Foreword

Think about the title of book you are holding: The Science of Sales Success . Does that title make sense to you? Can selling really be "scientific"?

Well, if you are a professional salesperson, you probably hope so. After all, the opposite of science is magic, and if you're counting on magic to make your numbers , this could be a very difficult year for you.

Unfortunately, most sales methodologies are like diets. They generate a lot of hope and enthusiasm , but they produce little in the way of lasting results. They perpetuate clichs and assumptions that are about as valid as the notion that the sun revolves around the earth.

For example, you may have been taught that an effective salesperson uncovers the customer's needs. Sound familiar? Josh Costell shows you why focusing on needs may actually make the sales process more difficult.

Similarly, you've probably been taught to link product or service features with benefits. Josh shows you how some features may actually dilute the persuasiveness of your message and cause the customer to view your offering as a commodity, not a solution.

Finally, you may have read or been taught that a strong salesperson qualifies the opportunity, finding out if customers have a need for your products, if they have the budget to afford them, whether they have the authority to make the buying decision, and what their timeline is. Josh demonstrates how using this approach to qualifying customers will delay the sales process and cause your customer to see you as little more than a vendor at best, and as an adversary at worst.

This book is different in some other ways, too. For one thing, it's based on sound principles, not anecdotes and war stories. Josh clearly shows you how to use the same disciplined, logical approach characteristic of scientific investigations to manage a selling opportunity. More important, he gives you plenty of practical examples of what he's talking about, examples that you can easily follow and apply to your own opportunities. And he gives you step-by-step guidelines that will produce successful outcomes for both you and your customer.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview professional salespeople who are responsible for selling complex technical solutions. "Why do decision makers hesitate to proceed with a deal?" I asked them. Many of them answered the same way: "Lack of information. I have to provide them with the facts they need, then they can move forward."

Unfortunately, their answers all veered toward explanations of the technology, of product applications and features. "Help them understand how it works, why it works, and they'll go forward."

No, actually they probably won't. People don't buy technology for its own sake, they buy it to achieve positive results in their organization. You can dump tons of information on them, but if it's not the right kind of information, it won't do either of you much good. And for both you and your customer, a rare opportunity—to achieve important outcomes, to solve significant problems, to deliver huge gains to the organization, and to make a big sale—has been squandered.

The beauty of The Science of Sales Success is that it pinpoints exactly which facts your customer needs to have at each stage of the sales process in order to feel confident about moving to the next stage. It shows you how to make the right observations and gather the right information, how to transform information into a statement of value that's intimately tied to your customer's goals and your own unique strengths, and then how to get out of the way so they can convince themselves .

So what does "scientific selling" involve? It means that you apply the principles of the scientific method to your activities as a salesperson. Like a scientist, you first obtain the most accurate data you can from careful observation and inquiry. And like a trained scientist, you don't waste your time gathering data that is irrelevant. (Josh shows you the nine specific types of information you need to gather and how to find them.) Next, you formulate a theory or hypothesis that takes all of the data into account and makes sense of it. You don't discount the facts that don't fit, you don't ignore the uncomfortable ones, and you don't bend reality to fit the theory. Once you have an approach that makes sense of all the facts, that passes what Josh calls the "test of reasonableness," you move to the next phase—an agreement with the customer. Incremental agreements result in closed business in a natural, logical path .

One of the strengths of taking a scientific approach to selling is that it makes the process much easier to manage. Josh firmly believes that what you cannot measure, you cannot manage; so he shows you how to measure your progress at each stage of the sales process against objective benchmarks to guarantee that you are moving in the right direction.

When you use this approach, both you and your customer work collaboratively to engage in rational decision making. You feel confident about the recommendations you're making. The customer feels confident about the probability of achieving important goals. And both of you feel that the process has been based on thoughtfulness and honesty, not manipulation or pressure.

Josh Costell demonstrates that professional sales is the epitome of knowledge work. No number of expensive client lunches, no quantity of tickets to a hot sports event, will ultimately overcome the power of knowledge. In The Science of Sales Success , he shows you what facts you need to know, when you need to know them, and what to do with these facts once you have them.

So are you ready to be a scientific salesperson? Then make an experiment. Apply Josh's techniques and look for the results. And here's a hint: you'll find them in your pay envelope.

Tom Sant, Ph.D.
Former CEO and founder of The Sant Corporation
Inventor of ProposalMaster and RFPMaster
Author of Persuasive Business Proposals

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