Collaborative Selling
by Dr. Tony Alessandra
The world
of business has changed and continues to change dramatically
and rapidly. Markets have grown from local to national
to global. Technology no longer offers a competitive
advantage, and customers have become much more savvy.
All of these changes and more have created an environment
in which salespeople must adopt new attitudes, learn
new skills, and gain a new understanding of how to
approach their markets and work with customers.
No doubt, you have seen this quantum shift and its
consequences in your industry: your competitors have
increased in number and become more aggressive. Your
products or services are more difficult to sell than
in the past. It has become a challenge just to differentiate
your company from your competitors, and price issues
are a constant problem.
The upshot of these market influences is that the
differentiated products of yesterday are the commodities
of today. Instead of making differentiation easier,
technology has made differentiation more difficult.
Differentiation is, however, the only way to be successful
in today's market.
Differentiation
must come from quality, price, or service; and
few companies can survive competing on price. This
is a monumental challenge that every company faces.
It is a challenge met by collaborative selling, a
system in which salespeople can create differentiation
and its accompanying competitive advantage every time
they go after business.
The
Fallacy of Traditional Selling Techniques
The traditional approach to selling was largely developed
after World War II. When the war ended, the demand
for consumer goods shot up to an all-time high. Consumers
were not very sophisticated, so selling techniques
revolved around this typical scenario, which still
exists today:
Traditional salespeople paid little attention to
targeting their markets or planning their sales calls.
They approached the market as a "numbers game,"
delivered a canned pitch to as many prospects as possible
in the shortest amount of time.
Good salespeople
began by breaking the ice with a little small-talk
(and equated small talk with relationship-building).
Then they delivered razzle-dazzle pitches to wide-eyed,
hopefully-receptive prospects. There was little if
any information gathering. Instead, the sales process
focused on a persuasive pitch, manipulative closing
techniques, and the salesperson's skills in handling
customer objections. Superstar salespeople were those
who had mastered the art of arm-twisting.
The traditional sales pitch was, by necessity, generic.
All of the product's features and benefits had to
be covered because salespeople had no way of knowing
which features and benefits were relevant. It was
a true shotgun approach in which salespeople tried
to sell their products to every prospect, regardless
of need. There was no follow-up after the sale. Traditional
salespeople moved from one transaction to the next
without looking back. Sales were perceived as one-shot
deals.
Traditional selling is not dead. It is still used
in the automobile industry. Despite the changes in
the marketplace and their desperate need for differentiation,
car dealerships are still insulting their customers
with high-pressured, traditional tactics. They are
short-term thinkers who must assume there is an endless
supply of new customers.
Is this the basis for long-term relationships? Is
this the formula for success? Certainly not. General
Motors had its worst year in its history in 1992.
In November of 1993, an article in the Wall Street
Journal reported that Chevrolet is just now waking
up and making customer satisfaction the focus of a
full-scale make-over effort. Why so late? Companies
such as Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Federal Express, and
others discovered and implemented that years ago.
Traditional selling has another Achilles' heel. It
creates tension and could be construed as adversarial.
Traditional salespeople often perceive their prospects
as people with whom they must go to battle to win
business. This power-struggle mind set is supported
by sales trainers who teach manipulative sales technique
and by books with combative titles such as Hard Ball
Selling, Guerrilla Marketing, and The Sale Begins
When The Customer Says No.
It does not take a genius to realize that the focus
in traditional selling is misplaced and myopic. The
commando approach to selling is obsolete. It does
not foster referrals, references, repeat business,
word-of-mouth advertising, customer satisfaction,
or good will.
Collaborative
Selling
Collaborative selling begins with a different mind
set: a commitment to the long-term. Today's customers
buy differently, so today's salespeople must sell
differently. Customers know there is no urgency to
buy because good deals, good salespeople, and good
companies come along every day. Price is less of an
issue because buyers are not just interested in great
deals, they want great relationships. Today's customers
are looking for measurable quality in the products
and services they buy.
The transition to collaborative selling and the emphasis
on long-term relationships is evident in the words
and phrases that are used to describe modern buyer-seller
relationships: strategic alliances, sustaining resources,
single sources, integrity, values, and ethics.
Today's customers are looking for long-term relationships
with suppliers who will be reliable resources over
the long haul.
In fact,
many companies are awarding lifetime contracts to
their supplier-partners. Collaborating companies are
networking their computer systems to expedite order-entry,
just-in-time inventory control, and electronic payment.
Strategic alliance, partnering, collaboration call
it what you want is taking place throughout the world
on a macro level (industry to industry) and on a micro
(salesperson to customer) level.
Collaborative selling means handling every aspect
of the sales process with a high degree of professionalism.
There are six basic steps that describe how the collaborative
sales process unfolds:
Target The first step is a marketing necessity: understand
exactly what the product/service is and identify the
specific markets that can best use it. This is done
on a company level in their marketing plan and should
be done by individual salespeople as well. It takes
some time, but careful planning focuses effort and
provides a greater return on time and money invested.
Collaborative salespeople know they must concentrate
on prospects who have a high probability of buying.
Contact The first step after targeting a market is
to contact them in a cost-effective and professional
way. Naturally, this would be some combination of
letter, phone, and personal contact. The right combination
of contacting strategies ensures that collaborative
salespeople create high perceived value before they
call on their prospects.
When contact is made, collaborative salespeople set
the stage for a cooperative, working relationship.
They convey their desire to explore needs and opportunities.
They build credibility and trust. They express their
sincere desire to be of service, and they make their
competitive advantages known without jumping into
a presentation.
Explore In this stage of the collaborative sales process,
salespeople convey the message: "Let's explore
your business situation to see if there are need to
fulfill or opportunities on which to capitalize."
During the explore stage, collaborative salespeople
conduct research, meet with their prospects frequently,
and do whatever it takes to become an expert on their
prospect's business. The give-and-take relationship
that develops sets the stage for in-depth exploration
of options that may culminate in a sale.
Collaborative salespeople make it clear that they
want to help, not just make a sale. If, after information-gathering,
collaborative salespeople find that their products
are not appropriate for their prospects, which is
unlikely due to their careful target marketing, they
will forego the sale, but have made a friend and business
contact. The Explore stage of selling, and in fact
the entire Collaborative Selling philosophy, is built
around the following phrase--"Prescription Before
Diagnosis is Malpractice."
Collaborate It is at this point after an in-depth
exploration of a prospect's situation that collaborative
salespeople talk about their products or services.
Naturally, they are discussed in the context of prospects'
needs or opportunities.
Collaborative salespeople never dictate solutions
to their prospects. Instead, they form "partnerships"
in which prospects play an active role in the search
for the best solution.
The collaborate
phase of the sale is conducted in the spirit of "let's
work together on the solution and together build a
commitment to its successful implementation."
This team-approach to problem-solving ensures that
prospects will be committed to solutions. By making
customers equal partners in problem-solving, collaborative
selling reduces or eliminates the risk that is inherent
in the customer's decision-making process.
Confirm Keep in mind that, in every phase of the collaborative
selling process, the salesperson and prospect have
communicated well. Collaborative salespeople move
on to the next phase of the sales process only after
they have received assurances that their customers
are in agreement with them on everything that has
been discussed.
This agree-as-you-go process eliminates the need to
"close" the sale or handle objections. Most
objections have surfaced long before this point. If
resistance does occur, the salesperson simply gathers
more information or clarifies a detail.
With collaborative selling, the sale is a matter of
when and not if. Confirming the sale is the logical
conclusion to an on-going communication and problem-solving
process. There is no need to "close" them.
People commit when all their buying criteria are met!
Assure This phase of the collaborative sales process
begins immediately after the sale has been confirmed.
Collaborative salespeople keep in touch after the
sale. They communicate regularly about delivery dates,
installation, training, and other relevant matters.
They make sure their customers are satisfied with
their purchases. They help customers track their results
and analyze the effectiveness of the solution.
Collaborative selling is the key to differentiation
on the micro level. It represents an obsession with
quality and customer satisfaction. It reflects a high
degree of professionalism and a primary focus on relationships
rather than transactions. It is clear that collaborative
selling is a mutual-win situation, one that provides
increased security to both parties. This increased
security is exactly what customers want and need,
given the market changes that are occurring so rapidly.
Collaborative selling is a philosophy and practice
that is being used today by enlightened salespeople;
and it is clearly the sales process of the future.
Collaborative selling helps professional salespeople
build large, loyal customer bases that generate future
sales, provide referrals, and act as lifetime annuities.
END
