With ups and downs. With successes and errors. On time and with delays. The daily life of any salesperson is a roller coaster.
Always focused on the next sale, those of us who process and close new businesses know that good results tend to be the natural consequence of a well-run process, with products or services that are relevant to validated prospects who could be attracted and served well – for the right people – with optimal processes for the contextual temporality of the case.
And although there are many transactional businesses or in unrepeatable circumstances, most sales occur in interactions that flow: that produce initial understanding, with recognition of mutual value and in the best desire to satisfy interests that your counterpart delimits, respects and pursues. In other words, you sell flowing.
What fuels that ‘flow’ of successful business interactions? Here are three maxims for managerial reflection:
1) Assume an agent of clarity.- What you offer is because it can be delivered. If something needs to be pointed out, you detail or explain it. If it is convenient to make a condition transparent, you do it. Not only do you not hide anything, but you focus on the other person clearly visualizing the outcome of their interaction with you, with your colleagues and, of course, with the product or service.
You know that a sale is an agreement that must be efficient in its operation and that the deliverables of each party must be as explained as they are understood.
2) Master the handling of objections.- Not only because they are an intrinsic part of each sale, but because they are an opportunity to fill information gaps, clarify legitimate doubts and, above all, nurture the environment of trust that is required for things to evolve in reasonable harmony.
The most astute salespeople want an objection, no matter how complex it may seem, to arise in front of him or her and not behind his or her back, when they no longer have the opportunity to work on it.
3) Be a bullet in managing expectations.- Tell him what’s going to happen. The good of course, the possibly bad and what could get ugly in a certain scenario. Make sure you don’t oversell to the point that the most likely outcome is disbelief or, at its worst possible, disappointment.
Be cautious with deadlines. Careful with things that are out of control and, above all, enunciative of what can or should be expected in cases where additional actions or expenses are required on some side of the table.
When the sale flows it is because both parties are interested in building an efficient agreement. Both demand value. Both expect fulfillment. Both trust that there will be unity of effort to materialize what they have promised.
And although no sale can be immune to challenges of all kinds, the most important thing for it to sell smoothly is to understand that good businesses – which are nothing more than agreements that one aspires to fulfill – build value for those involved when the professional relationship improves and things work at productive optimum.
And ANAM will meet again in Cancún…
Its protagonists keep just over 635,000 small businesses, better known as ‘little stores’, well supplied. This is the world of grocery, whose captains will meet at the XXIII Congress of the National Association of Wholesale Grocers from May 6 to 8 in QR
To refine its professionalization and profitability efforts, ANAM has already confirmed Jorge Serratos, Rodrigo del Val, Ana Francisca Vega, Jennifer Nacif, Jorge Quiroga and Leopoldo Gómez and more. The announced panels, their expo and the activities with various brands look very promising. See you there!
