Sales Is The Ultimate Form Of Service

Having spent over 20 years working in large corporate organisations, the majority of which in business to business Sales roles and Sales Leadership roles, I have formed the belief that Sales is the ultimate form of service. Now for many, that can be a rather strange and sometimes confronting concept. A definition of sales is ‘the exchange of a commodity for money’ and for many, the concept of sales is about convincing someone to buy your commodity, about seeking to identify an angle, a ‘perceived need’, and once this has been identified, going in for ‘the kill’, or the ‘close’. Many times this results in a win/lose outcome, especially when the seller has not appropriately identified the buyer’s needs and wants. And they wonder why products are returned and contracts and agreements cancelled. In fact many large organisations must accept much of the blame as they condition and incentivise their sales people to sell specific ‘strategic products and services’ because they are strong revenue generators carrying healthy margins. The customer comes second.

However, how many organisations and sales people focus their attention on the customer and seek to identify what they are actually looking for, what challenge they are seeking to solve, and only when this has been identified, do they begin to see what offerings may assist? My experience is not very many at all. However, the ones who ‘get it’ and focus on this, continue to achieve incredible results on a consistent basis as well as maintaining very healthy and engaging relationships with their customers. They understand that sales is the ultimate form of service and their experience is that customers actively and proactively buy from them, they are no longer having to ‘sell’ or convince the customer to take action. And the role of the sales leader in this process is critical.

Here are a number of principles that I have observed and gained through experience that has enabled sales people to achieve great results, on a consistent basis :

1. Focus on building genuine and authentic relationships with your customers. Show them that you care about them as individuals and understand how they like to be communicated with, and what is important to them. What gets them excited? Understand this and speak to them in their language – remember, it is not about you.
2. Focus on the customer and their business. Ensure you do your research before you meet them. Long gone are the days when you can ask the customer ‘Can you please tell me about your business?’ or ‘What tends to keep you awake at night?’ Ask that today, and you will be very unlikely to gain another meeting. Bring insights to your customer and focus your attention on developing a conversation about them and their business – not yours.
3. Steer away from selling features of your product or service. Understand that the majority of customers will be asking themselves ‘so what?’ if you sell features, and some will actually ask you directly, ‘so what?’ If that question gets thrown at you – you are selling features. Instead take your features and convert them into benefits for the customer, and communicate these benefits in their language.
4. Understand that when you can articulate a benefit that resonates with the customer, along with enough evidence to suggest that your product or service will solve their challenge, more times than not, they will purchase. And remember, they will decide whether the right type and right amount of evidence (e.g. testimonial, case study, statistics etc.) has been provided. When you have verified this, remember to always ask for the order. When you have met the customer’s perceived need, it is inevitable that they will proceed with the purchase. And this never feels like selling.
5. Your attitude plays a massive part here. If you are focussed on ‘the numbers’ and having to ‘close sales’, this will come across in your language, your tonality and your physiology. If you remove yourself from the outcome and focus all of your attention on how you can serve your customer, amazing things happen and you will find that customers will ‘close you’ when there is a match. You are providing them with a gift and this is the ultimate form of service.

So the next time you are sitting in front of your customer, as difficult as it can be, avoid speaking about you and your company up front and focus all of your attention on your customer. Bring insights to the table, facilitate an authentic and curiosity based conversation, ask relevant and insightful questions to dig deep into where the customer is experiencing challenges or wanting to improve, and experience the magic of selling being the ultimate form of service!!

To your continued selling success.

Darren

If we haven’t already connected via LinkedIn, please send me an invitation to connect. I would love to connect.

I would also welcome the opportunity to have a conversation with you. I currently have 4 slots available over the next week for a 30 minute 1:1 strategy call. If you are experiencing a current challenge around your leadership, I would love to help. Send me an email at darren@darrenmitchell.com.au and we’ll set up a time to chat. No obligation, and no cost. I look forward to connecting with you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter, or Facebook.

Darren is a Sales Leadership and Sales Performance Coach, Facilitator & Speaker.  He is an experienced and committed coach with a background of sales leadership success in large organisations. He applies a genuine focus to coaching and developing high performing sales leaders who are looking to unleash the potential of themselves and their teams.