In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - a

The next iteration of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Interestingly, Dale Carnegie's beliefs and sales models continue to capture the mainstream audience for sales professionals, complete with the beliefs and behaviors he put into place in 1937.

Let me take a moment and enumerate them:

1. Although the buyer has input, the seller is the product expert and therefore knows what the buyer needs.

2. The seller's job is to influence, convince, or persuade (the word Carnegie preferred) the buyer to buy the seller's product.

3. By careful information positioning - appropriate pitches, presentations, ads, campaigns, marketing strategies, layouts, commercials - a buyer will recognize that they need a product.

4. The seller can see what is missing from a buyer's environment by virtue of his/her knowledge of the product, and is at fault when s/he fails at selling the product where it is needed.

5. If the seller can get it right the buyer will be ready to buy in the seller's time frame using the seller's sales criteria.

ADDING QUESTIONS TO TRADITIONAL SALES

Once Consultative Selling came along in the mid 80's, thanks to Larry Wilson, Linda Richardson, Neil Rackham, and David Sandler, sellers began realizing they needed to get input from the buyer. Thus the inclusion of 'questions' into the selling process.

And what were the questions? Information-based questions that led the prospect to admit just WHERE they had a problem and just HOW they could solve it using the seller's product. These questions ultimately were a manipulation to get the buyer to concede that yes, alas, they had a problem, and no, they weren't handling it as effectively as they might. Obviously, went the theory, once they realized the error of their ways, they would know it was time to buy the seller's product.

But did they do that?

Given that the questioning system was used to 'create a need' and was therefore manipulative, buyers ended up not being totally honest; they knew they were being set up for a sales pitch. And, after all, why should they share private information with a stranger - especially a stranger that would use the information against them. David Sandler coined the term "Buyers are Liars". The implication here is that sellers, still, have the answer and know the real truth behind buyer's needs. Indeed, sellers create their own objections.

But it's a bit more complex. Buyers have lived in their unique culture - and indeed helped create it - for so long that it feels comfortable. Things are 'done that way' because they always have been, and it seems to be fine. And, if you remember the 3-part series on What is Buying Facilitation® (newsletters October, November, December, 2002), buyers have a very microscopic view on their piece of their environment, and sometimes have difficulty recognizing the entire picture. They intimately know the systems around them and they tend to respond to questions using this micro view as the basis of their answers. [If you have not yet read the above series, I recommend you do so, as this is a very important piece of understanding when helping buyers make decisions.]

So, given that the job of sales continues to be defined as a process meant to move product into the hands of buyers (using whatever methodology that can move it), using Dale Carnegie's precepts will continue to reap the same problems they always have: slower-than-necessary sales cycles - while buyers figure out their internal issues; multiple decision makers appearing seemingly out of nowhere - while the internal systems get organized around change; tough price deliberations - because buyers don't know how else to evaluate one offering over another; seemingly unnecessary time delays - while buyers attempt to solve the problem using familiar resources; rejection - because buyers don't know how to justify change.

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - a

4. The seller can see what is missing from a buyer's environment by virtue of his/her knowledge of the product, and is at fault when s/he fails at selling the product where it is needed.

5. If the seller can get it right the buyer will be ready to buy in the seller's time frame using the seller's sales criteria.

ADDING QUESTIONS TO TRADITIONAL SALES

Once Consultative Selling came along in the mid 80's, thanks to Larry Wilson, Linda Richardson, Neil Rackham, and David Sandler, sellers began realizing they needed to get input from the buyer. Thus the inclusion of 'questions' into the selling process.

And what were the questions? Information-based questions that led the prospect to admit just WHERE they had a problem and just HOW they could solve it using the seller's product. These questions ultimately were a manipulation to get the buyer to concede that yes, alas, they had a problem, and no, they weren't handling it as effectively as they might. Obviously, went the theory, once they realized the error of their ways, they would know it was time to buy the seller's product.

But did they do that?

Given that the questioning system was used to 'create a need' and was therefore manipulative, buyers ended up not being totally honest; they knew they were being set up for a sales pitch. And, after all, why should they share private information with a stranger - especially a stranger that would use the information against them. David Sandler coined the term "Buyers are Liars". The implication here is that sellers, still, have the answer and know the real truth behind buyer's needs. Indeed, sellers create their own objections.

But it's a bit more complex. Buyers have lived in their unique culture - and indeed helped create it - for so long that it feels comfortable. Things are 'done that way' because they always have been, and it seems to be fine. And, if you remember the 3-part series on What is Buying Facilitation® (newsletters October, November, December, 2002), buyers have a very microscopic view on their piece of their environment, and sometimes have difficulty recognizing the entire picture. They intimately know the systems around them and they tend to respond to questions using this micro view as the basis of their answers. [If you have not yet read the above series, I recommend you do so, as this is a very important piece of understanding when helping buyers make decisions.]

So, given that the job of sales continues to be defined as a process meant to move product into the hands of buyers (using whatever methodology that can move it), using Dale Carnegie's precepts will continue to reap the same problems they always have: slower-than-necessary sales cycles - while buyers figure out their internal issues; multiple decision makers appearing seemingly out of nowhere - while the internal systems get organized around change; tough price deliberations - because buyers don't know how else to evaluate one offering over another; seemingly unnecessary time delays - while buyers attempt to solve the problem using familiar resources; rejection - because buyers don't know how to justify change.

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - a

But did they do that?

Given that the questioning system was used to 'create a need' and was therefore manipulative, buyers ended up not being totally honest; they knew they were being set up for a sales pitch. And, after all, why should they share private information with a stranger - especially a stranger that would use the information against them. David Sandler coined the term "Buyers are Liars". The implication here is that sellers, still, have the answer and know the real truth behind buyer's needs. Indeed, sellers create their own objections.

But it's a bit more complex. Buyers have lived in their unique culture - and indeed helped create it - for so long that it feels comfortable. Things are 'done that way' because they always have been, and it seems to be fine. And, if you remember the 3-part series on What is Buying Facilitation® (newsletters October, November, December, 2002), buyers have a very microscopic view on their piece of their environment, and sometimes have difficulty recognizing the entire picture. They intimately know the systems around them and they tend to respond to questions using this micro view as the basis of their answers. [If you have not yet read the above series, I recommend you do so, as this is a very important piece of understanding when helping buyers make decisions.]

So, given that the job of sales continues to be defined as a process meant to move product into the hands of buyers (using whatever methodology that can move it), using Dale Carnegie's precepts will continue to reap the same problems they always have: slower-than-necessary sales cycles - while buyers figure out their internal issues; multiple decision makers appearing seemingly out of nowhere - while the internal systems get organized around change; tough price deliberations - because buyers don't know how else to evaluate one offering over another; seemingly unnecessary time delays - while buyers attempt to solve the problem using familiar resources; rejection - because buyers don't know how to justify change.

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - a

So, given that the job of sales continues to be defined as a process meant to move product into the hands of buyers (using whatever methodology that can move it), using Dale Carnegie's precepts will continue to reap the same problems they always have: slower-than-necessary sales cycles - while buyers figure out their internal issues; multiple decision makers appearing seemingly out of nowhere - while the internal systems get organized around change; tough price deliberations - because buyers don't know how else to evaluate one offering over another; seemingly unnecessary time delays - while buyers attempt to solve the problem using familiar resources; rejection - because buyers don't know how to justify change.

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - a

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - and train, train, train (there is a 70% turnover due to the sheer boredom and abuse the job bears).

These sellers get 'no's' because they don't know how to engage the prospect in rapport and don't help them examine their systems problems - not to mention treating all people like numbers. They base their entire process on finding those people who are actually seeking that particular product, with that particular price tag and description, on that specific day. The process actually is one of the most inefficient sales processes imaginable. With just a few small changes, they can increase their response rate to 2% using Buying Facilitation®. But since the people they hire are such a cheap commodity (especially in countries like India where a lot of this is taking place), they just keep aiming for the one half of one percent close, and keep hiring new people when their agents burn out.

I recently trained call center reps at a software company. Although they were receiving incoming calls, they were able to increase their per-dollar sale from $300 per call to $2000 per call. By using Buying Facilitation® they taught their customers how to take a rational look around their business culture, recognize problems, and be willing to purchase new products to solve the problem, all in one call and five extra minutes.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Senior Partners of large accounting and consulting firms. Although they consider themselves above sales, that's exactly what they do. They just do it smarter, with an air of greater expertise, more money, more people involved in the sale, better presentations, and with nicer ties. Buying Facilitation® has helped companies at the very high end of the spectrum bring multi-year sales cycles down to months by teaching the buyer how to bring in all the stakeholders immediately, and giving them decisioning strategies so they can coordinate the whole picture - micro and macro - easily and quickly.

Most people in sales truly care about their customers, so I'm being a bit unkind, but only a bit. Sellers would be happy to do it more efficiently if they knew how, but unfortunately, the method that Dale Carnegie created lives on and is still considered the norm, even though we've added a few bells and whistles to his original concept. Ultimately, once a sale is based on one person having the answers and finding a way to impress their solution on the other, it becomes an exercise in power, control, and ego.

PROBLEM VS. SOLUTION

Before I clarify how Buying Facilitation® gets rid of the inherent business problems created by conventional sales methods, let me digress and discuss the reasoning behind the continued use of the sales methods as Carnegie defined them.

The thinking goes something like this: since buyers haven't solved the problems that face them (in the area the product resides), obviously they can't or they would have already done so. One of the reasons for this oversight, the reasoning goes, is that they weren't even aware of the capabilities of the seller's product. Once they are made aware of them, and see how the product solves their problem, obviously they will be smart enough to buy it.

I can't tell you how many thousand times I've heard a seller say that the buyer was a jerk, or stupid, or worse, because they didn't buy the product they obviously needed. Obvious to the seller, of course.

It's becoming a known fact that buyers want a solution, not to solve a problem. So the sales community has learned the new lingo about helping buyers discover their solution. But they don't use skills that will support this discovery, and continue to use problem-solving techniques (information push, product-focused) as a way to sell.

In reality, the only people that can know how to fix a problem are the people that have a stake in the solution - those on the inside. And all the information that sellers collect or share will NOT address the systems necessary to support a new solution on a seller's site. People do not buy based on information; they bu