Albert Einstein’s famous “Theory of Relativity” (e=mc2) is as familiar to many millions of people as a popular modern commercial limerick for a soft drink or a jingle for a chocolate bar. Although very few among these millions actually understand the scientific premise of the “Theory of Relativity”: people innately understand its importance and relate it to its brilliant creator, the wild-haired genius Albert Einstein. The famous equation is to energy, as H2O is to water. It has burned itself into the collective mind of contemporary culture, even in the most scientifically challenged people.
There is a similar equation that is just as relevant, contemporary and important as it relates to the art and skill of selling that fades: “ABC = always close”! The age of instant communication, computers, teleconferences, and electronic shipping has caused the most important business skill ever used to generate trade to erode dramatically. The art of selling is dying. The ability to find, cultivate, qualify and close a sales transaction is being sacrificed at the altar of impersonal contact and fill-in-the-blank approaches.
Modernists might argue, “so what if sales is a dying art, look at the steady growth of the economy, startups, outsourcing, and emerging markets. Modern technology has facilitated this growth in a spectacular way.” I agree. Technology is wonderful. The ability to call anywhere in the world with a cell phone, receive emails 24 hours a day and FedEx documents overnight is a huge leap forward in efficiency and productivity.
Yet if sales skills, particularly the art of closing the sale, were continually honed, polished, and honed in every organization, no matter the size, how much more business would be generated? The old axiom, “nothing happens in any business until someone sells something” is as true today as it ever has been. The union of modern technology with the application of the time-tested art of closing sales is a recipe for even more amazing economic growth and enrichment for every area of our society.
There are many excellent, successful, and very wealthy car and real estate salespeople. Yet a visit to most car dealerships, or a house tour with the average real estate agent, is all too often an exercise in frustration and an amazing window into the current poor state of sales. The ability to ask questions, listen to answers, identify customer needs, and provide answers to their needs is rarely exhibited. Salespeople want to teach and tell before learning what the customer wants to be taught and told.
Salespeople aren’t the only ones who need to hone their selling skills. No matter what direction your career takes, you will be selling. The design engineer for an automobile company is selling his creative vision, designs, and art to his supervisors and managers who will decide whether his art makes it to the showroom floors as an automotive product. He is competing for a finite amount of production capacity, marketing and funding money with other designers. Lee Iacocca, Harley Earl, John deLorean, and Henry Ford weren’t just “car guys”: they were salesmen!
Steve Jobs has launched Apple Computer twice. Once as a start-up, and in a phenomenal second act, he has resurrected the company he founded after it was left for dead a decade ago. How has he done it? Excelent product? Safe. Instinct? Absolutely. But most importantly, as the face of Apple, he is always selling his brand.
In every local media market in the United States there is an entrepreneur who becomes the face of their company, product or brand and is bombarding the public with sales messages. These companies often take on a regional and sometimes national scope. The important point to remember is that everyone started small and local. The owner, founder, or spokesperson has been able to cut through the market clutter and be successful because they were able to identify customer needs, address those needs, and sell to the consumer that their product had unique benefits for them. Frank Perdue, the “Chicken King” started out locally and became the face of his successful company nationally. Californians will remember the savvy car dealer Cal Worthington. Mr. Worthington capitalized on his animal-focused commercials, using dogs, lions, and elephants in prominent places as guests on the Tonight Show.
“Always Be Closing” is a mantra used with pride by every successful entrepreneur and salesperson I’ve ever met. From the initial contact with even the most disinterested customer possible, to the actual closing of the sale, successful people look for ways to help fill an identified need. This is not about a hard sell. It’s about providing a real benefit that the customer realizes will offer excellent value for money.
It feels great to close a sale. It is especially rewarding when you have provided a good or service that is needed, valued and appreciated. People don’t like to be sold. They like to buy when they see how a product will benefit them. The ABC is crucial to know the REAL needs, not perceived or declared, of the client. Every question asked, answer heard, qualifying question offered, and details provided about a product or service are key to laying the foundation for a successful transaction.
A key part of any ABC app is “discovery”. “Discovery” is so elemental, so crucial to meeting customer needs, that any inattention to the discovery process is almost always the reason for failure. “Discovery” must be practiced, it is not easily taught, and it certainly is not taught in a formulaic process. Establishing a relationship, talking, relaxing, learning about the prospect is the door to enter before discussing the product on offer. Listening during a good “discovery” will provide endless bits of information that can be used to deliver the right product to fit the customer’s needs.
Whether it’s selling insurance, cars, or cosmetics, working as a bank clerk, restaurant waiter, travel agent, or park attendant, there are constant opportunities to enhance your career by practicing ABC. The practitioner of this sales commandment will be successful. The ABC practitioner will also discover that when it comes time for final closure, the answer is so obvious to the client that not much decision is required.
Whether we are citing Occam’s Razor, Moore’s Law, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Commandments of Lords, ABC = “Always Be Closing” or any time honored bromide, it is wise to note the simplicity of buried logic. Adherence to the intent of these words is invaluable in improving performance, whether in science, business, sales, or life. ABC will be used daily by most people; it’s a shame that more people don’t recognize that fact and put effort into perfecting their app.