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MERGE

AuthorHouse

Contents

Acknowledgments...................................iPreface...........................................iiiIntroduction......................................viEveryone Sells....................................1Dare to Differentiate.............................5Your Go-To Market Strategy........................15The MERGE Process.................................41Preparing for Initial Contact.....................67Multiple Decision Makers..........................79Marketing Communications..........................97A Measure of Trust................................123Inking the Deal...................................129Once the Sale is Made.............................139A Parting Thought.................................147About the Author..................................149Appendix..........................................151Index.............................................171

Chapter One

Everything Changes

Practically everything we do involves some form of selling. Asking friends for dinner. Requesting a credit line extension at the bank. Changing financial advisors. And all selling, by its nature, anticipates (even expects) some sort of change to occur.

Someone will buy our product. Someone will upgrade to the premium version. Someone will refer our service. Someone will switch competitors. Someone will pay us for what we do. Selling is the commercial spine of society. Without it, the muscles of the economy would freeze up and atrophy.

But people generally dislike change. And don't want to think they're being sold. Yet selling is an honorable profession. I relish the quote, "Nothing happens until something sells," a derivative of the classic Einstein statement, "Nothing happens until something moves."

Consider that 34 gigabytes of content moves through the American mind every day. More than 100,000 words march past our curious eyes and ears in a single 24-hour period. Where did these bytes and words come from? People generating ideas, thinking, doing, selling.

To be sure, we exist in an enormous, undulating bubble of pure sales energy anchored by a web of communication channels ranging from television, radio and the web to simple word-of-mouth exchanges. In reality, change is the DNA of selling.

At the Gates of Commerce

But has selling changed to reflect our over-communicated lives? After all, the Internet has leveled the playing field. Prospects can do all their homework online, comparing competitive offerings quickly and easily, until points of differences virtually disappear. While consumers commoditize, we the sellers of services scramble for higher ground. We've become a nation of well-armed, well-informed consumers. And consumers are at the gates of commerce, in charge and in control.

In the words of satirist Ben Stein, "Sales—when done right—is more than a job. It is an art. It is a high-wire act. It is, as Arthur Miller immortally said, being out there `on a smile and a shoe shine.'"

Assuming your Cole Haans are polished and your pearly whites are showing, what do you need to succeed in sales today? What does it take to surge to the top? What skills are required to perform at the peak of this challenging and honorable profession?

Things Change

Historically, the selling of financial and professional services has been a product sale, bound up with hard-closing techniques and the earmarks of a high-volume transaction. Offer a product. Find a ripe client. Price it right. Ask for the order. Close and move on.

Now in the era of financial planning—assets under management, fees for service and value perceptions—the selling of financial and professional services most often rises or falls on trust, which is not now, and never will be, a commodity.

The ability to sell sustainably is governed by direct and indirect influences. Direct influences include the disciplines of methodology, procedures, tools, systems, metrics and structure—what I call the atmospherics—which propel activity through the pipeline with the energy of a well-defined, replicable process to mold every engagement into a result, a sale. This process flow is essential to longer concept sales such as executive compensation and benefit solutions.

Indirect influences, or the softer skills, are the most difficult to achieve in a climate where the public trust has eroded. During these times, outstanding sales producers must rank even higher in authenticity, authority, rapport-building, credibility, likeability and emotional intelligence—characteristics that engender trust, which we address in detail in subsequent chapters.

Many thousands of books have been written on what it takes to surge to the top in sales. Certainly, trustworthiness is at the top. And while I may not add a new nugget to the pile, I can offer a quick composite of the qualities I observed working with successful sales leaders mano a mano.

Sales Leader Snapshot

• Expertise in business operations

• Grasp of business trends

• Impeccable knowledgeable in the niche

• Deep understanding of prospect need

• Authentic likeability factor

• Mastery in forging relationships

• Adept at nurturing lasting relationships

• Skill to balance behavioral differences of multiple decision makers

I have discovered that the very best don't just sell products and services or solutions, and they don't berate the competition trying to sell similar concepts. They choose to play at a much higher level by identifying previously unidentified opportunities. Most of all, they create value and added solutions to their client's situation. In turn, they achieve significantly higher levels of success than others. And they use all of the characteristics mentioned above.

Keep it Simple

To succeed in sales today, you must form relationships with executives at the top of the organization and meet them under favorable conditions. Understand how top executives think and what they need so you can communicate relevant information and provocative ideas. And you must be positioned well, with a marketing strategy that is consistent with and complements your sales process.

Keep in mind that in complex sales, we are dealing with busy people, who are overwhelmed with many pressing issues. Overwhelmed people can't take in, sort through, or make sense of massive amounts of data on products and services they can't see an immediate need for. You must communicate with these decision makers in a simple and straightforward manner and stay focused on adding value by helping them to resolve an issue or achieve a goal.

The business of sales is no longer a numbers game. Things have changed:

• Simplicity has recently emerged as a major factor in sales success

• Prospects see you as irrelevant if you present information about your products and services or solution before you understand their business and its challenges

• Technical presentations are out and value creation is in

I have witnessed many salespeople present three- to four-inch proposals with tons of data on their products features and benefits, only to learn it is the fastest way to extend the sales cycle or to lose the...