Chemistry is King-PI Sales Academy Blog/Quiz #17
It is fitting for us to end the PI Sales Academy series of articles and subsequent quizzes with this topic. I guess we saved what, in my opinion, is the “best for last.” Chemistry is actually the result of many things: good communications between company members, everyone pulling in the same direction, a company sales method being adhered to, ownership and management being plugged in and in tune with the staff (but not invasive), and finally a “joint, shared pride and genuine care” for the company, it’s reputation and the brands it represents. Chemistry is not actually a solo thing in and of itself, it is an umbrella built by doing several things right.
Let’s shine a light on the first topic mentioned above…
Good Communications- Good communications is a multi-layered element. It means with prospects and clients, between management and ownership, management and the sales staff and, most importantly, the sharing type of communications between sales representatives themselves… the guys and girls in the trenches.
My opinion is that all the other layers need to be right or the communications in between the sales staff persons will not be. Only if the flow of thoughts, feelings and expectations are flowing between ownership and senior management well is it likely for the sales professionals to work together in the best way they can. What if we’re talking about smaller sales staffs where essentially an owner and one sales pro under the gallery roof? The need for good communication remains, it is just that these smaller staffs wear multiple hats, therefore the communications expectations and boundaries must be understood between a smaller group of individuals.
Everyone Pulling in the Same Direction- Henry Ford said it well, ”If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” The value of teamwork is indisputable. The chemistry of an environment either promotes or inhibits it. Even if the players in an environment don’t intend to halt the momentum of teamwork, the “doing nothing” to nurture it is the same result as allowing people on the inside to sabotage it because face it, human nature is not customarily about teamwork and unselfishness. It takes a culture that is fed with the proper thinking and attitude to get there. Once more, chemistry is king.
A Company Sales Method- The piano industry is decades behind in this regard. Finance sales folks, insurance industry sale pros, and other industries have sale training courses that have been refined over the years because they come from pro-active “eat what you kill” SIC’s. Since the piano business comes from a retail/demo history, the conversion has been painful because the skill sets for outreach have never before been as necessary as they are for piano sales folks of today.
I won’t delve into the many transgressions committed on a daily basis by the renegade activities of the retail piano sales force in place today. I will however state the single greatest mistake executed, which is launching into a sales pitch before the time is appropriate. Many times, in person, a sales representative will rush the intro steps and the fact finding to get to showing pianos in hopes of a sale. It happens on the phone all the time too… aggression takes precedence over progression and prospects make decisions prematurely based upon an exchange. The exchange is typically about a specific instrument because the sales person fell into the trap of “selling the piano” instead of themselves as the trusted concierge.
My “5 Steps to Sales Success” method eliminates the leap frog tendency to start selling the piano unless you have first sold yourself, your company and your brand. The point is not that you subscribe to my method but that the company adopts or creates one that can be shared, practiced and tweaked. All of these actions (sharing, practicing and tweaking) are most successfully done if chemistry is king.
Ownership and Management Being Plugged In- The distance between senior management and those in the trenches has a lot to do with chemistry. If sales management, be it a large or small staff, has ongoing knowledge of the sales activities being executed, they will understand best how to support sales. The mistake that many sales managers and owners make is that they take a 30,000 foot view and formulate most of their opinions on bottomline sales, without an in-depth understanding of what the sales people are saying and how much they are saying it.
I have yet to see in our industry what is common in most outreach oriented SIC’s, an activity report. If sales management, and in most boutique businesses that is the same as ownership, doesn’t interact well enough with the sales force on the front line, they have no idea of how much they are doing and when or what the prospecting activity looks like. Some salespersons will be great at making contacts but lacking the appointment setting skills. Some will be good at setting appointments but not confirming and achieving good attendance. Others will have “call reluctance” or “script reluctance” and not like the outreach process and prefer to be fed a lead; they won’t excel at creating opportunities. Still, others will be good at all of the above and need serious help with closing deals. Every sales pro has their strengths and weaknesses. Keeping your finger on the pulse of the sales persons’ activities is the only way you know which category they need bolstering up in. As always be kind and un-gestapo like. You catch more bees with honey, so be friendly and diplomatic BUT persistent. If building a culture of good chemistry takes anything, it takes persistence. Reluctance to execute the proper protocol and get out of a comfort zone at times means being consistent and persistent, and many times it takes 12-36 months, depending on the size of the company, to achieve an acceptable level of overall compliance.
Pride in the Company Reputation- Some of the least communicated statements by sales associates are statements that make prospects understand how proud a person is to be a part of the company where they work. Positioning statements like “Welcome to Prestige Pianos, the friendliest place in _________ to get dependable piano information!” Incorporating sentences into your dialogue that bolster the perception that the prospect has of where they are is selling “confidence” before you sell the piano. This is the proper management of subject matter chronologically. Selling confidence means selling where you work, the brands you carry and yourself as a concierge BEFORE you talk about pianos and conduct a fact finding.
How many times have you been in a big box store and caught the vibe that the person who was serving you was uninspired to be where they were? How many times have you felt like the person waiting on you was working because they had to, to make money and not because they were excited about what they did for a living? Too many, if your experiences are typical.
Installing confidence in a prospect is best done by making sure they know they are in a special place that you, yourself, feels is special.
It is tempting to “get down to business” and bypass the credibility and rapport and go straight to the discovery and pianos that match, but resist the temptation. Your closing ratio will be at its strongest if you remember to express pride in where you are, the brands you have to offer, and yourself as the most dependable source of information in town before you attempt to sell the piano.
In summary, it behooves management and ownership to cultivate an environment of fun and sharing, and make sales personnel feel challenged but appreciated. Pianos are not commodities, they are new potential life-changers and family members that may reside in a household or venue for decades. Sales persons are not commodities or a necessary evil. They are the fuel that makes the company engine run. They are people. Just as most purchasers buy on emotion and back it up with logic, most sales people sell best when their emotions and beliefs about where they are and who they work with are solid.
It is EXTREMELY difficult to get the highest possible percentage of the prospects you engage with excited about who they are talking to without the invisible and subliminal fact that a sales professional is where they want to be. If the piano specialist is doing what they want to do with and for people they like doing it with and for, it gives prospects a very important comfort level. Does that make sense? Happiness is hard to fake, but if a company nurtures the chemistry the way they should there is no faking necessary.
“Chemistry is King.”– Jack Klinefelter
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”– Charles Drucker
3
Jack is a thirty year marketing and sales veteran with an insatiable appetite for contributing to the sales success of others. After leaving Cox communications in the late eighties Jack has serviced clients such as: Goodyear, Allstate, Verizon Wireless, Steinway & Sons, and numerous independent businesses. His knack for creating targeted strategies has endeared him to clients who he has been privileged to service in many instances for over two decades.
Latest posts by Jack Klinefelter (see all)
- Be a Member of the Survivors Club - April 22, 2024
- Don’t Be Color Blind - March 14, 2024
- LeadFlow Clients Add Locations in a Shrinking Industry - March 6, 2024