We all remember the First Rule of Fight Club, “You Don’t Talk about Fight Club” from the 1999 cult classic starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.
If there was a Sales Club the secret of Sales Club would be “You Don’t Act Like a Salesperson”. Somehow I feel that I do not need to define what acting like a Salesperson means. I think we all have a similar image of what that means. I find it both sad and strange that “Acting Like a Salesperson” can even be used as a pejorative.
What if there was a Sales Club, an underground group of salespeople that instead of meeting in the basement of bars to fight, simply focused on what really works in selling?
What would this group look like?
The Rules of Sales Club:
Listen: When we think of a salesperson in the pejorative listening is not what comes to mind. Instead, it is the fast-talking infomercial pitchman, who is hitting feature by feature and matching each with benefits. In Sales Club asking great questions and then waiting for the full answer is the rule. Not thinking about what to say next or handling each objection or concern like a jab to the face. In Sales Club the rule is to listen to understand, to connect and to empathize.
Exchange of Value: In Sales Club, nothing is pushed and nothing is given away. Selling is an exchange of value, the valuable outcome that a product or services bring in exchange for money. During the sales process, there is also a value exchange. The clients time for yours. An evaluation for broader exposure to the organization. An ROI for an executive meeting. Terms and conditions of a long-term enterprise order.
Guiding: Outside of Sales Club, salespeople meet, present, propose and follow-up but not inside Sales Club. Inside Sales, Club members know that their clients do not know how to buy. They know their company and the problem they are trying to solve but fall short of knowing how to make change happen. In Sales Club, this is the secret to beating their competition. Members take responsibility for guiding the decision-making process by working with each member of the client's team. They understand how to win both the technical sale as well as the business sale.
Word of Mouth: It does not take a Ph.D. in marketing to know that the best leads come from our happiest customers. But outside of Sales Club, few do the hard, non-commissioned work to make sure that the client they killed themselves to close is esthetically happy. Sales Club members know that a successful client will be their best lead generator and reference. Members make sure that service problems are fixed, that questions are answered and that any issue is resolved quickly.
Sales Club maybe fictional much like Fight Club, but if we happen to meet each other I will be the one with the black eye and bruised knuckles.
If you listen to PodCasts, check out mine “The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling”.
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I welcome connections and thanks for reading this post,
Brian