . what a sense of accomplishment . . . you finally did it!
Now you were included in that select group of kids that “know how to ride,” yet all the talking about it, watching others do it, listening to suggestions on how operate the pedals, maintain the balance or steer were of no use whatsoever until you got on the bike and figured it out for yourself. Only then did it all make sense. And once you did it, you never forgot how to do it, did you?
So it is with sales.
But you’ll find that everyone has an opinion on this subject. They either love it or hate it. You can also read a virtual endless books on it as the demand for such material seems insatiable, listen to friends and experts tell about the only way to make it, attend feel-good seminars, imitate others, memorize rote scripts designed to “guarantee” a sale, and still not be able to sell consistently. But selling is not a “one size fits all” type of operation and all the subjective opinions in the world may or may not work for you.
You can memorize a canned sales pitch trying to sound sincere and convincing when selling and have no more success than studying the manufacturers instructions for learning to ride a bicycle. Focusing solely on the mechanical aspects of selling may help you develop your technique, but won’t do much for your mastery of the basics of the subject. For no amount of planning will completely prepare you for the feeling of being in front of a live audience when you give your presentation because customers very often respond in ways you never could have anticipated.
You can work forever on all the rote rules that are required to technically know how to sell according to the latest authority or expert du jour, but you will come a cropper and fail, when it comes to actually playing and winning the game of sales. You have to get on the sales cycle and ride to be able to figure out how to start, maintain your balance, steer, and stop it all by yourself. In sales you have to be able to think and talk at the same time; you have to read people accurately and respond accordingly; you must be able to operate on instinct to react at a moment’s notice to sustain momentum and interest, all the while maintaining the ability to be logical, passionate and convincing at the same time.
Most of the literature in sales has sought to teach you how to find prospects and close deals by focusing solely on the technique necessary to accomplish this goal, seemingly the object or purpose of the profession. Except it isn’t . . . technique is simply a requirement of the profession! __Of course, you can’t expect remain in the profession long without satisfying those fundamental requirements but there are other more basic elements to be absorbed as well.
Understanding the technology of sales, (application of techniques to a productive purpose) in addition to the techniques of selling, (skill and expertise in handling something) combined with a grounding in the philosophy of selling, (the love of that which is reasonable and right) will put you in a position to correct and adjust your own game according to what is necessary to win consistently.
In the part two, we’re going to look at basic selling and a practical definition of selling that you can put to use instantly.
daniel w. jacobs
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