B. E. S. T.
Behaviors – Emotion – Skill – Time
Being successful in sales does not mean you must become a puppet master manipulating your prospects at every turn. Some schools of thought suggest this, others advocate for a non-manipulative selling philosophy. The truth lies somewhere in between.
While it is an overstatement to call sales professionals “puppet masters”, it is true that controlling the sales environment is critical to their success. Effective sales process often involves gaining a high degree of influence over your prospects. Sales professionals use various techniques to shape how prospects perceive them and their products. For example, they ask specific questions at strategic times to elicit desired emotions and reactions. They also present their offerings in a way that emphasizes the benefits they want prospects to remember, while downplaying any potential drawbacks. Through careful research into their prospects’ businesses, sales professionals uncover information that they can leverage to their advantage and maintain control over the sales environment.
However, and this is important, if you want a long rewarding career in sales this control is not achieved to deceive or mislead your prospects. At the end of the day, forcing a sale onto a prospect is not only a disservice to the prospect but also to the company of that sales representative. A major contributor to a company’s and a sales professional’s long-term successes is the willingness of their clients to provide introductions and references. Therefore, the prospect must be sold what they need and get what they are sold. Closing a sale is not the last step in the sales cycle, it is the first step in the next sales cycle.
So where does this control with integrity come from? Behaviors, emotions, sales skills and time are the tools of our trade. One area being as important as the other because of their dependencies on each other. Within this four-pillar structure is where control with integrity is captured.
Behavior
A highly influential part of the sales process. Behavior is not just “acting” professionally in front of your prospects. There is so much more to master. How do you conduct yourself? Are you reliable? Are you trustworthy? How do you spend your time? Do you respect your prospects’ time? Do you respect your own time?
Emotion
A dominant component in the sales process. Understanding and managing your own emotions are just as important as recognizing, generating and managing the emotions of your prospects and anyone else within the circle of the sale.
Skill
Over the years selling skills have been introduced, refined and re-introduced. At GOAL we acknowledge that we are not the originators of many of the skills we focus on. We find comfort that the skills we teach have survived the test of time. However, when we teach sales skills through the Sales Success Playbook and its B. E. S. T. curriculum the power of each skill is magnified.
Time
Time management is a popular subject taught in sales training, but for many sales representatives, it may be one of the toughest areas to master. This difficulty may stem from how the sales representative manages emotion and behavior. Providing a generic tool to manage time is not as impactful as teaching a sales rep the value of time and showing them the direct impact it has on their behavior, emotions and how well they execute sales skills.