Jim Van Eerden came to speak to our class some time ago, and I really enjoyed the crisp, clear, and fresh approach that he shared on sales through the 5 P’s.
Precision
“Need to be able to explain very quickly what it is that you are doing and offering better than anyone else.”
I was told once that goldfish have a longer attention span than humans – which I don’t entirely believe to be true, but it wouldn’t surprise me. This principle of precision is very important because you don’t want to burden your customer with a plethora of information that they do not need. Instead, you want to make sure that they have a clear-cut, short, and sweet understanding of the product you are trying to sell them. Essentially, you want just enough information to hold their attention span. Try to leave them with just enough information that they aren’t overwhelmed by the facts and figures, but are also curious about what other value your product may hold.
Understand the Problem You’re Trying to Address
This one I feel is very self-explanatory – you need to be knowledgeable about what you’re selling. And not only that, but mindful of the problem that your customer is coming to you with. I know as sales people, we want to help our prospect solve their problem as quickly and efficiently as we can, however, we can’t take it all upon ourselves to single handedly solve their problem. Learn to ask the right questions in order to glean the proper insight into your customer’s pain and try to get to the real problem.
Persistence
“Nothing is dynamic until it is specific.”
This is something that salespeople tend to be very good at – especially telemarketers. Aside from that, there is a way to be persistent without being bothersome to your prospect. Salespeople can be very zealous about problem solving, but that can come off as being slightly over-persistent in a sense. The root of this all comes back to asking the right questions and how to make your sales experience a back and forth conversation, not just a one-sided elevator pitch. Be persistent in a manner that gets to the root of your prospects problem, not in a manner that scares then away.
Predisposition
There are already enough stereotypes and presuppositions about salespeople to begin with, but you do have control over that with how you carry yourself in the workplace. There have been some ways in which salespeople have been identified as “know-it-alls”, “sleazy” and “overbearing”, and while those may be extremely specific and very insulting, it is not inclusive of all salespeople.
My favorite piece of advice that Jim Van Eerden left us with was to “be humble”. Something very simple but vet very complex. It is very possible to stay humble in sales, and if you do, it will speak volumes about the type of salesperson that YOU are and allow for stereotype reversal.
Purpose
“You can sell effectively in a startup environment with purpose.”
This is, in my opinion, the most important of the 5 P’s. You should have a purpose and a passion behind what you are selling! If you aren’t into what you are selling, then neither is your prospect. This is a very important principal that we all need to harness, and in a way that is conducive to the customer. One example of a very passionate (and almost too passionate) salesman is Richard Bazzy, owner of Shultz Ford in the Greater Pittsburgh area. If you’ve ever seen a commercial of his, I’m sure you can catch the drift. He’s probably the reason that I drive an Audi and not a Ford (haha). While Richard Bazzy is indeed extremely passionate about what he is selling, it can be a little overbearing at times. Find a good balance between the passion about what you are selling and creating a pleasurable experience for your customer.
Although people don’t traditionally look at retail sales as a legitimate sales role, I think that these 5 P’s are applicable in any selling situation that you are in. There is a lot of content that I have learned from this class, and am hoping to take the techniques with this class with me into the workplace! 🙂
BoweryJE22
I love the comment you made about understanding the problem at hand. I think one of the most important things that we have learned in this class is that asking questions is vital to any sales conversation. We cannot assume that we know everything the customer is thinking, and like you said, we can’t take it upon ourselves to solve their problem.
I think having a strong grasp on all of these points can help in the sales conversation with any prospect. I think many of these points can also carry over to other aspects of interactions other than just sales.