Transformational Selling

The ‘Generation Effect’ – and its application to marketing and sales. Possibly one of the most insightful things I’ve read for some time. (It’s got nothing to do with Millennials, Gen Z and Boomers btw). In psychology, the Generation Effect can be described as: ‘The more you involve your audience – and the more effort they have to generate or exert – the more memorable it will be.’ This can apply to any aspect of your sales process from your outreach, meetings, demos etc. So what can you do to leverage this effect? 👍 The obvious one is asking questions – not just to uncover information (that doesn’t require a huge amount of effort), but to get the customer to provide examples and formulate opinions 👍  Encouraging the customer to do the maths – get them to do some of the calculations around potential return or cost of inaction 👍 ‘Homework’ and preparation between meetings – getting the customer to expend some time and effort 👍 Involve them in your demo’s – get them to have a go themselves or provide their input throughout the process So these make you and your offering more memorable – but does being more memorable translate into sales? Sure, being more memorable isn’t going to harm your chances. But actually, in repeated psychological experiments, we value things more highly if we have had to put more effort and work into getting them. So the proposal that your customer has had to contribute to, or the demo that they have actively been involved in, will be judged more favourably than one which has just been given to them. One of the core pillars of Transformational Selling is ‘Foster Collaboration’. Bryn Thompson and I observed over hundreds of sales opportunities, that there was a correlation between the work the customer need to do during the process and the success of the sale being completed. It’s great when our observations are backed by behavioural science. Feel free to comment on how you use the Generation Effect in your sales process! #sales #salestraining #salescoaching #transformationalselling

Why confidence may not be the key to sales that you think it is. Confidence (or over-confidence) can may actually be killing your deals and pushing customers away. Telling customers that you can ‘definitely’ solve all of their problems, that your solution is the ‘best in the market’ and that your clients are all ‘100% satisfied’ may feel like you’re creating a compelling argument. But in reality, you’re eroding the customer’s trust in you as a reliable and credible source. Better to use ‘realistic optimism’ when engaging with customers – particularly in the early stages of the sale. If certain conditions need to be met in order for your product to have the best impact – then let the customer know. If there are certain conditions that mean the product won’t be effective – then tell the customer. If you don’t offer certain features – then highlight that to the customer. The irony is, by adopting this approach, you’ll boost the customer's confidence in you and probably increase your win rates as a result. #sales #salestraining #salescoaching #transformationalselling P.S. I can’t promise that reading Transformational Selling will guarantee you smash your target this year – but it might help you win a few deals along the way!

People don’t like being sold to! I’m not sure that I agree. What people don’t like is: ❌ being manipulated into saying yes ❌ being talked at ❌ not being listened to ❌ having urgency thrust upon them But great sales people don’t do any of this. So it’s not that people don’t like being sold to – they just don’t like being sold to badly! #sales #salestraining #salesdevelopment #transformationalselling

I love this picture - it sums up what selling is really about. It highlights what I've always felt is one of the biggest challenge in sales - how do we stand out from the rest? Differentiation based on product or service is becoming harder. USP’s don’t stay unique for long (assuming they ever were). Differentiation based on organisational capability (e.g. global reach, R&D capabilities, broad product range) sound grand – but they rarely pass the ‘So What?’ test. Often the biggest differentiator comes down the seller themselves – and the way that they sell. Seller should aim to create that ‘Oh s**t’ moment - by asking that insightful question that gets your client thinking. The more of these you create, the more value you build in both your offering and the relationship. Or you can be a green chilli – and offer a big discount! #sales #salesdevelopment #salestraining #transformationalselling

Great sellers coach their customers. Great sales managers coach their sellers. Most sales managers don’t coach. They think they coach – but they don’t. It’s not necessarily their fault – they are just following what their sales managers did for them. Interrogating a seller’s pipeline might be a useful activity – but it’s not coaching. Offering advice on how to get a deal over the line – it might be good advice, but it’s not coaching. Answering a rep’s questions - might seem an important part of your job, but it’s not coaching. And yet all of these instances provide the opportunity to coach. If you’re coaching you are: ✅ exploring what a good outcome looks like ✅ understanding the issues that might be getting the way ✅ encouraging discussion on different options and ideas ✅ securing commitment to actions and a plan moving forward. There are plenty of models and structures to guide the conversations (GROW, OSCAR or even our SCOPE model for discovery can be adopted as a coaching framework). And it doesn’t have to take long to do – it can be achieved in only a couple of minutes. #sales #salescoaching #salesdevelopment #transformationalselling

You can become a better seller just by going for a walk. Close deals by working out at the gym. Smash your sales number on your daily commute into work. Ok – so there’s a little more to it than that. Three key steps: Step 1 – Get the Audiobook version of ‘Transformational Selling’* Step 2 – Listen to it (whilst commuting, exercising or just lying on the sofa) Now here’s the important bit: Step 3: Apply the principles and methods to your day-to-day sales activity. You get the added bonus that whilst the narration was done by the very professional Adrian Hobart, there is the odd cameo from Bryn and myself. *available on all the usual platforms #sales #salesdevelopment #transformationalselling