Added Value

Power Selling

Planning

Focus

Self 
  Actualisation

Today’s success is no guarantee of tomorrow’s success.  Bill Gates says, “ Each organisation is only 18 months away from failure”.  Is this true or is this just another of those great American people saying great and irrelevant things.  As a sales person I must ask myself, “ What are the challenges facing me and what is all the fuss about added value”.

If you haven’t noticed client organisations are different to what they were in the past, they have different shapes, sizes, and structures, and it requires a different set of selling skills to be sucessful.  Structures are flatter and more team based, Key Decision-Makers are not necessarily those at the top and decisions are no longer only based on price or brand and loyalty.  Charles Handy in his book “The Empty Raincoat” refers to this as the withering of the formal organisation. He claims that by the turn of the century only 50% of workers will have full-time permanent employment. Full-time jobs will not be the norm.  Handy refers to this as the: 

• Core workers: A small elite of qualified professionals.
• Contractors: Where a type of work is not central to the type of business it will not be required on a full-time basis. 
• Part-time helpers: A flexible labour force that can be pulled into the organisation on a part-time basis to assist during peak times.

One cynic has argued that the manufacturing company of the future will consist of a man and his dog. The man is to look after the machine and the dog is to ensure that the man does not fiddle with the machine.
The people we now have to learn to deal with are specialists, not just ordinary buyers and managers.  Unless you are able to add value to you and your customer’s organisations, you might just find yourself becoming an “outsource” or “part-time” worker.  A development already taking place in the FMCG and Insurance industries.
Your customers time has become of more value to him, if he is to deal with you in preference to others, he wants to know that you will Adding Value to his business. There are only two reasons a customer will continue to buy from you? 

• Make a profit.  If the time he spends with you can help to make money, save money, increase productivity and/or increase market share, this will be vital to your decision-maker.
• Successfully manage and integrate key functional areas of his business.  If you are able to show him that you have the required knowledge and skill that give him a competitive advantage.

Technology has become a key enabler to the formula  ½  x  2  x  3   (half as many people, working twice as smart, producing three times as much.) As the real cost of computing continues to drop by 30 % a year, the need for sales people who are merely order takers, will reduce.  A vendor of soft drinks is able to set-up his system to calculate stock requirements based on a number of variables and automatically email an order to the supplier.  Global competitiveness and technology have moved so rapidly that any competitive advantage that you or your company had, has already been, or shortly will be eradicated.  Consider this, from the moment Versace’s Spring collection was unveiled until it was copied and commercially available in the Far East, took only 24 hours.  If the auto industry had to develop at he same pace we would now have a BMW that costs ten rand, travels at the speed of sound, and uses only a thimble of fuel per 1000km.  The rules of the game have changed we have moved to a world of knowledge based organisations and focused intelligence.
The ability to create, acquire, maintain, and apply knowledge is the new source of competitive advantage. In a 1986 survey, McKinsey and associates argued that by the year 2000, 70% of all jobs in Europe will require cerebral, rather than manual, skills.  Information is being created and utilised at ever accelerating speed. For example the amount of information created between 3000BC and AD1965 was doubled between 1965 and 1995. It now takes only 5 years to produce the same amount of information. The average weekday edition of The New York Times represents more information than that which someone in the 1700s would come into contact with in their entire life. 

Does this mean that the days of the “Old Work Horse” are over?  Must the more experienced Sales Representatives move over for the Yuppie “Youngsters”?  Not at all, but we must accept is that the future creator of wealth will be TIME. 
The dragon of global competitiveness is about to eat the goose that lays the golden egg of profit!  Only you armed with the sword of ADDED VALUE can save the company. 

Let’s face it: we’re in a very competitive sales environment.  The pressure is on to get the numbers.  Meeting quotas and closing sales are part of the daily mental gymnastics of most salespeople.  You are paid to get results.
Many times these goals s..t..r..e..t..c..h the wrong sales muscles.  People think too much about selling.  What can I sell?  To whom can I sell?  How much can I sell?  How can I get someone to buy from me?  How can I get them to buy more?
Many times veterans find themselves focusing on these thoughts, and their sales go down.  What is wrong is that they are thinking mainly about themselves, not the customer.  Often, what prevents us from exceeding our sales goals is one word in this sentence: us. 
We need to develop empathy towards our customers, we must to understand and focus on their needs.  An Added Value mindset will help you to see your goals in a different perspective.

After the sale, your customer will decide if the benefits of your product or service fulfilled their needs.  This is a very important judgement.  Your product plus your personal service will help them to make that decision.  Customer service is an action taken by you and your company to ensure the customer’s well being.  Customer satisfaction on the other hand, is derived when you have fulfilled their wants and needs and contributed to their success with your product/service.  Remember that it is what is perceived through the eyes of the customer, that determines his/her level of satisfaction.

1. Developing Empathy
Empathy is the ability to identify with other people.  The day of the Go - GETTER is gone, We now live in the era of the Go - GIVER.  In order to be able to give people what they need we must understand how they feel and how they are affected by circumstances.  Replace “What can I sell” with “What do they want, need, afford.”  Empathy places the interests of the customer first.  As “Added Value” sales people we must learn to understand those interests. 

2. Positive Thinking
Your attitude can make or break you; your attitude rubs off on your customers.  As a salesperson, you are more emotionally charged than just about any other professional specialist.  When things are going well, you feel great!  You don’t have to try hard to get yourself  ‘up’ when there are so many things that can bring you ‘down’? 
It’s okay to feel down; everyone does at one time or another.  It’s how you pick yourself up that can make all the difference in the world.  The key question to ask yourself, and one that will sound familiar, is:
What can I do that will be to my and my customer’s best advantage?

3. Extraordinary Work Ethic
All successful salespeople realise that this is a major key to success, but what exactly does extraordinary mean?  The key is:
DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET THE RESULTS YOU WANT AND / OR NEED.
Extraordinary doesn’t mean that you have to physically exhaust yourself every day in order to show how busy you are.  That’s not extraordinary, That’s kidding yourself.  Doing whatever it takes means a number of different things:

• Starting earlier in the day
• Devoting time to planning for each call before the call
• Scheduling enough quality calls (existing customers and prospects who can buy)
• Following through on service requests from your customers
• Thinking of new ways to help your company market your products or services
• Continuing to give your best efforts throughout the day, especially when you’ve had success early in the day
• Remembering and following the classic motto, ‘One more customer’.

4. EXCELLENT SELLING SKILLS
Excellent selling skills coupled with relationship sales skills and an added value mindset, equal your ‘degree’ in sales excellence. Excellence in these areas will give you an incredible competitive advantage - you’ll be the best you can be!
Use resources e.g., books, audio and videos that will enable you to stay informed or learn new skills continually.   Successful salespeople never think they know it all and are always eager to learn.

5. 360 DEGREE PRODUCT/SERVICE KNOWLEDGE
To top sales people, ‘Knowledge is power’ is more than just a saying.  You want and need to know everything about your products or services; surface knowledge just won’t do.  Total knowledge gives you the solid foundation to advise your customers on every feature, advantage and benefit of using your company.  If you don’t have all the facts and understand how your products/services will help your customers, how will they know?

• I understand why the product was created
• I know the needs it fills for my customer
• I know how it is developed and its quality
• I know the features (facts) about it
• I can list all the advantages to customers
• I know how it compares with competitive products and services

1) You give them a friendly greeting
2) You show an interest in their problem
3) You help them make the right selection
4) You know your product from A-Z
5) You show and demonstrate the benefits enthusiastically
6) You give them the best service
7) You give them a choice between something and something
8) You never fail to thank them for their business
9) If you want to keep your customers stay in touch with them on a regular schedule. If you don’t take this time, your competitors will
10) Develop proactive follow-up strategies
11) Alert customers to published articles that may have an impact on their business. 
12) Help your customers to network.
13) Ask your customer on a regular basis; ‘Is there anything I can do for you today?’