Selling is Simple!

Credit: Bill Gillespie

I’ve shared this before. Reps and owners can complicate selling. We can get in our own way.

Selling is simple. There is a process but it isn’t rocket science. It’s like diet and exercise. If you do the right stuff, you’ll improve the way you look and feel. We know what works.

• Identify markets you want to serve.
• Identify companies within that space.
• Look up contacts (social media can help here).
• Learn what you can about targets/contacts.
• Make contact.
• Be tastefully persistent.
• Blog/Post, share how you solve problems.
• Send examples to contact (you can send samples, case studies, phone videos).
• Win your appointment.
• Listen, share and listen some more.
• Ask to do business. Be tastefully persistent.
• When you win a shot, exceed promises.
• Become top supplier. Never stop asking questions.
• Ask for a contract. Clients actually like contracts.

These are the steps. Have an “I want to accomplish this” agenda for each step and each target. Create a touch cadence. Honor the schedule you decide makes sense. Don’t ignore or attempt to skip any part of the process. Do a postmortem after each contact. Understand where you are in the process with each target. Don’t stop working.

I think you’ll agree there is nothing complicated about those steps. They might not be easy but they aren’t complicated. Anyone that wants to can master the process.

There will be some that pushback on this list. Some folks are just happier if things are complicated. I see this happen most often with sales managers.

Years ago, I was visiting a large printer in Southern California. There was an issue of some kind with a local theme park. They (the theme park) have another place in Orlando. The VP of Sales was making his case to the President and I happened to be in the room.

The President said, “that’s BS. That story doesn’t pass the BS test. They need printing and we’ve got printing. Get them on the phone.”

I really enjoyed the ensuing call. The President asked about the problem. He pledged that he was committed to making things right. That was all the theme park dude wanted. They talked for ten minutes and order was restored. The President asked, listened, said “let me fix it” and kept the business. The VP of Sales had complicated things.

If you sell stuff for as long as I have, you’re going to be part of some perplexing conversations. You’re going to hear outrageous ideas. You’re going to find yourself eyeball to eyeball with successful reps that have no idea how they’re making business happen. They don’t know what they do wrong or right. Consequently, they don’t know what to duplicate with others.

This is what selling is. It’s problem (objective) identification and solving. It isn’t bid slinging and technology preaching.

Selling is Simple. If it wasn’t, I could have never done it.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.