No matter how long or what type of sales experience you have acquired over the years, your definition of selling determines how successful you are now as well as how successful you will be going forward. If your basic definition of selling is off base, your entire sales process and ultimately your long-term success will be affected. The way you define selling is the ground floor on which all other aspects of the sales process are built. In other words, garbage in results in garbage out. It won't matter how much you know about your company's products and services or how well you have memorized responses to every possible objection. What will matter most is how you fundamentally define selling. Consider the following statement as a first step in defining selling. We've heard this many times before, but remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting something different to happen as a result of your actions. If you want to change your success in selling you may need to truthfully examine what you are doing rather than focusing on what your company isn't doing. Eighty percent of a salesperson's failure is due to internal issues, not external ones. So when you fault your company, the competition, or the industry, you are only addressing 20% of the problem! How do you define selling? Is your definition based on probing, presenting features, establishing rapport, closing, or earning commissions? Then you need to change your paradigm of the selling model. Think about what selling accomplishes for a customer. First, it changes their cost to do business and/or the service they receive. Second, a sale fills a void as perceived or defined by the customer. What is the textbook definition of selling? If you look up the word "selling" in a dictionary, what do you find? One definition is "to give up in return for something else"; another is "to exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent". If selling is not any of these, then what is it? I submit to you this definition of selling: "Selling is the process of helping someone discover something of value".

Free White Papers We have free white papers on effective sales pitches and designing top performing sales teams available at our website.

First, selling is a process with defined steps that build on each other. As with exercise, every time you skip a step it reduces the possibility of a positive outcome. A weightlifter can only bench press the big weight so long without practice before they are lifting less and less weight. Selling is the act of proactively engaging in the process. Selling involves executing each step in a methodical way for every sales process. Taking shortcuts or eliminating steps only sets the salesperson up for future failure.

Next, selling is a process of discovery. If the prospect doesn't discover something for themselves then they typically don't have personal ownership of it. When a sales person "tells", the probability of a buying decision is greatly diminished. Parents quickly learn this with their children. If a child doesn't have "skin in the game" they will not manage and take care of whatever the parent has provided. Prospects are no different. They need to have ownership in the sales process.

Helping a prospect requires asking questions (probing) to reveal their needs. Most prospects didn't go to school for sales, so it is highly unlikely they will be able to tell you their needs. In fact, most prospects will ask the last question first, "How many dollars will this cost me?" In most cases, you can help them by asking questions that cause them to think through their process and identify their needs. That's when real buy-in occurs.

Finally, selling is revealing something of value. Listen to your presentation and objection-handling words and sentences. Do you know the difference between a feature statement and a value statement? People don't buy features; they buy value. They must define the value for themselves and not have you define it for them. Your responsibility is to guide them along the path of discovery.

For example, let's suppose that someone is going to buy a pen. They walk into the "writing implements boutique" and the salesperson starts describing all the features of their pens, including the "Zircon heat treated pocket clip, guaranteed for life against breakage". This usually occurs right after the salesperson asks, "How can I help you?" What the salesperson doesn't do is ask further questions or observe that the prospect wears shirts with no pockets and therefore may not need a pen with a Zircon heat-treated pocket clip! The feature "Zircon heat treated pocket clip" has no value to the prospect. Nothing of value is being revealed, so the probability of a sale is greatly diminished. The person walks out of the store and probably mutters something like "I'm just looking"!

It doesn't matter that you have at your command 1 million super selling tips, or know how to build trust with just about anybody in 10 seconds or less, or know how to get the appointment when the prospect says no, or know how to negotiate for a win-win scenario. It doesn't matter that you can speak with eloquence and passion. What does matter is knowing and living by your definition of selling. This drives your trust factor, your negotiations, and your success. Are you just taking orders for the present and missing out on selling value for the future? Or, are you "helping someone discover something of value"?

Remember the new definition of selling: "Selling is the process of helping someone discover something of value". How can you incorporate value into your selling process?

Ask Max! Max-a-Million, the Sales Expert! What is YOUR sales Challenge? Ask Max the sales questions you want answered. Ask Max.

About Sales Focus Inc. Sales Focus Inc. is a consulting, training and outsourcing company that focuses strictly on sales. We help our clients during these difficult times to take business away from the competition. In down economic times, focused companies will not only survive, but also thrive! We offer cost containment and profit enhancement solutions. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement implies doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. We represent the concept of focused profit enhancement solutions.

Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients! " Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE.

For more Information or to see if we are a good fit with your company, contact us directly at 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, or send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com. Learn about a few of our numerous sales success case studies, some of the many clients we help, and request a free white paper while calling us or visiting our website.

Sales Focus Inc. 3210 Florence Road, Suite B Woodbine, Maryland 21797 P. 410.442.5600 F. 410.581.8306 Toll Free: 866.840.8305 URL: www.SalesFocusInc.com

Reading someone else's newsletter? Subscribe yourself, or your staff, to the Sales Tips Newsletter at www.SalesFocusInc.com