By Paul Reilly
The path to professionalism is open to all that raise the bar on their professions, especially salespeople. Professionals prepare by studying, building the necessary foundational skills, and developing the core competencies for their careers. They are serious students of their craft.
Professionals plan for maximum control and achievement of their objectives. They practice for proficiency, which is evident in their real-time performance, and once they complete their mission, they review their performance, learning from their mistakes while aspiring to improve.
Every week, I have the privilege of working with true sales professionals—professionals who are committed to their craft. These salespeople hold themselves to higher standards, commit to excellence in their field, and create maximum value for their customers. They are professionals in every sense of the word. There is a key training point here: If you treat sales as a profession, other people will treat you as a professional.
In our best practices research, any time customers used “professional” to describe the top achievers we were studying, we drilled down on their definition of professionalism. As they expounded, words like integrity, authenticity, and knowledge dominated their responses. One buyer even said that a professional has the courage to persist in the face of resistance, but how and why the salesperson persists affects the buyer’s response. If the salesperson persists when the buyer says “no” and should have said “yes” (because it would benefit the buyer), the buyer defined that as persistence. If the salesperson persists when the buyer rejects the offer because the salesperson needs to make a sale that day, the respondent defined that as “pushy.” It depends for whom you are persisting—you or the buyer.
Medical professionals, athletes, and musicians study and train for years before they are called professionals. This process includes a combination of mental and physical preparation. Musicians must understand and be able to read the music they physically play. Electricians must study electricity before they handle wires. Athletes must study and practice their position before they perform. You may have finished your schooling, but your real education is just beginning.
Professional study is an ongoing process of learning and exploring the dynamics of your company, customers, and industry. Begin your professional study with the openness, curiosity, and innocence of the beginner’s mind. Shunryu Suzuki said, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” This humility will enable you to fill in your knowledge gaps without preconceived ideas. Professional study includes product and company knowledge, customer knowledge, and competitive intelligence. This ongoing study of your value, customer needs, and market pressures keep you nimble and relevant. Your success will, in large part, depends on your ability to leverage your knowledge to adapt to a world that is constantly changing.
Company and product expertise
This means understanding your value and being able to communicate it to your customers. Use the following questions to build your knowledge base:
- How do you bring value to your customers along the three dimensions of value: products, company, and people? This forms the basis for your customer messaging campaign and your value-added sales presentations.
- What is your unique selling proposition? This is how you will stand out in the customer’s mind and make it easier for them to recognize and appreciate your value.
- What is the long-term outcome for the customer in choosing your solution? This is your value proposition and will vary depending on the customer.
Our research shows that knowledgeable expertise is the number-one attribute customers expect from salespeople. Dedicate time every week to expanding your product knowledge and uncovering unique ways your solution adds value.
Customer knowledge
This means a total immersion into your customer’s world. Total immersion into your customer’s world is the process of learning to think as customers think, feel what they feel, and to view things from the inside-out. When you perceive your value-added as value received, you have begun the process of immersion. Use the following questions to expand your customer knowledge:
- What is your customer’s objective?
- What does this customer want to gain or avoid with this purchase?
- Why is this a priority for the customer?
- What are the driving forces behind the customer’s needs?
Analyze the stated customer needs and dig for unknown and unarticulated needs. There are times when customers do not know what they do not know. Study the content and context in which your buyer makes these decisions. The content is the what they want to accomplish, while the context describes the climate in which they make these decisions.
Competitive intelligence
This means becoming your opponent, which transcends a superficial knowledge of their business. Be aware of your competition, but do not beware of them. There is no reason to fear your competition if you do your research. Use these ideas to help you research the competition:
- Identify where the competition is strong and weak. Study all disciplines in their companies: purchasing, logistics, R&D, financial strength, credit, customer service, field sales coverage, technical support, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing.
- Use the three dimensions of value (product features and benefits, company value-added services, and personal commitments) to compare your solution to their solution. Be brutally frank in your assessments.
- Use all of the resources available to you: customers, peers, management, suppliers, purchasing groups, the competitor’s website, trade association data, and friendly competitors.
Information mining is an ongoing effort, as is the case for all of your studies. Markets are volatile. Today’s leader may be tomorrow’s laggard. Today’s weak player may be tomorrow’s winner. This ongoing effort to build competitive intelligence further establishes your professionalism.
Professionals stand out, and that is what makes them outstanding. They stand out because of their expertise and willingness to hold themselves to the highest standards. Professionals never burden themselves with low expectations. They view themselves as professionals and
conduct their business in that fashion. For professionals, the road to that status is paved with professional study. Are you ready to pave your path?