The Death Of A Sales Pitch

Far too many people in business waste time pursuing leads that refuse to pick up the phone or return calls.

In your initial interactions, the prospect seemed 'hot' for your services. You did your song and dance. You sent literature. Now... nothing. The prospect has turned cold to all attempts to further the selling process.

Why? Because they suffer from an ailment more common than the common cold. Salespressuritis: a sickening fear of being sold.

Fortunately there's a simple cure for this fatal ailment: avoid selling in the first place.

I don't mean to steer clear of all contact. I mean toss out the gimmicky, 1980s talk-your-head-off, push-for-a-close techniques the 'gurus' of the past preached. In business-to-business sales, gimmicky pitches DON'T WORK. If anyone buys, they buy in spite of the gimmicks not because of them.

Gimmicky sales pitches are also ineffective in any big ticket sales situation, regardless of the market you're selling to.

There are two reasons why gimmicky sales pitches never have worked and never will. Today's market is far too sophisticated. They've "seen it all" with respect to alternate choice closes, Ben Franklin close, and all the other stupid techniques that insult a buyer's intelligence.

Second, fast-talking, outsmart-your-listener, old school techniques don't work if you're selling anything over a few hundred bucks. This applies to what you're selling. Lets face it, there's not an industry alive that will pay sales reps to pitch products or services under $100 (except maybe MLM). So, chances are, what you're selling qualifies as a big ticket item and you need to know these important steps if you want greater sales success.

The key to sales success in today's corporate and big ticket markets is to talk less and listen more.

Here's proof. In 1992 I came across a small case of sales training booklets that would change my selling career forever. The case was labeled, Xerox's Professional Selling Skills System III. The promises of the system seemed somewhat outrageous. And the sales model was unlike any sales system I had ever seen before then. But I reserved judgment and like Mikey... I tried it... I read every page of the system. I worked through the sample case studies and scenarios. I had no clue if my efforts would pay off or not.

The results? My sales more than doubled. In fact, finally finding a selling "system" instead of winging the sales process made me the top salesperson in under 30 days at that company where I had previously been struggling just to keep my job. People with more experience than I had years on this planet were selling less than me.

Pretty impressive stuff considering the month before I received a written warning of dismissal if my sales didn't turn around. And here, all of a sudden, I became number one on the totem pole. Sweet!!

However, I DON'T recommend using the Xerox Selling System today.

The Xerox sales model is a tedious process to use. Yes, it's more effective than "winging it". But the problems the system brings are many.

The process is easily fouled if you forget one or more techniques or miss hearing your "cue" for what to say next. And worse, the Xerox selling model often causes objections where none existed before.

How? By encouraging you to attempt to force replies from your listener, by requiring you to follow a bunch of predetermined hoops to get your listener to jump through (which they probably don't want to do) and by encouraging you to move them towards a close. People aren't stupid. They will notice your efforts to 'close' them even if your closing process is merely parroting back to them what they liked about your offer, then doing some lame alternate choice close.

You just destroyed your credibility and created unnecessary resistance.

That's why I decided to look for something that's just as effective but less mentally taxing -- for me and for the client. What I found isn't a single selling system. It's a combination of two. Reverse Selling by Ari Galper (available at http://www.unlockthegame.com) and SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham (available through http://Amazon.com).

The SPIN Selling model is easier to use than Xerox model because there are only four elements to focus on: situation, problem, implication, needs. This simplifies the needs-based selling model.

To give an idea how simple it is, I use Microsoft One Note to separate each of the S.P.I.N. elements into four individual tabs. Basically each tab contains one or more questions to help me understand the client's interests and needs, and whether or not there's a match for what they want and what I do. This is NOT a collection of those lame sales closing gimmicks.

SPIN Selling confirmed what I had discovered on my own... listening and asking sincere questions is far more effective than using lame brained canned sales pitches. Trying to push people to do stuff they don't want to do is just plain stupid. It doesn't work in professional selling environments and it's mentally draining on you and the person you're speaking with.

As effective and simple as SPIN Selling is, it's isn't strong enough on its own for today's sophisticated market either. Just like the Xerox model, the SPIN Selling method has holes too. Reverse Selling plugs those holes.

The underlying focus of Spin Selling is similar to that of the Xerox model: closing.

"Sharpening Your Skills" (chapter 12 of SPIN Selling Fieldbook) with the aim of preparing a bunch of features and benefits in advance and then 'vomiting' that noise onto a client is a disaster for consultative selling. That type of selling is the main cause of unnecessary skepticism and objections in a sales call. Don't do it.

Reverse Selling forces your attention away from closing and back where it belongs... determining if you and the client are a true match for each other or not. And if not you simply say so and thank them for their time. The focus is NOT closing. It's helping people.

That's what's missing from the SPIN Selling and the Xerox model.

That's why I recommend using Spin Selling only to give structure to your sales call. But for what to say or ask during a sales call, I merge the Reverse Selling "no sales pitch" approach into the four elements: situation, problem, implication, needs. I recommend you take these steps too.

There are several benefits of focusing on the needs of the person you're speaking with instead of your needs:

1) you'll eliminate all selling pressure from you and your listener
2) instead of reflecting an untrustworthy 'always be closing' mentality, your sincere concern and willingness to help will shine through
3) you'll develop a selling structure that presents you as a concerned and competent professional

And best of all… by tossing out the archaic "old school" sales pitches, you make it easy, even a joy for others to pick up the phone and talk with you.