Transform Yourself from a Salesperson into a Businessperson
Comments: 0 - Date: October 23rd, 2008 - Categories: Online Sales Resources
If I told you that one of the most important characteristics of
sales excellence in today’s hypercompetitive business
environment was not to be a salesperson, would you think you
subscribed to the wrong magazine? Well, I have a good reason for
saying it. I’m not really saying you shouldn’t be a salesperson.
I’m saying that to be a top sales professional, you have to be a
businessperson because businesspeople make the most effective
salespeople. And why is that true? Because what you are really
selling is business improvement. In terms of selling, what do I
mean by “businessperson”? A businessperson is someone who can
transcend the product or service she is selling to reach higher
ground the ability to understand, articulate, and drive the
contribution her business can make to the client’s business.
What is the business value of your product or service? To
communicate this to your prospect convincingly, you must be more
than a sales rep. You have to be a businessperson and, using
business competencies, view and present your offering as
platform upon which your prospect can achieve their business
plan going forward. Characteristics of a Businessperson Being a
businessperson not only means developing these business skills,
such as the ability to read and interpret financial statements,
but it also involves a way of thinking and being. Here are some
of the behaviors and traits I have observed in sales winners
people I would also consider businesspeople: uThey know that if
they give their customer what he needs, they will then get what
they need. uThey make rational decisions, rather than allowing
emotion to guide them. uThey follow orderly procedures and
processes, rather than taking random actions. uThey plan for the
future and have the discipline and motivation to execute that
plan. uThey seek out the truth through insightful, probing
questions, rather than blindly accepting what they are told.
uThey accept responsibility for their own actions and for those
who work on their behalf. uThey know how to use technology to
improve not only their own but their customer’s business
position. uThey work for a win-win solution, knowing that
anything else will ultimately be lose-lose. If you don’t want
your client to treat your product or service as a commodity, you
have to differentiate your offering from your competitor’s. It
comes down to perception. If your clients see you as just a
salesperson, they won’t respect you the way they would someone
they viewed as a businessperson. Here’s how they think: A
businessperson is a professional; a businessperson is there for
the long haul. Salespeople are all the same, interchangeable;
they’re just after a quick buck. This perception, common among
top executives, is unfair, but it’s a fact of life. That’s why
people who sell for a living adopt titles such as Marketing
Representative, Business Development Manager, and Client
Acquisition Executive on their business cards. Take a good look
at yourself. Read the list of behaviors again. Can you identify
areas where you need to improve? What should you do? First,
accept the fact that you, and you alone, are responsible for
your own personal and professional growth. No one is going to
barge through your door and change you. You’ve already
recognized that a change is needed. That’s the toughest step.
Expand Your General Business Knowledge How much do you know
about business in general? Do you know how businesses operate?
What about your company? What about your three best clients? Can
you articulate their visions? Can you identify their short- and
long-term strategies? To survive and thrive in the information
economy, the most important skill you’ll need is good,
old-fashioned business know-how. You should know how businesses
operate, especially in the marketplace into which you sell.
Become familiar with concepts and current practices in business
strategy and planning, Internet commerce, business
collaboration, and change management, among other areas. One of
my clients, bidding to replace a company’s decade-old software
with a new product that would let independent agents enter
orders, asked how the company proposed to get the agents to
accept the changeover. There was a stunned silence. Nobody in
the company had imagined that the independents might resist the
idea. My client, having uncovered an unidentified risk, locked
up the deal by adding management services to the proposal.
Financial Statements Revisited The most important element of
business know-how is understanding how financial statements
represent a company’s financial position and how that company
compares with others in its market. If you can’t read and
interpret an income statement, cash flow statement, or balance
sheet, learn to do so right away. There are no shortcuts. Those
financial statements are as revealing of business health as CAT
scans, EKGs, and blood tests are of your physical health. You
don’t need to become a CPA, but a solid knowledge of financial
concepts and an ability to compare clients are key. If you
believe, as I do, that effective selling at the executive level
is about quantifying and proving the business value you can
contribute, then having business know-how is a vital component
of that approach. If you don’t have it, how do you get it? Here
are a few ideas: uTake a course in reading and interpreting
financial statements at your local college, at night school, or
(in the United States) with the American Management Association.
In Europe, try Management Centre Europe. uRead a book on the
subject. Do the exercises. uAsk your brokerage firm for guides
to reading and interpreting financial statements. Most large
brokerage houses have either a book or a comprehensive document
on the subject. uSpend some time with your own company’s CFO,
controller, or accountant. If you aren’t well versed in finance,
do you know someone who can interpret a financial report for you
in a pinch? uIf you have a close relationship with a client, ask
his CFO, controller, or accountant to walk you through the
company’s financials. This is a very powerful way to understand
how your client’s business operates. If you sell into a vertical
market, this approach will give you real insight into that
industry, which can be used when selling to other companies.
We’re not talking about sharing proprietary information, of
course, but industry norms median profit margins, sales costs,
revenues per employee, anything that will help you show how your
offering contributes to their business plan. I submit to you
that the timeless truth about sales is, “It’s all about money”
So if you can’t show your clients and customers how your
offering will earn or save them big money, you’ll never
consistently win the big sale. Action: Develop the skill of
zooming in and zooming out looking at your client’s company
from 40,000 feet, diving deeply into relevant details, only to
zoom out to the big picture again. More articles at
www.HowWinnersSell.com

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