In response to my post A Different Look At Selling, Alan Zell sent me an article of his from which I excerpted the following gem:
Sales people spend someone else’s time, space, effort, and/or money and how well they do this determines their relationship with that person – the customer. They are in business to ensure that the customers’ time, effort, and/or money is spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. Thus, selling is a partnership. If customers believe their partners are misspending their time, space, effort or money, they soon break off the partnership.
The seller should not consider him/herself as representing his/her firm, but rather as the customer’s liaison to the firm . . . the job therefore is to represent the customer by finding which of the firm’s services or products will fill the customer’s needs. It means that the first obligation of any business is to put the most proficient person or people in front of customers. To do less is being penny wise and pound foolish.
Salespeople should be taught several basic questions to ask of themselves:
- Who has a need for what I am selling?
- Does it help solve customers’ problem(s)?
- How will it help them be better?
- Am I the right person and am I using the right method(s) to make my presentations?
- Does my offering solve my/our problems rather than the customer™s problem(s)?
- By solving my customers™ problem(s) will I be solving mine or will solving my problem(s) also solve my customers™?It can be summed up in a formula for successful selling:.c y C a / cya = ?
This is a division problem with a solution = C ¦ Customer
In words it says if you always cover your customer™__s then for sure you always cover your __s
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