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By Percy Chong, 23rd April 2015
The No.1 advice for any sales consultant is, sales is a science, not just an art that everyone commonly believe.
And science is predictable. It is repeatable and definite; where the equation of 1 + 1 will result in 2.
It is about doing the right set of actions or activities to secure the right or expected results. And the good news is, like any discipline this science/skills can be learned!
With science, the introduction of any actions, effort or the lack of them, will invariably yield results. The question is whether the results are positive or negative ones. Who we are (ie. achievement as a Sales Consultant) is a sum total of what we have done or have not done! The challenge is to apply the right set of actions and deliver them correctly. There is no fault blaming for the lack of results, only the absence of right actions.
There are however anomalies in the sales situation where the results does not follow the expected trajectory; even though the right actions have been introduced. Do not be alarm, for these unique deviations are merely “acceptable” margin of errors that happens in any science process.
The acceptable deviation is a result of vast amount of variables in selling (ie. personality, character, background, preference, affordability, proximity, authority/decision making ability, inherent needs and even state of mind during the sales approach etc). Some of which are beyond the control of any sales consultant.
The human element embodies great diversity from its thoughts, emotions to its experiences. Dealing with such complex subject matter may invariably arrive at some deviated experiences; no matter how skillful or competent the salesperson is. Example, no amount of skills or doing or saying the right thing could prevent the loss of a sale from a decision-maker who woke up from the wrong side of the bed. There is just no way to predict and manage them. Therefore, the risk of any variables ‘acting up’ during sales that may cause the opportunity to swing in the opposite direction can exist in any stage of the sales process.
With the risk of having quite a few variables messing up the sales opportunity, how can ASG still make such bold claims that sales is a science that promises objectivity, consistency and repeatability?
ASG has observed numerous top sales producers who hold true these sales principles that:
- The ‘Sales Process’ is an immutable constant; to be applied and adhere to religiously.
- Expect the ‘Variables in Selling’ to also be a constant; to be respected, to be dealt with (if possible), or to be ignored.
These sales producers’ adherence and pragmatism towards these 2 constants, allowed them to triumph over sales loss from some acceptable deviations. They simply focus their sights on applying the science behind the ‘Sales Process’ and push on with their activities unrelentingly; while ignoring when the ‘Variables of Selling’ that are unavoidable, that may result in loss of the sale.
For them, success can only be found in the knowledge of the sales process and the delivering of its activities. Nothing else mattered except that “Who we are (ie. achievement as a Sales Consultant) is a sum total of what we have done or have not done!”
Article contributed by Percy Chong (through Asian Sales Guru) |