What constitutes a sale?
Sure, it’s getting an order, but there is also a lot more than just getting an order. For that reason, I contend it is possible to make a sale without getting an order.
If you’re wondering if I’m going to give you a great excuse you can use with your boss the next time you’re not successful in closing a deal, sorry, not going to happen.
At the end of the day, it’s still your job as a salesperson to make it happen by getting the order.
Sales is about relationships and it’s about understanding and valuing what the customer is sharing with you and the customer doing the same with what you share with them. As much as we want to be able to secure an order, there are other things we have to be selling too.
What I’m talking about here is many of the other elements that are going on during the sales process. First and foremost, it’s the selling of you.
If the customer doesn’t buy you, how do you expect them to buy what you’re selling?
A simple rule to follow is the more the customer buys, the more they’ll be willing to pay for what you’re selling.
There’s an expression I like to use that goes like this: “A good sale is one that leads to the next sale.” I like that phrase because it’s about creating a relationship that allows for the sales process to become an ongoing event.
We will always encounter situations where we can’t close a sale with an order. In those situations, ask yourself what it was you were able to sell. If you’re reading this and you’re a sales manager, use this question with your salespeople.
The ability to sell ourselves and what we represent is the core of what it is we do, and from that point we are then able to sell our products or services.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
