HOW TO MAKE THE SALE

What Every New Salesperson Needs To Know

By Frank McNair; Sourcebooks, Inc: Illinois, 2005

Are you thinking of a career salesperson. By providing About the Author/s:

in selling? Maybe you've had the basic keys and insights Frank McNair
some initial success at to selling, this book can start delights in
selling and are wondering if you off on a successful helping groups,
individuals and
you could make it a full-time selling career. organizations
career. Or maybe you are read the summary solve their
completely new at selling problems and
move forward
and have no idea at all if you to successfully achieve their
can do it. Or, you may have goals. Frank can serve as a
found a job as a salesperson sounding board, a coach, and a
mentor--or he can partner with
but you are not having any your organization on a
luck while others seem to comprehensive training initiative
succeed naturally. or an ongoing consulting
project.

If you are any one of these Frank began his corporate life
people, then this book is for with First Citizens Bank, and
then worked in sales and
you. “How You Make The marketing for RJ Reynolds
Sale” by Frank McNair shows Industries and the L'eggs
that selling is a learnable skill, Division of Sara Lee
Corporation. In his last position
not something you are in the corporate world, Frank
naturally born with. You don't was Director of Sales and
Marketing (all product lines) for
have to be a glib talker or a Douglas Battery Company.
natural at selling to be a great for author info

Inside This Book Summary:

Ÿ You Never Get a Second Chance To Make
Ÿ The Big Idea A Good Impression
Ÿ Selling As Service Ÿ Questioning for Results
Ÿ What Types Of Products Require A Ÿ Features and Benefits: The
Professional Salesperson Difference and Why It Matters
Ÿ Ways You Can Add Value With Service ŸMaking The Case/Presenting The
Ÿ How Buyers Decide To Buy
Solution
Ÿ How Does a Sale Unfold?
Ÿ Dealing With Resistance
Ÿ Identifying Hot Buttons and Flagging
Ÿ It's Okay To Ask For The Order
Landmines Ÿ Other Tips

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I. Selling As Service
One of the main things that put people off from a
career in selling is that they think it means you
have to trick, cajole and generally talk people
into buying things. This is the traditional,
combative selling perspective. You see the
customer as the combatant that you have to
beat to make the sale.
You hear salespeople talk about tactics and
strategy, about outflanking or pushing the
customer into a corner, attacking his/her
weakness, countering resistance, and
defeating objections. You'll even hear
discussions about guerilla marketing. This is
the perspective that views selling as warfare,
where the customer is the enemy that has to
lose for you to win.
But this kind of selling does not work in the long-
term. You can't stay in business where making
sales means the buyer loses. Repeat/referral
sales are the most profitable of all sales and
they're not going to happen if you think of the
customer as the enemy.
But there is another way to sell. This is win-win
selling where you serve the customers by
helping them make the best possible choice to
solve the problem that took them into the
market in the first place.
This is selling as service, or service to the
customer. In selling as service, the salesperson
adds value by what he knows, what she can
teach, and he/she structures a sale to meet the
customer's needs and problems.
About the Book:
Author: Frank McNair
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc
Date of Publication: 2005
ISBN: 1-4022-0435-3
Number of Pages: 318 pages
How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair
BusinessSummaries.com
Your role as a salesperson then should be to
serve -- serve the customer, the demands of the
sales process, and your own needs for
significance and competence by being the best
person you can be.
II. What Types Of Products Require A
Professional Salesperson
More products are bought than sold. Chewing
gum, toilet paper, detergent, toothpaste -- these
are products that do not need to be sold by
salespeople. They are marketed in television
ads, but not by salespeople. This is because
their sales price and dollar margin is too small to
support the services of a professional
salesperson. Also they are inexpensive and
simple enough that customers don't need a
salesperson to help them make a choice.
Products that need to be sold by professional
salespeople are products that:
ŸHave relatively high market value (cars,
real estate, insurance).
ŸOccur relatively infrequently (you don't
buy a car every year)
ŸMany of the decisions are moderately
complex with a lot of considerations to
factor in.
ŸFor most of these products, service and
repair after the sale is a major
consideration in the customer's satisfaction
with the product.
ŸThe monetary cost and inconvenience of
a bad decision is high.
III. Ways You Can Add Value With Service
As a salesperson, how can you add value to the
customer by selling with service? Here's how:
ŸListen carefully to the customer to fully
discern the customer's wants and needs.
ŸClarify the customer's wants and needs
both for yourself, and the customer as well,
meaning make him/her learn and refine
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what he/she really wants and needs.
Determine the problem the customer is
trying to solve, so that you can solve the
problem in the most appropriate manner.
Know your own (and your competitor's)
product lines so completely that you can
select - from among the reasonable
options that product or service that best
meets the customer's needs and solves
the customer's problems.
Present the solution so the customer sees
and appreciates its benefits and
understands why this solution is best for
his/her situation.
Help the customer complete the
transaction in other ways: creative
financing, advocating for the customer with
management, arranging delivery, and so
forth.
Follow-up after the sale to ensure that the
customer is satisfied with his/her
purchase, and to make any additional
sales that would add additional value to the
customer.
Remember, people buy from people, not from
companies. And people like to do business with
people they know and trust. What keeps
customers coming back is the service mindset.
If you ask yourself in every interaction with the
customers “How can I serve this customer
best in this situation?” you will rarely go wrong.
IV. How Buyers Decide To Buy
To be a good salesperson, you need to know
about customer behavior. It is important to
remember that:
1. People buy to solve a problem these
may be real or perceived problems
2. M a n y p r o b l e m s c o n t a i n a n
unarticulated image component.
3. Customers don't really buy products,
programs or services they buy solutions to
their problems.
4. The customer alone decides what the
best solution is.
How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair
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And because of this, the salesperson with the best
solution to the problem gets to make the sale.
To help you come up with the best solution, here
are the nine steps customers go through when
they make a purchase.
The Path To Purchase
Step One Identify Need
The need can be real or perceived
(but all needs are real to the customer)
Step Two Gather Data
What products are available? What do
they do? Have other people met their
needs and solved similar problems?
Step Three Clarify Need
Become more precise about what is
needed and why.
Step Four Identify Options That Fulfill Need
What specific products will meet my
need and solve my problem?
Step Five Develop Purchase Criteria
How much can I spend? When do I need
to take delivery? What are other key purchase
determinants that will drive this purchase?
Step Six Identify Potential Sources
Who has the products that I need? Where
are they located? Is proximity an issue?
How about service after the sale? Among
my circle of acquaintances, who has a
recommendation that I might follow?
Step Seven Contact or Visit Potential Sources
What is the feel of this place? Is this a
place I think I can do business?
Step Eight Interview Potential Sales People
Is this person credible with me? Do
I trust them? Do we connect?
Step Nine Select Preferred Outlet and Salesperson
Of all the places I have visited, is this the
one I want to do business with?
V. How Does a Sale Unfold?
Now that you know how customers decide to buy,
you need to be aware of the sales process itself.
The sales process shows the responsibilities and
challenges of the salesperson trying to help solve
the customer's problem.
Remember, selling is a disciplined, step-by-step
process. If you learn the steps, you will make your
share of sales.
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The Sales Process
Step One Research prior to the sale
How does my product compare to my competitor’s?
How do customer's use my product?
What problem – real or perceived – does my product solve?
Step Two Meet and Greet
How do I greet customers in a way that buyers see me as a credible
colleague?
How do I build rapport?
How do I get customers to invite me into their problem-solving process?
Step Three Discovery
How do I discover the problem(s) that drove the customer into the market?
How do I uncover the key purchase criteria that will drive this sale?
How do I help the customer clarify his/her problem?
How do I identify solutions that will best solve the newly clarified problem?
How do I discover the benefits of my product that are most relevant to this
buyer?
Step Four Features and Benefits
How do I prevent my product, program, or service in a way that I fully “bridge”
from the features I have learned to the benefits that the customer cares
about?
Step Five Making the Case/Presenting the Solution
How do I present the solution to the customer's problem?
How do I use a “trial close” to flush out objections so I can deal with them?
Step Six The Objective is Objections: Dealing with Resistance
How do I respond when the customer objects to my presentation?
How do I remember that “An objection is simply a request for more
information?
How do I circle back to Discovery to answer the additional facts I need to
solve the customer's problem and make this sale.
Step Seven Closing: It's Okay to Ask For the Order
How can I ask for the order in a way that is congruent with our collegial sales
model?
How do we finalize our commitments to each other in a professional way?
Step Eight Following Up for Ongoing Profitability
How do I follow-up an ongoing profitable relationship?
What other problems can I solve for this customer?
How do I stay in contact to make this customer a “customer for life”?
VI. Identifying Hot Buttons and Flagging
Landmines
In the language of selling, hot buttons are the
product attributes that excite customers and
energize them about buying your product,
program or service. These are the sizzle that go
with the steak, so to speak. Examples are:
– for houses: neighborhood security, age of
appliances, landscaping, proximity to good
schools, heating systems.
– for insurance policy: savings benefits for whole
life insurance, comparative internal rate of
return versus competitive policies, etc
Every product has multiple hot buttons things
that can excite the customer. As a salesperson,
it is your challenge to know the general hot
buttons for your product and the competition.
hidden piece of information that, when you stray
across it, carries the danger that it might blow your
sales opportunity away. Some landmines with
customers you should be aware of are:
Ÿ Previous bad experience with the company
you represent
Ÿ Previous bad experience with the product
you represent
Ÿ Previous bad experience with you
Ÿ Unarticulated loyalty to a competitor's
product or service
Ÿ Commitment to buy from someone else
Ÿ Embarrassing fact that the customer does
not want to reveal
Ÿ Conflict between two parties (e.g. husband
and wife) on the buying side
Ÿ Talking to the customer far above or below
his/her level of understanding
About the Author/s:
Frank McNair delights in helping
groups, individuals and organizations
solve their problems and move forward
to successfully achieve their goals.
Frank can serve as a sounding board,
a coach, and a mentor--or he can
partner with your organization on a
comprehensive training initiative or an
ongoing consulting project.
Frank began his corporate life with First Citizens Bank,
and then worked in sales and marketing for RJ Reynolds
Industries and the L'eggs Division of Sara Lee
Corporation. In his last position in the corporate world,
Frank was Director of Sales and Marketing (all product
lines) for Douglas Battery Company.
Since 1988 Frank and his wife, Laura, have been
partners in McNair & McNair - a training and consulting
business that specializes in helping companies get the
best possible results from their employees, teammates,
colleagues, and associates. Frank is a sought-after
speaker, trainer, consultant and personal coach and has
worked for major companies across the country.
Frank is a graduate of the University of North Carolina,
where he was a Morehead Scholar. He also holds an
MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of
Management at Wake Forest University
For more information about the author, please visit:
http://www.frankmcnair.com

Sales interactions also contain landmines a

How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair 4 of 8


Ÿ Addressing your comments to the half of
the couple that you assume will make the
decision and guessing wrong
Ÿ Assuming that you already know the
customer's need or reason for going into
the market
VII. You Never Get a Second Chance
To Make A Good Impression
Step Two in the Sales Process Meet and Greet
- is when you meet the customer. It is where the
Sales Process and the Path to Purchase
converge. At this step, you need to know or
ascertain in what step the customer is when
you meet him/her to be able to act accordingly.
They may be at Step Two, Step Four or Step
Seven already. But they are only on Step Two
of the Sales Process.
At this step, it is critical to remember the
following:
A. Sell yourself before you sell your product
This means you have to build trust and rapport
with the customer quickly. You can do this by:
Ÿ telling the truth without shading it to
advantage
Ÿ listening carefully to the customer's
problem
Ÿquestioning them closely to ensure you
understand their problem and situation
Ÿrespecting their desires, needs and
constraints
Ÿ educate the customer on facts they need
to know to help them make an informed
decision
Ÿ partner with the customer so that both
the buyer and the seller get a solution that
works for each of them
Ÿ shape a solution that solves the
customer's problem within the constraints
laid out by the customer
B. Build rapport
Rapport grows out of shared experiences,
values, backgrounds and interests. But
remember, you and the customer already have
the most important commonality you could
How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair
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possible claim the customer has a problem that
your product, program or service might be able to
solve. You are both interested in the deal because
you can both benefit they will find a solution to
their problem, and you make a sale.
C. Cold Calling: A Special Type of Meet and
Greet
Cold calling is picking up the phone to generate
prospective customers. Cold calling is hard work
it has a high rejection rate and requires someone
with thick skin and a well-developed sense of self-
confidence.
But you need to remember that, once you have
the prospective customer's attention, the sales
process is exactly the same as the type where the
customer comes to you.
D. Dealing with schmucks
Whether you meet customers face-to-face or call
them, you will always come across people who
are nasty by nature. It's difficult to deal with people
like this. Here are several lessons that may be
helpful:
Ÿ Never say anything to a customer that you
wouldn't want to be repeated on the news.
Ÿ Put it in writing whatever it is your and their
agreements.
Ÿ Keep management in the loop. Let your
manager know as soon as you realize you're
dealing with a 'schmuck'.
Ÿ Refuse to sell them. If you've been dealing
with the same schmuck for some time, tell
them you can't sell to them anymore as a last
resort. You don't need customers like this.
Ÿ Don't let it get you down. Move on after
dealing with the 'schmuck'. Don't get stuck
thinking about them.
VIII.Questioning for Results
In Step Three of the Sales Process, you question
the customer to discover what their need or
problem is, so that you can begin fashioning a
solution for them.
There are different question types you can use.
These include open and closed questions (yes
and no questions). Open questions are the
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'essay' questions of life. They often begin like
this:
Ÿ Tell me about
Ÿ Explain…
Ÿ What happened when…
Ÿ Why?
Ÿ How?
Ÿ How do you feel about…
Open questions have several pluses: they got
lots of information, they get the customer to
talk, and they provide a more conversational
interaction than a series of closed questions.
Use closed questions when you have gotten to
know the customer, have built trust and rapport,
and just want to review options on their
purchase.
Probing questions are used to gather additional
information about a topic that is already on the
table. The purpose of the probe is to encourage
the speaker to keep talking, or say more about
the issue at hand. Some probing questions
include:
Ÿ Are there other questions you have about
this?
Ÿ Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Ÿ What else comes to mind?
Ÿ Is that all?
Ÿ Go on..
Ÿ Tell me more..
Just remember, like a doctor, you must always
diagnose the problem first, before you
prescribe a solution.
IX.Features and Benefits: The Difference
and Why It Matters
It's not enough to know the features of your
product. Salespeople always want to talk about
the features, while customers only buy
benefits. So you should know what benefits are
associated with the features of your product,
program or service.
To link the features of your product, program of
service to the benefits that a customer is
looking for, do the following:
Ÿ Remind the customer of their problem
How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair
BusinessSummaries.com
(e.g. You mentioned that X is a major
concern for you.)
Ÿ State the relevant features that will solve
their problem.
Ÿ Use a bridge phrase that will lead the
customer from the feature of your product to
the benefit that solves their problem (e.g.
What this means to you is…)
Ÿ Lay the benefit out in plain view so that the
customer will not have to leap to the benefit
on their own (e.g. So you will have fewer
hassles/save more money, etc)
Ÿ Support the benefit so that it is not an
unsupported assertion (e.g. I have (provide
examples), that prove this is not just my
opinion, but a fact.
X. Making The Case/Presenting The Solution
There are four types of customers or prospects:
Ÿthose who have a problem and know it--
you need to negotiate and then solve the
problem.
Ÿthose who have no problem and know it--
you need to wait and build a relationship
Ÿthose who have a problem and do not know
it-- you need to educate and raise their
awareness of their need/problem and how
to solve it.
Ÿthose who have no problem and does not
know it-- you want to agitate them, and
create doubt.
There is a six-step process to making a case.
Ÿ Restate the problem/s you and the
customer have identified. Be sure to get the
customer to agree with your problem list by
asking for additions or amplifications.
Ÿ Deal with each of the problems you have
identified in turn, and make the case that
your product or service offers the best
solution for each of the problems
Ÿ Always bridge from the features of your
product to the benefits that matter to the
customer and solve the customer's
problem.
Ÿ As you make the case that you have
solved a portion of the customer's problem,
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repeat back anything you hear the customer
saying about your solution. This will ensure
you heard the customer correctly, and dealt
with any concerns he/she might have.
Ÿ Use tie-down questions to ensure that the
customer agrees with each part of the solution
as you make your case. The goal is to tie up all
loose ends on one component of the sale
before moving on to the next component
Ÿ Use a trial close to gauge the customer's
receptivity to the overall case you have made,
and to flush out any objections.
XI.Dealing With Resistance
Objections can occur at any stage of the sales
process. In fact, making the case can often cause
objections to surface. But remember that an
objection is almost always a request for more
information. Customers usually object because
they do not believe you have fully solved their
problems.
So don't panic when you hear an objection.
Underlying the objection is a simple question: But
can you solve this part of the problem? Listen to
the objection, probe to fully understand it, respond
professionally and in a problem-solving mode,
and check back to see if you have addressed the
objection.
If you get into trouble, probe. If you stay in trouble,
call in a colleague.
XII. It's Okay To Ask For The Order
If you work the sales process faithfully, closing is
the easiest step. If you've done all the other steps
well, all you need to ask at the close of the sale is:
So, what do you think? If the customer is ready to
buy, he/she will say: Sounds good to me.
If he/she is not ready to buy, the close will flush out
an objection and you can circle back to deal with it
by probing or other ways. Either way, the sale is
moving forward. If you get in trouble or hear 'no'
How You Make the Sale by Frank McNair
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when you ask for the order, go back to Step
Three: Discovery and probe the customer why
he/she is not buying.
If a customer says yes, the sale doesn't end
there. While you may feel relief or euphoria, you
still need to take care of your customer. Most
probably, he/she may also be feeling relieved,
or maybe a little anxious wondering if they
made the right decision.
Your job now is to reassure that the right
decision has been made. To do this, you should:
Ÿ Celebrate with the customer in his/her
relief congratulate the customer on his/her
choice and tell them you think they will be
happy with it
Ÿ Move immediately to allay anxiety (sales
theorists call it 'cognitive dissonance') that
accompanies making a final selection from
many competing options
-- Recap all your agreements
-- review the benefits of the decision made
-- reduce all commitments to writing
XIII. Other Tips
Follow-up For Ongoing Profitability
Make follow-up on existing customers a routine
to ensure continuing profitability. Remember,
follow-up can be the first step to making the
next sale. The important thing here is, you have
to keep your commitments. Under-promise and
over-deliver. Think about what you are going to
sell them next.
Write It Down
Make sure to put everything in writing
agreements, your commitments, the
customer's commitments, everything. Don't
assume you know what others are going to do.
It doesn't have to be a full-blown contract, but
make sure you have a written record of the sale.
Talking About Price
When talking about price, remember the
following:
1. Don't lead with price. Build value before
talking price. Sell your solution thoroughly
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before you put a price on it.

2. Be sure any price comparisons are apples to
apples. If a customer says he/she heard of a lower
price somewhere else, check to make sure the two
offers are identical in quantity, warranty, terms,
delivery, quality of product, and other attributes.
3. Don't apologize for your price. Your product is
worth what it costs. If it's higher, don't call attention
to it; the customer will notice on his/her own.
4. Make sure you call the customer back to the Total
Value Proposition of buying your product. This
includes the price, reputation of your product and
company, terms and conditions of the sale, and the
opportunity to do business with you.

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