How to Sell When Your Clients Don't Look Like You (eBook)

Chapter 3:

Selling Makes the World Go Round!

Have you heard the term ‘nothing happens until a sale is made’? Sales pay the wages for the person filing papers, the human resource managers, the warehouse workers, the marketing department, the technology staff, the drivers, the janitors, etc. The revenue generated by sales is the primary reason for a company’s success, so the more sales generated, the more jobs are created. Sales of products or services pay for the rent, the utilities, the health insurance, the office supplies and everything else. When sales go up, companies do well. When sales go down, recessions occur. Selling makes the world go round! Nothing happens until a sale is made.

That being said, there are different types of sales. All selling does not require the same level of commitment, expertise or sophistication, and all selling does not mandate a degree of relationship or trust. If you are selling a commodity or consumer product like a cell phone, there is very little interaction between the buyer and the seller. However, if you are selling a service like financial planning or accounting, it is imperative that you have great relationships with people.

In fact, there are the five different levels of sales: order taker, product-driven sales, needs-driven sales, consultative and collaborative. The first two require very little relationship, and the focus should be on marketing and making the product as unique and desirable as possible. The last three fall into the professional sales realm and require a certain level of relationship and business development.

Order taker – A salesperson who fills a request or order of goods or commodities but does not make attempts to increase frequency of orders or to find new customers. There is no requirement for any type of relationship in this sales level as long as the client has a relationship with the product. Example: waiter, fast food cashier, department store employee.

Product-driven sales – A salesperson whose focus is based on a particular product or set of products. Their sales success is purely based on the desire or demand of the product being sold. Example: cell phone store employee, car dealership, etc.

Needs-driven sales – A salesperson whose job is to discover and fulfill a need either immediately or on an ongoing basis. Their success is based on matching a need with a solution. Example: banker, insurance salesperson.

Consultative – This is a deep form of sales. Consultative selling involves engagement and interaction around a client’s core need. The goal is to identify the specific underlying need and form the advice or solution around that need. This requires a form of questioning centered on peeling through the initial issue or problem to discover that underlying need. Example: financial planner, attorney or CPA.

Collaborative – Collaborative sales is working with clients jointly to identify needs, evaluate the benefits of the solutions and go through the decision-making process side by side. Think of the professions previously listed in Consultative, but on an ongoing basis.

Your profession and product or service will determine what level of sales you engage in, but if you can add elements of a higher level in your approach, it will be beneficial to your sales success regardless of what type of sales you do. Professional sales require relationship building. To understand, consult and collaborate with clients, they must trust you. To build trust, you must spend time and connect with clients. Otherwise, your advice and expertise will be challenged no matter how knowledgeable you are.

If someone doesn’t trust or like you, they will ask tougher questions, have greater skepticism, and look for confirmation of their negative beliefs and stereotypes, all in an attempt to validate their opinion. You cannot allow your differences to equate to dislike. Your product or service or advantage will not get you the business as much as your relationship.

Professional sales can be one of the most lucrative professions to be in. Whether you’re selling insurance, industrial equipment, investments or consulting services, the opportunity to have unlimited earning potential is there. If you can build a substantial client base and generate sales revenue, you can earn a wonderful living. Sales, is less about education level and more about the ability to connect with people.

I’ve worked with salespeople who earn $3 million to $5 million per year in sales, and many others who make six or seven figures. I’ve been fortunate to establish a career that generated a healthy six-figure income for me each year. While most jobs pay a wage or salary regardless of how productive you may be, sales reward the productive. The more revenue you generate, the more money you make.

There is a reason why the sales profession is so lucrative. It takes a special skill to be able to meet people you don’t know and build enough trust that they are willing to spend money with you or use your products or services. Most sales jobs have a type of commission or incentive tied to them, which takes away the certainty or a definite salary. The removal of a guaranteed salary lifts the cap on how much you can earn. Although there is pressure to meet certain sales goals, the income potential is limitless.

Very few people are brave or skilled enough to have their compensation based solely on sales production. That means you are paid based on your ability to close business and generate revenue. Most people would rather have a guaranteed salary, hourly rate or some form of certainty tied to their pay. Incentive based pay adds pressure, expectation and independence. For those willing to take the chance at sales, freedom, flexibility and high income are all achievable rewards.

The typical career in sales starts with an organic network of friends and colleagues, and grows through networking, referrals and meeting people with similar interests and backgrounds. The people you already know form the basis of your network and potential client base. It is extremely advantageous if your natural network consists of people close to or in the industry to which you plan to sell. For minorities, success can be challenging when you find yourself selling in an industry that is not customary or traditional for people like you.

Suppose you are a CPA in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Your focus is mid-level business owners in the area, most of whom happen to be older white men. You are a young Hispanic woman who migrated to the area for college and stayed to establish your professional career. You have the expertise and knowledge to meet their needs, but it has been difficult to get business because you share very little in common with many of the people you want to help. How do you get meetings? How do you build trust? How do you close business?

Most sales training teaches strategies for prospecting, networking, building relationships and closing business. Those strategies come from a proven blueprint of sales success in a particular industry. A new sales associate is taught industry language, successful ideas for prospecting and acquiring clients, and sales tracking methods. If you happen to be good at talking to people, it seems like an easy task to start meeting people who are just like you and asking for business. This traditional sales training consistently fails to address the obstacles minorities face in selling to people they share very little in common with on the surface.

The path for minorities in sales has additional challenges. The majority of sales training starts with the assumption that you share a common connection with your client base and that it’s simply a matter of identifying the right people, building a relationship with them and closing business. Varying backgrounds, cultures, ages, sexes or beliefs are rarely addressed in terms of how to overcome them to build business relationships. This was my biggest challenge when I started my career.

Let me be clear on the word minority in the context of this book. On one hand, I am talking about race, ethnicity, gender and culture. But more broadly, I am talking about a person who is in a professional sales position where he or she is in the minority and has no natural network from which to start a career. That could include race, gender, age, sexual orientation or culture. It could be black, white, Hispanic, female, LGBT, foreign, etc. If you are in a profession where the majority of your clients do not look like you, act like you, or share your culture and background, you are a minority.

I am a black man, so my personal experience has been through race, and age in some instances, but I believe these principles can apply to anyone who feels like the minority in a sales profession. You could be very young in a profession customarily held by older people, or from another city or part of the world and have no relationships or ties to your new location. Whatever your situation, if you feel like an outsider and have found trouble penetrating an industry, establishing a client base, and building a book of business through sales, this book is for you.

Let me also make a point about sales. If you are living, you are selling. It may not be a product or service, but you will be required to sell something at some point in life, even if it’s only yourself. Many of the principles I discuss may apply to you even if you’re not in a sales profession. You may be an entrepreneur, an independent attorney or a physician, or simply trying to adjust and advance in corporate America. Either way, this book may provide some insight on how to remove any doubt about your...