The first time I was exposed to any professional sales training was when I was invited to a customer sales training conference. I was there to present on our product, but they let me sit in on their sales training sessions.
This was a large specialty chemical company, and they were teaching their sales team the concepts of the Counselor Salesperson (CSP). CSP was a system used to sell high-ticket solutions to complex problems through a win-win approach.
I was amazed at the use of language and the practices that could not only melt away objections but make the salesperson seem like a vital partner to the client.
These guys were selling water treatment chemicals. Some were just commodity chemicals, but because they applied this type of sales training, they were not selling so much as they were consulted as trusted advisors.
This led to scenarios where the chemical company would maintain an office with three sales representatives on-site. The client’s steel-making process or paper production was so dependent on a chemical representative that it required a constant presence.
The customer-centric approach
Observing how this training could result in these types of long-term strategic relationships sent me on an education quest, and I read books like Flip the Script, SPIN Selling, and Think Like Your Customer.
When I opened the copy of SPIN Selling on my shelf, Suze’s notes fell out. It was her copy from when she was in corporate sales.
SPIN uses question-asking to identify the customer’s Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. Similarly, Think Like Your Customer encourages you to do just as the title suggests and investigate what customers truly want and value. Understanding why customers buy and how they buy is crucial.
These selling systems were designed to help a salesperson move away from the transaction and the commodification of their product, instead aiming to help the buyer see that the problem they faced had a solution that this salesperson could resolve.
The other end of the spectrum is the one-click buy, where the buyer convinces themselves or feels that the features and benefits were so well expressed in the ad copy and funnel process that they act.
“So easy,” says the guy selling his breakthrough funnel course. “It sells itself.”
But does it?
Those counselor salespeople were closing six- and seven-figure sales with 50-70% close rates, sometimes without ever asking for an order, yet the typical internet conversion is sub 5% on sales less than $100.
Are funnels so new that they need to be improved and perfected? Will my new AI-infused funnels get me to a double-digit close rate?
No.
Funnels aren’t new. They were invented in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis, an early advertiser. You see, he was a pioneer of the first information revolution—the one of mass print and the locomotive, where you could sell people without seeing them through the newspaper and then deliver the product by train. At that point in time, Sears created a multimillion-dollar business with catalogs.
I believe funnels fail because they only adopt half of what Lewis came up with.
He knew that if he could get someone aware and there was intent, he could get them to consider the product and purchase it.
The funnel was the identification process, not the sales activity. What caused the sale was AIDA.
Remember the speech from Glengarry Glen Ross?
A – Attention, I – Interest, D – Desire, A – Action. There were definitive sales steps that a salesperson needed to actuate.
When someone discovers your product, they are aware, but do you actually have their attention?
Once you get their attention, what do you do to pique interest and further the process?
As we have talked about in previous articles, how does what you offer solve their problem or fulfill a desire? Even in a corporate environment, emotion plays a part.
“Will I look smart if I solve this problem?”
Then, there always comes the moment when they act on that desire.
AIDA must be built into your nurturing process.
Notice I said nurturing, not funnel. Funnels or flywheels are linear processes. They treat people as objects that all are to be processed to become your objective. Let’s go back to the counselor salesperson.
In the early 2000s, the CEO of this publicly traded chemical company was looking to get its stock price up. One decision he made was to run an early retirement program. Many of their best salespeople had been recruited right out of college as engineers and trained to be amazing solution providers. They qualified for early retirement but were at the peak of their careers.
While the early retirement program was a success in removing huge retirement liabilities from the balance sheet and reducing staff costs, it created the single biggest competitive threat to this company.
Many of those who retired turned around and put out their shingle as a solo operator. The representative kept the business they had, and the big chemical company took a huge hit to revenues.
Where did the customer see the value?
Some of these salespeople had been working at these plants longer than their customers. They had intimate knowledge of their complex production processes, and without their knowledge, the customer worried about their own success.
How does your sales process make your experience indispensable?
Think about how these articles are my version of a counselor salesperson to you. Most of the value comes from what I can bring out of you with the questions I ask. Even if I have a solid idea of how I might do something, the value isn’t in me doing it for you but in you coming up with your answer to the right question.
Audit your automated nurturing system for AIDA. Does AIDA exist at all?
How do you pique interest?
How does interest trigger the system?
When interested, is there a process where you can identify the type of desire and understand the reason?
This is how to transform your process into a sales closing machine. The buyer will respond appropriately to the correct stimulus.
When it’s time for action, a buyer must sift through an unconscious mix related to Need, Desire, Motive, Urgency, Payback, Risk, and Priorities. Have you addressed all of these?
Remember, the buyer will sell themselves if you have the content available to help them work through things like the risk of losing reading time to a bad book.
I have to say that writing this article and going back into these books now, with a business-to-consumer viewpoint and digital marketing at the forefront, has sparked so many ideas about how much is missing from digital marketing and the opportunities to make customer nurturing a better experience.