The Sales Conversation [33 pages]

An excerpt from

Aji Notes, Volume 4, written by Toby Hecht.

Aji Notes, Volume 4

(pages 244-276)

A “sales conversation” is any conversation whose purpose is to produce a transaction.

Transactions are an exchange of goods and services for a purchase price.

It’s the moment when human beings “make money”.

Without transactions, no one makes money.

It follows, therefore, that the more transactions businesspeople make, and the more profitable each transaction is, the more money they earn.

To double their competitive capabilities and advantages, productivity, value and incomes,

… everyone needs to learn how to sell expertly,

… regardless of their role, e.g., individual contributors, salespeople, supervisors, managers, executives and business owners.

When businesspeople don’t know how to lead a sales conversation so it is:

1. Easy to understand

2. Enjoyable to hear and experience

3. Definitive in its offer of help,

… it produces competitive disadvantages, bad identities and low incomes.

Today, in the most rapidly changing, competitive, complex and technologically advanced global marketplace in history,

… everyone’s customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors

… are very familiar with the criteria and standards of expert sellers

… who they see and hear selling goods and services on the internet throughout the day.

This makes it impossible for businesspeople who don’t really know how to sell to be valuable enough to earn a Normal IR#4 Income that is twice as high as their IR#3 Income.

When the CEOs of the world’s largest businesses sell online… they know what they are doing and produce expert sales conversations as if it’s easy and effortless.

When the best marketing people in the world design a website to sell goods and services… they know what they are doing.

When businesspeople who have never studied how to sell, who have never had an expert listen to their sales conversations and who have no clue about the commitments, tactics and strategies used in a sales conversation sell,

… they haven’t a clue about what they are really doing when they sell,

… and their incomes prove it.

Since producing transactions is the way people “make money”,

… it only makes sense in competitive situations where everyone sees experts selling online throughout the day

… to actually learn how to sell expertly.

Learning how to sell isn’t difficult, by the way, especially from a good teacher.

It is easy, enjoyable and definitive.

Selling is natural. Children start selling shortly after they learn how to speak.

Who sells to make money, or earn a living to take care of their family?

Everyone.

The Sales Conversation Strategy is a competitive, fundamental strategy, or action plan, like The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy.

It has 10 fundamental strategic intentions, i.e., marketing, prospecting, greeting, qualifying, presenting, objections, closing, re-closing, fulfilling and satisfying.

Businesspeople use the fundamental sales conversation to design their specific sales conversations the same way they use The Strategy to design their specific careers and business strategies.

When businesspeople learn how to execute The Sales Conversation Strategy,

… they have an essential competitive capability

… they can use to produce and increase their competitive advantages, productivity, value and incomes

… in their careers and businesses.

The sales conversation is a competitive, fundamental strategy.

Every human being goes through the same fundamental sequence of commitments before agreeing to transact.

The sales conversation is the course of action used to produce the fundamental sequence of 10 commitments that underlies the production of every transaction.

Once businesspeople know each of The Sales Conversation Strategy’s 10 fundamental intentions and the tactics needed to fulfill them,

… they can design specific sales conversations throughout the day

… to have their offers, practices, narratives and strategies

… accepted by their customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors

… so they can fulfill their financial, career and business intentions.

The intended outcome of each part of The Sales Conversation Strategy’s 10 strategic intentions is a new commitment

… to move action forward to the transaction.

Each commitment is a new situation with new threats to avoid, obligations to fulfill and opportunities to exploit

… to advance action and make it possible to fulfill the next part’s strategic objective, or commitment,

… until the transaction is produced.

Marketing, for example, uses tactics to produce a commitment of interest to move forward to learn more about the offer, practice, narrative or strategy.

Prospecting uses different tactics such as specific “attention getters” to produce a commitment to move forward to engage in a sales conversation.

Greeting uses another set of tactics to begin to trigger assessments with the prospect (which are a form of commitment to advance action) that the Seller’s trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity are superior to competitors’.

Qualifying, presenting, objections, closing, re-closing, fulfilling and satisfying each use different (1) tactics in a sequence that (2) produce a sequences of situations (3) until the final commitment to transact is produced and businesspeople “make money”.

*****

Aji.com offers:

1. “Traditional” Sales Training, tactics and strategies

The traditional Sales Training focuses on the tactics businesspeople need to know to make money.

2. A collection of papers and videos about Top 1% Selling ($400k-$4m).

The Top 1% Selling papers and videos focus on the tactical, strategic and competitive distinctions and practices businesspeople and business organizations need to use to sell and produce incomes in the top 1% of the marketplace.

I taught these strategic Top 1% Selling distinctions at GE’s executive education school, Crotonville, and in our LEIP Program with businesspeople earning incomes between $400k and $4m.

Businesspeople who watch the videos, read the papers and engage in the practices say it changes everything about how they sell.

The 10 Parts of The Sales Conversation Strategy

Each of the 10 parts of The Sales Conversation Strategy below

… is used to create a sequence of commitments

… that progress, or advance the action, until a transaction is produced

… and businesspeople “make money”.

Each part is an interim strategic objective that must be fulfilled before it is possible to fulfill the next part, or produce the next commitment.

Each part is fulfilled when the prospect makes the appropriate commitments to move forward in the conversation and produces a new situation.

Each part is executed with a set of tactics, such as giving a gift of help, making commitments, asking open-ended questions, making a proposal, answering questions and announcing past accomplishments.

Each tactic exists for a purpose, or set of purposes,

… that businesspeople use to fulfill their intentions to produce a commitment to move forward before moving on to the next part of the strategy

… and the next set of sales tactics.

When businesspeople fail or decline to complete each part of The Sales Conversation Strategy in the sequence before moving on to the next part, they trigger questions, uncertainty, distrust and objections.

They reduce the likelihood of:

Producing a transaction and making money

Triggering assessments of superior trustworthiness, value, authority and leadership required to produce top 1% annual incomes

Executing their fundamental and specific strategies to build their careers and/or businesses

Producing top 1% annual incomes between $400k and $4m

When businesspeople know each of The Sales Conversation Strategy’s 10 parts and how to fulfill each intention to produce a commitment to move forward in sequence,

… they can produce transactions, or make money,

… by selling the offers, practices, narratives and strategies they design and execute

… to their customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors.

#1 – Marketing

This is the first grouping of tactics in The Sales Conversation Strategy because it is needed to produce “inventories of possibilities” who are candidates for accepting businesspeople’s offers.

Inventories of Possibilities are people or businesses who businesspeople assess are candidates for their offers

… because their concerns, situations, capabilities and strategies require them to accept the type of offer,

… and no reason exists at the time, or to their knowledge, that would make the transaction either:

Not possible

… or …

Too costly — time, energy, money or lost opportunities.

A “market” is someone who wants something (economics).

The purpose of marketing in The Sales Conversation Strategy is to produce people or businesses who want whatever businesspeople are selling.

* Marketing is also its own domain of action outside of The Sales Conversation Strategy.

The fundamental marketing moves in The Sales Conversation Strategy are to:

1. Make people dissatisfied with their current situation or capabilities to take care of their human, career or business concerns

2. Announce a superior capability exists to take care of their concerns, or to fulfill their intentions, personal ambitions or business missions

3. Announce willingness — enthusiasm and passion — to engage in a sales conversation to explore the possibilities of making a transaction

#2 – Prospecting

Prospecting is the second grouping of tactics in The Sales Conversation Strategy because it is needed to produce “inventories of opportunities” who are candidates for accepting businesspeople’s offers.

Inventories of Opportunities are produced from businesspeople’s Inventory of Possibilities.

They are people or businesses who share businesspeople’s assessment that they are candidates for their offers,

… because their concerns, situations, capabilities and strategies require them to accept the offer

… and no reason exists at the time, or to their knowledge, that would make the transaction either:

Not possible

… or …

Too costly — time, energy, money or lost opportunities.

When businesspeople are marketing, they assess who is a likely prospect.

The salesperson says who is a possible Buyer to build their inventory of possibilities.

When businesspeople are prospecting, however, the listener makes the assessment that they are a possible Buyer and agrees to engage in a sales conversation.

This shifts the listener from being a “possibility”, according to the salesperson,

… to being an “opportunity” to produce a transaction, according to the Buyer.

Prospecting produces commitments that move people from being in their Inventory of Possibilities (to close sales) to their Inventory of Opportunities,

… which is a new situation with new threats, obligations… and opportunities to close the sale and make money.

Let’s review the first two intentions because they are sometimes confusing:

The Sales Conversation Strategy begins with marketing,

… which is the production of Inventories of Possibilities.

These are people and businesses who require the help offered by ambitious businesspeople from the businessperson’s point of view but not yet their own.

Listeners are people who are possible candidates for businesspeople’s offers, and include customers, employees, employers, colleagues and vendors.

The second part of the sales strategy, prospecting, is converting Inventories of Possibilities to Inventories of Opportunities with conversations that result in listeners making commitments to fully engage in sales conversations.

This is also a new situation with new threats to avoid, obligations to fulfill and opportunities to exploit to produce a transaction and make money.

People transition from being possibilities to transact

… to being opportunities to transact

… when they share businesspeople’s assessments enough to invest in a sales conversation for transactions of help.

When listeners become opportunities for a sales conversation,

… because they agree to move forward and have the conversation,

… they are called “prospects”.

When prospects close or accept an offer,

… they are called “customers”.

#3 – Greeting

Greeting is a set of sales techniques, or tactics, performed at the start of every sales conversation to produce:

1. An open mood of prudent trust and engagement

2. Commitments to begin to build assessments of trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity needed to close the sale,

… usually with a “gift of help” that show concern, expertise and superior value

3. Enough of a relationship — or assessments of prudent trust and how one another’s concerns are affected by the other — to fully engage in the qualifying conversation

Greeting is necessary for both parties in the sales conversation because both need to know that:

1. The other party to their possible transaction recognizes their existence, or isn’t indifferent or hostile to their existence or ignoring them

2. The other party isn’t too crazy, disrespectful or unpleasant to produce distrust or make a transaction unproductive or not worthwhile

3. The other party is able to initiate a conversation and relationship responsibly, and with maturity and dignity

4. The other party’s moods are appropriate for the sales conversation, or can be modified easily to be appropriate

5. The other party knows and accepts the moods and opening moves of the sales conversation

6. The other party speaks and acts consistently with being trustworthy (sincere, reliable and competent) and dignified (moral and practical integrity and value)

#4 – Qualifying

Qualifying is a set of conversations, or sales techniques, that:

1. Constitutes and prepares the prospect’s:

Ambitions to produce meaningful outcomes in the future

Moods of willingness, trust and ambition

Explanations about human and business concerns, situations, capabilities and strategies

Distinctions about competition and value

Interpretations of threats, obligations and opportunities

Intentions to produce strategic and competitive outcomes

Commitments to transact to fulfill their intentions

Practices to produce outcomes

Outcomes that satisfy their intentions

Assessments about businesspeople’s superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity

Designs for effective, strategic and competitive thought and action

Capabilities to think, act, speak, manage, lead and fulfill their intentions

2. Enables businesspeople to produce:

a. An assessment that the prospect is, in fact, a suitable candidate for investing the time, energy, money and opportunities required by every sales conversation,

… or that the sales conversation needs to end so that new and more productive opportunities can be produced or found

b. Their specific presentation so that it is effective, strategic and competitive enough to produce a commitment to transact, or to close the sale

* Businesspeople’s fundamental presentation is complete before they begin because their fundamental sales conversation is always prepared in advance.

Qualifying enables the Seller to quickly re-design their specific presentation as they speak with the prospect.

c. Identities of superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity

#5 – Presenting

Presenting is a set of three conversations, or sales techniques, that are: (1) a summary of concerns and intentions, (2) trust and identity building with past accomplishments, (3) the proposal.

It triggers assessments for the prospect about the offer’s TVAL&D and CSCS to fulfill their financial, career and business intentions.

#6 – Handling Objections

Handling objections is a set of conversations, or sales techniques, that:

1. Takes care of people’s or businesses’ objections,

… so that action towards making a transaction is not stopped, or can continue as intended, by:

Putting an end to objections

Completing objections

Letting objections “be”

2. Is the final action in preparing the prospect to accept the offer, or “close”

In most cases, the existence of objections before the close is caused by ineffective qualifying.

#7 – Closing

Closing is a set of conversations, or sales techniques,

… that has the prospect:

1. Agree to accept the offer, which is a commitment, or to close as intended

… or …

2. Agree, or close, for the next action in a multi-part sales conversation,

… such as the next meeting or presentation, accepting a report or contract, taking another action, or making another assessment

#8 – Re-Closing

Re-closing is a set of conversations, or sales techniques, that:

Re-checks the prospect’s moods, narratives, interpretations and commitments

… after they have closed the sale to:

Make sure the prospect is, in fact, ready, willing and able to make and hold their commitment to complete the transaction

… because they have not been pressured, worn down, convinced, persuaded or forced to close

… and are “folding” in the moment or simply trying to get rid of the salesperson.

Demonstrate and display dignity, caring intentions and trust, and to make sure the transaction is ethical, or consistent with Ethics of Power and morality.

Solidify already established identities of superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity.

Begin the process, or set of sales conversation techniques, intended to produce satisfaction with how the transaction was produced so that the prospect is willing to pay a premium for the opportunity to engage in another transaction.

#9 – Fulfilling

Fulfilling is a set of conversations, or sales techniques, that:

1. Declares the five commitments that constitute every transaction are complete, as agreed

The five commitments of every transaction are:

The Seller’s commitments

1. To deliver the good or service, as agreed

2. To transfer ownership, as agreed

3. To fulfill conditions of satisfaction, as agreed

The Buyer’s commitments

4. To accept delivery of the good or service, as agreed

5. To pay the purchase price, as agreed

Completion of the five commitments ends all reason for further action,

… and for accruing costs, or investing — time, energy, money and lost opportunities.

2. Enables action to produce returns on the transaction to begin

3. Reinforces assessments or identities of superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity

4. Lays the groundwork for making claims that a highly valued accomplishment has been produced

Highly valued accomplishments are scarce relative to demand in the marketplace because their marginal utilities are uncommon, strategic and superior to common ones.

5. Prepares the customer to be satisfied, or willing to:

Accept more offers in the future easily and quickly

Lower costs of building trust and value

Pay a premium

#10 – Producing Satisfaction

Producing satisfaction is a set of conversations, or sales techniques, that:

1. Has the customer ready, willing (eager) and able to accept future offers easily or for less cost — less time, energy, money and lost opportunities

2. Produces assessments that highly valued accomplishments have been produced

3. Produces assessments of superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity about ambitious businesspeople

4. Increases their willingness to pay a premium for future offers

5. Ruins the customers’ criteria and standards for making assessments about competitive offers so that while they remain open to other offers, they find themselves dissatisfied with them