Coach DiDonato came into class on January 29, where he talked about sales relationships. He started with the classic, “Sell me this pen.” He then explained that the sale is not about the pen, but it is about the buyer. Coach DiDonato worked in medical sales. His first sales experience was a total flop. He went into the doctor’s office listening off features left and right. He did not make sale about the customer. I thought it was interesting he said that there were three parties in every sale: the seller, the buyer, and whatever is being sold. I never thought about the product being its own party, however it is the thing that is focused on the most during many sales. The true sale comes from the emphasis being on the buyer and forming trust.
Coach DiDonato explained trust in many ways. He said it was ability plus intent, or also put as grace plus truth, or in other words retaining faith plus brutal facts. Each of these different explanations of the things that compose trust are essential the same thing, but are nuanced and together work to provide a full and clear picture of what the seller is working to build with the client. A salesperson needs to demonstrate ability, but also ensuring they are transparent. At the same time, he or she must be like Jesus in sales by being full of grace and full of truth. A salesperson can capture value through retaining the faith and being transparent through brutal facts. All the while, the salesperson must make the sale about the buyer; this is done through asking the right questions.
DiDonato then explained a five step process. First is pre call analysis, then need analysis, after that is need awareness, next need solution, and finally need satisfaction. Each of the steps help the narrow done the salesperson’s understanding of their client and his or her need until they can finally ask for the business. DiDonato’s presentation helped to pinpoint essential factors of making a sale.
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Great post! I loved reading this and learning about coach DiDonato! I missed him coming in so this was great learning his view on sales.
Really great post! I thought that it was funny that he did the “Sell me a pen” exercise in Dr. Sweet’s class. I also loved in 5 step funnel thing that he showed in class, I think it explained things well.
Awesome post! The “sell me a pen” example was a really good lead into talking to us about how sales is all about the customer and buyer instead of the product! I also really loved his trust equation: trust = ability + intent. This really showed me how important trust is in sales.
This was a good idea for a blog post, you summarized what Coach DiDonato said really well! I had the same thing as you where I had not thought of the product as its own party. And I also thought the different ways he defined trust was interesting, but your analysis of those definitions in a biblical sense is interesting. The really amazing thing with the five-step process is that it saves both parties a lot of valuable time if it’s not a good fit, since the process helps them to realize that it’s not a good fit before going through a lot of hoops that would just result in a no, such as applying for college and to play on a football team when the college honestly wouldn’t be a good fit for the student. Great post!