5 Steps to Sales Success – Step 1
A standardized method of selling creates benefits that everyone “doing their own thing” cannot provide. This submission is in reference to the first of a 5 Steps to Selling Success method I adapted that has allowed me to reach a higher level of selling success and results than I ever would have been able to without it. I believe it is beautiful in its simplicity.
In years past, “out bound” prospecting direct sales skill sets were not a necessity in the piano industry. Traffic was sufficient, representatives gave great demos, folks had discretionary income to spend and life was good. Today, after the“Amazon-ing” of America, the world is a much different place and the shoppers are online, which means pictures of products and prices are floating around all over cyberspace complete with a shopping cart to place them in. So that’s how we should sell pianos, right? Send people pictures and prices via email and text and sell pianos based upon them seeing a picture of the right thing and liking the price… simple. That should work – NOT. Online selling of items with universal appeal that are perceived to be more of a commodity then a “one of a kind” allows successful entities such as Sweetwater and Kraft to serve people without a selection process. Unless your company has made that daunting investment to be online and compete, a piano salesperson’s best bet is to adopt a method that allows them to make more friends than their competitors. Sure, the occasional remote sale can and does occur when you have that “just something” someone has been looking for, but don’t bet your career on that being the rule because it is the exception. Admit it or don’t read on.
Since outbound prospecting protocol in the piano industry was only active among institutional sales folks and not handed down as a part of the “day to day” sales culture, we have a challenge in front of us. The HUGE achievement we must find a way to serve is this: talking prospects out of cyberspace and into the showroom floor so they can fall in love with something.
The first solid appeal to you I will make to is to sell yourself and your company as the best resource BEFORE you attempt to sell a piano. First you are selling confidence (to quote Tony Thomas); only then are you in the proper position to sell a piano. If you establish credibility, you establish confidence. That is why “Credibility” is the first step in the 5 Steps to Sales Success process. It is the step we will focus on today.
Allow me to explain why I am so strongly opinionated. I come from the world of cold calling. In my early years, I did what the old school salesman on a beat called “burning up shoe leather.” I walked into mom-and-pop businesses, sight unseen, and figured out how to get people to take me seriously and give me the “time of day”, knowing that the only chance I had of selling something was to get the walls of pessimism and cynicism to come down ASAP. My sales survival depended on it; these businesspeople and gatekeepers had been hammered by “cold call after cold call”, so I adopted a method that separated me from the idiot salespeople that descended on them hourly.
If you look at the chronological order of things as I lay them out, they will make perfect sense, so much so that you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. Pragmatic, I promise… here we go:
Please look at all of your activity through the lens of this five- step method. It will serve you well and it will change your life. It will serve you and those you love better because it will make you more profitable. Here’s a look at that first step.
Step #1 Establish Credibility. This FIRST thing you should sell is the company you work for, the brand(s) they carry and the benefits of finding a piano there. Some benefit examples:
How long the company has been helping people find the perfect piano inside their budget. Most of you work for a piano dealer who has a reputation of providing pianos FOR YEARS to the music community in your city/town. Let’s be honest – do you make sure you wax proud about where you work and how much you love working there at the front of your relationships? Rhetorical, right.
There are many typical and positive things that can be communicated about the company you work for. As mentioned; how long they have been serving the community, if they are a family run business with roots in the community, how well-regarded their reputation is… these days you can point to the online reviews and the fact that you rank in the highest percentiles and the fact that you have an unbelievable amount of testimonials and repeat customers. ALL of these speak to creativity and at least the most impressive ones should be built into your introduction to new prospects be they on the floor or over the internet. CAUTION: BE BRIEF and pick your strongest punches if it is not a “live” conversation. Long texts, at least in the beginning, are invasive. Emails not so much, live phone conversations and in person intros allow you more intro real estate BUT be careful to not communicate too much until you know that credibility is established. The second step for our next installment/chapter is rapport and that can begin by you being friendly in bragging about where you work and the company’s attributes but rapport by and large is the next step.
Another credibility subject matter is the brands or the main brand of piano you are selling at your place of business. Steinway, Yamaha and Kawai all have plenty of marquis value for different reasons and the appropriate reason should also be woven into an introduction. Like writing a hit song GET TO THE HOOK!
Here are some examples of effective intros:
“This is _________________ (your name) with Prestige Pianos, the home of Steinway, the world’s finest pianos in every price range”… then continue your intro
or
“This is _________________ (your name) with Prestige Pianos, the home of Yamaha, the world’s most popular pianos and the choice of more artists the world over”… then continue our intro
or
“This is _________________ (your name) with Prestige Pianos, the home of Kawai, the absolute best value in fine pianos of every size and shape in the world”… then continue your intro
If you are not comfortable with the length of the intro and feel it is too long you can save the second half for the next time you speak, after the prospect has a chance to, in this manner: “This is _________________ (your name) with Prestige Pianos, the home of Steinway, how may I serve you?” and so per version since all three of these brands have an existing reputation BUT don’t forget to NAIL the Credibility module by getting your definition of the reputation communicated in the next exchange such as: “Being the home of the world’s finest pianos in every price range I’m happy to etc., etc. or “Being the world’s most popular pianos and the choice of more artists the world over I’m happy to” etc., etc. From experience, when you get smooth and don’t any longer feel rehearsed, the entire enchilada can roll off your tongue without you feeling like it is awkward. Especially if you embrace it and use it continually… it becomes second nature and sounds as such.
The second line (whether there is a break between line one and two or not) will be rapport oriented but the reputation of the company and the main product line it carries are sledgehammers in the world of credibility statements and positions you as being proud of where you are and doing what you do where you do it.
In summary, be sure to let each person you would like to sell to or service know right up front who you are and express the name of the company and brand you represent and why you are proud to represent in your initial contact.
A true story from my short time on the floor as a piano sales person about nailing credibility; Everyone was gone but me so I was in a position where I needed to speak to a visitor on the showroom floor who was simply a “lookie-loo” upon entering the gallery. He said he wasn’t all that impressed with Yamaha because they specialized boat motors, ATV’s and motorcycles but he was “curious” to see what the pianos looked like. I immediately recognized the credibility issue and after explaining that Yamaha sold more pianos every day than any other piano maker and had more models and artists who wrote, recorded and performed on a Yamaha piano (I could have sold Steinway or Kawai credibility stories equally as well) than any other brand I hooked him with a story he didn’t know about. I asked him if he knew the origin of the Yamaha logo, to which he admitted he didn’t, so I informed him that an organ was the first product ever made by the company that became Yamaha in the late 1800’s and that the centerpiece of the company logo was a grouping of tuning forks. I won’t belabor you with the rest of the story but the point is that there would have been NO WAY to sell this person a piano had I not established the credibility of the manufacturer which made it easier to stress the credibility of the dealer who believes that they are the best manufactured piano on the planet. No matter how much he thought I was enjoyable to talk to, it would have been a nice, meaningless conversation with no sale at the end without me overcoming the first stated objection out of the box.
Here’s quote and a quiz:
“You can totally work with brands. People love seeing that, but you have to build stories. You have to build credibility, and those brands have to really be the perfect fit for yourself”- Chiara Ferragni
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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.
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Good Stuff Jack
My pleasure Sir!