Gitomer March 20, 2013

QUESTIONS: Who’s going to win the next Super Bowl? Who’sgoing to win the next World Series? Who’s going to win the next MastersTournament? 

ANSWER: The team or the player that’s best prepared. Theteam or the player that makes the fewest mistakes. The team or the player thatstays steady and keeps its cool. The team or the player that creates breaks andtakes advantage of them. The team or the player that prepares one razzle-dazzleplay, takes the risk at the opportune time, and pulls it off. The team with themost dedicated players. The team or the player with the best coach. 

Same in sales. 

In this year’s Super Bowl, both teams were capable ofwinning. But victory does not always go to who’s the best. It more often goes to who’s the SMARTEST. Smartest coach.Smartest players. And, of course, whomever got the breaks, and took advantageof them. 

Same in sales. Thesmartest will win, especially if they get the breaks. (Or do smart peoplecreate breaks?) 

BIG QUESTION: What does smart selling mean to you? 

MY ANSWER: It doesn’t take as much brains as it does takeunderstanding. So, I have created the perfect acronym to help you:

S – SMILE.

M – MAKE FRIENDS.

A – Have the ATTITUDE of a WINNER.

R – Take RELATIONSHIP ACTIONS.

T – TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. 

Pretty simple. No memorization required. No “find the pain”manipulation. Just an easy to understand formula that will guide you to morebusiness. 

Let me deepen theSMART SELLING definitions:

S – SMILE. Thisdefines your warmth, approachability, and overall feeling. It’s a greetingbeyond a handshake that sends a welcome, open message. It’s both peaceful andreassuring.

M – MAKE FRIENDS.This is not as easy as it seems. Some prospects want to keep it “all business.”Your responsibility is to create friendly dialog that might result in findingsome common ground. Look for their smile. That’s a sign you’re breaking theice. And note my mantra: All things beingequal, people want to do business with their friends. All things being NOTQUITE so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.

A – Have the ATTITUDEof a WINNER. This is not just a positive or a YES! Attitude. This is awinning attitude that combines your will to win, your preparation, and yourself-belief. It’s a positive, internal confidence based on previous wins. Notcocky, more like self-assured in a way that passes your confidence on to thecustomer.

R – Take RELATIONSHIPACTIONS. This means you take long-term oriented actions. Actions that willstand the test of time. Actions that give your customer the feeling yourepresent their best interest, not just your own. You speak the truth, havehigh ethical standards, and are known for service. You’re taking serviceactions, and value actions beyond the sale. Not sell and run (the 1970’sdefinition of “hunter”), rather stay and help. Earn the relationship to a pointwhere it becomes referral based, and testimonial possible.

T – TAKERESPONSIBILITY. Taking responsibility starts with who you are as a person,and transcends to who you are as a salesperson. As a smart salesperson, youhave to know the responsibility is yours if you lose a sale – the same as ifyou win a sale. The good news is when you become responsible for both successand failure, you also become a student of sales and life. Blaming others (theopposite of responsibility) allows you a hall pass form self-education. It’sforgotten or passed-on rather than studied. 

MAJOR AHA! I just tweeted: “When it’s raining outside, andyou blame the rain, keep in mind it’s raining on everybody. Takeresponsibility. #gitomer” – RESULT: 42 re-tweets and 14 favorites within 1 hour– on a Sunday morning! 

Here are a few morecritical elements of Smart Selling: Product smart. Customer smart. Valuesmart. Preparation smart. Follow-up smart. Service smart. 

BIGGER QUESTION: How smart of a salesperson are you? Nowthat you have my definition, the reality is you may think you’re smarter thanyou actually are.

SMART SELLING REALITY:

• Smart salespeople don’t sell on price.

• Smart salespeople don’t reduce price.

• Smart salespeople don’t match price. 

BIGGEST QUESTION: Now that you have read this, are you stillas smart as you thought you were a few minutes ago? Probably not, but that’s agood thing. Now that you’re aware of what “smart-selling” consists of, you canbegin to take advantage of it. 

There’s one more element of smart selling – it’s the twoword essence of a successful salesperson. To find out what it is, go to www.gitomer.com,register if you’re a first-time visitor and enter the words SMART SELLING inthe GitBit box.

 

JeffreyGitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction isWorthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling,The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book ofConnections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The LittleGreen Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, TheLittle Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! Hiswebsite, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training andseminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

 


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