My first ever training course….way back in the early 1980’s (how time flies) was called the A.B.C.’s of Selling.

The ABC’s of selling stood for….

Always….Be…..Closing

and the mantra was something like, “close early, close often and close hard.”

What a load of rubbish it all was…..well at least the hypey ‘technique based’ part of it was anyway.

I learned the puppy dog close, the press hard there’s 3 copies close, the getting to yes close, and the “if you’re not feeling guilty now you will be soon close.”

I was relating this at a recent multi-speaker event in Melbourne where I was presenting and a number of business owners and sales people approached me at the end of the program, eager to tell me there ‘horror stories’ of when they’d tried to use some of these manipulative type of closing techniques, and how bad they felt and the poor results they actually achieved.

So I thought it was time for some new A.B.C.’s of selling…..and here they are, and when you first see the key words, keep reading because the true meaning behind them is not necessarily at first obvious:

The New ABC’s of Selling

We first of all need to be Attentive

We also need to be Branded, and finally

We need to be Consistent.

Let’s look at each in turn.

We need to be Attentive:

This is all about being absolutely clear and able to articulate who our ideal client is and who are the influencers of our ideal clients’ buying decisions.

More importantly, it is being attentive to their individual and collective needs, wants, problems and situations.

Here are three questions for you to consider:

1. Who are your ideal clients?  Define them in as many ways as you possibly can.

2. Who are the influencers of your ideal clients’ buying decisions?  Think beyond just partners and advisers…..what about media, social networks etc.

3. Where can you be seen by your ideal clients and their influencers?  Again, think beyond just client visits or when they come to you at your office or place of business.

Let’s move onto our B in the newly defined ABC’s of selling.

We need to be Branded.

This is all about taking the concept of traditional branding of our products, service and company and extending it to something at a much deeper and more inspiring level.

Here are three questions for you on being Branded:

1. What’s your premise about what you do?  Write down you personal beliefs and philosophy about why you are in the role that you are and about the value that your products and services create for your customers when they buy from you?

2. How would you like your customers to describe their buying experience?  Map out the ‘moments of impact’ that your prospective and existing clients experience.  A process map of the customer buying experience through to after they buy, can be an extremely revealing exercise.

3. What are/could you be doing with your personality, style, and/or business processes to help your clients, when they buy from you, to have incredible buying experiences where they will want to recommend and refer others to you?

And finally let’s move onto Consistent.

We need to be Consistent

Consistency is about having the discipline and process in place to be able to do answer and act on the A and B.

Here’s just one question for you to answer…..

1. To what extent are you managing your A’s and B’s?

Now, I’m aware that none of this is new, but perhaps a refocus on these areas might just be the ignition you need to spark some new, repeat or referral sales.

Let me know what you think!

As I was chatting to the National Sales Manager about the potential danger of losing this important client of theirs, I asked her whether her salespeople were holding their client accountable for receiving the value they sought.

Let me repeat that question for you as you read this article…..”Are you holding your clients accountable for receiving the value they sought when they bought from you?

My conversation with the National Sales Manager soon turned to one of the key problems that the ‘soft selling’ movement have created…..that of a lack of clarity around accountability.

Whether you’re selling a product or service, the value that can be experienced by your clients when they buy what you sell, will only be fully realised if they, the client, live up to their end of the deal.

For example, if you’re a recruitment consultant who has successfully placed a candidate with a client company, and that candidate is not well inducted, welcomed, coached, and resourced to perform the role for which they were employed, then it’s the client who has not kept up their end of the deal – and when the candidate quits……who is really accountable?

If you’re selling a product and your client, despite having been fully briefed or trained on how to use the product to gain maximum value, chooses not to follow recommended procedure and the product doesn’t perform to expectation….who is accountable?

When we ‘close’ or confirm the sale, highly effective , successful and professional salespeople clearly articulate not only what they will be accountable for, they also gain commitment and confirmation from their clients (that’s why I prefer ‘confirm’ the sale rather than ‘close’ the sale), that the client will do what they need to do to fully experience the value they seek.

There’s nothing soft about selling and professional salespeople hold themselves and their clients accountable for value fulfilment.