Change the Order to Get the Order

The way in which customers' emotions affect their purchasing decisions has been the subject of countless books. The consensus is that you can venture only educated guesses about the influence of emotions; however, the outcomes of guesses are unpredictable. Yet, duplicating sales success is all about predictability—knowing what should happen next —and being prepared when it does (or does not) happen.

While you cannot make a sale void of emotions, use the processes and tools in this book to dilute the randomness of their impact. As Dr. Jack Katz wrote in his book How Emotions Work , "intellectual analysis seems to nullify emotions." ^[2] You appeal to customers' intellect when you make the value they receive from achieving their goals measurable in dollars. Motivate customers to change the order of their decision-making process so that everyone thinks clearer and reaps benefits. Make facts come first, emotions second. You can enhance the way you sell by enhancing the way customers buy. After all, customers do not willingly make illogical purchasing decisions. Yet, they will unwillingly make illogical decisions if they aren't aware they are missing information that would make them decide differently.

Note

Ironically, you usually find out the facts after you lose a sale or do not fulfill a customer's expectations. You know emotions drove the customer's decision when either one of you says, "If I had only known that, I would have ..."

^[2] Jack Katz, How Emotions Work (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), p. 49.

Creating High-Return Opportunities

Sales opportunities involve either business-to-business or business-to-consumer transactions. Yet, not every sales opportunity affords you the ability to provide additional compensated value. Typically, these high-return opportunities involve the following "two-plus" requirements:

There are two or more decision makers .
They require two or more in-person sales calls to complete.

The more "two-plus" requirements you have, the greater the opportunity to sell compensated value. Individuals seeking only the lowest price or the quickest delivery would not need to make this type of investment in people or time.

Note

In business-to-consumer transactions, there might be only one decision maker. However, if a sale involves more than one in-person sales call, it still allows the opportunity for you to use The Science of Sales Success 's processes, tools, and selling system.

Shattering Myths

When you add measurability to selling, it shatters the following ten common sales myths:

Selling is an art, not a science.
Customers buy primarily for emotional reasons, not logical ones.
Most salespeople are customer focused, not product focused.
Lost sales results from competitors ' lower prices, not from higher value.
More sales calls equal more orders.
Great salespeople know how to handle obstacles.
More product features produce more benefits for customers.
Salespeople can more easily sell value to existing customers than to new ones.
Strategies drive salespeople's tactics, not the other way around.
A salesperson knows how well a sale is going at any given time.

The Building Blocks

Each chapter follows this format to make it an easy read:

Reading Section.
Example Boxes: Relate concepts to identifiable selling situations.
Exhibits: Consist of illustrations to visualize key concepts and charts to show how to put into practice the book's concepts.
Two Case Studies (Chapters 2 to 8): One addresses processes on conceptual levels while the other case highlights tactical and strategic perspectives.
Summary.

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Change the Order to Get the Order