{"id":10149,"date":"2020-07-05T18:21:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T22:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=10149"},"modified":"2020-07-10T20:46:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T00:46:44","slug":"evolution-of-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/evolution-of-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Sales and What It Means for You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/history-of-sales\/\">evolution of sales<\/a>, and what does it have to do with your sales strategy? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, sales approaches have changed over time, as strategies have developed and products have gotten more varied and complex. Understanding the evolution of sales can help you see how the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/spin-sales-model\/\">SPIN selling method<\/a> works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Evolution of Sales<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For over 60 years, sales organizations preached and practiced the conventional wisdom that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/traditional-sales-zero-to-one\/\">traditional selling<\/a> methods worked in all sales. Standard techniques and skills included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Opening the call<\/strong>: Establish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-connections\/\">a personal connection<\/a> with the buyer, or introduce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-value\/\">product benefits<\/a>.<\/li><li><strong>Investigating the customer\u2019s needs<\/strong>: Use open-ended and closed (yes or no) questions to uncover needs.<\/li><li><strong>Presenting benefits<\/strong>: Once you\u2019ve determined the customer\u2019s needs, describe the benefits of buying your product by showing how its features can help.<\/li><li><strong>Handling objections<\/strong>: Use a range of techniques to overcome <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/common-sales-objections\/\">customer objections<\/a> or resistance; for instance, rephrase the objection as a question you can answer.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/closing-the-deal-in-sales\/\">Closing the sale<\/a><\/strong>: Make a strong closing\u2014use pressure if the customer hesitates\u2014that seals the deal.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sales training placed particular emphasis on asking appropriate open-ended and closed questions during the investigation stage and on making a forceful closing. But as the evolution of sales took place, Neil Rackham\u2019s field experience and research showed that some of these traditional techniques were a bad fit for large sales because those sales had different characteristics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Major Sale<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/major-sales-spin-selling\/\">Major sales<\/a> require a more sophisticated interaction between sales rep and customer than is needed in small sales because they\u2019re different from small sales in key ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Length of the Selling Cycle<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The evolution of sales varies depending on the type of sale and length of the sales cycle. For example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Small sales<\/strong>: Sales often can be handled with one call in which the customer buys on the spot. The salesperson may push hard to refute objections and close successfully. This works if it\u2019s a one-time interaction where establishing a good relationship isn\u2019t critical. But if the customer delays a decision, resentment created by the pressure tactics can be difficult for the sales rep to overcome in a subsequent interaction. Further, the power of a strong sales pitch wanes in a few days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Major sales<\/strong>: In contrast, a major sale often requires making many sales calls to a customer over months. Since the customer doesn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/be-decisive\/\">make a decision<\/a> on the first call, pressure tactics that create resentment won\u2019t work and might kill the sale by making it impossible for the sales rep to establish an ongoing relationship. In major or multi-call sales, customer deliberations occur between calls in the rep\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Traditional Openings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in the early days of the evolution of sales, sales training taught two ways to open a call: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <strong>Connect with the buyer\u2019s personal interests<\/strong>. This will help you establish a relationship quickly and increase your chances of success. So try to find something personal to talk about\u2014for instance, if you see a golf trophy in the customer\u2019s office, or a photo suggesting another hobby, comment on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <strong>Introduce a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/product-benefit\/\">product benefit<\/a><\/strong>. The idea is to get the customer\u2019s attention and interest with an emphatic benefit statement\u2014for instance, \u201cWe understand that productivity is a big issue for managers like you\u2014our product will dramatically increase your output.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While connecting with personal interests could work in small sales, it isn\u2019t likely to help you in large sales. Researchers found that in small sales to rural stores, the most successful sales reps made more personal references than less successful reps. But in larger sales to urban stores, connecting with a customer\u2019s personal interests had no bearing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\">sales success<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, whether you have a personal connection with a seller is probably less of a factor in doing business today than it was in the 1920s. Today, price or other factors may be more important than personal loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another reason that establishing a personal connection may be less important today is that many customers, especially professional procurement officers who deal with multiple sales reps, have little time or patience with chit chat. They prefer that salespeople <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-the-main-point\/\">get to the point<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The practice of opening a sales call with a benefit statement has also been around for many decades. Getting the buyer\u2019s attention by starting with a benefit might be useful in small sales where calls may last only a few minutes. But a high-impact opening seems likely to be less useful in large sales, in which the call length could be 40 minutes or more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers found no link between sales success and opening with a benefit statement. In fact, the most successful sales reps used a variety of opening methods, while less successful reps opened every call the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, in larger sales involving multiple calls, you can\u2019t open follow-up calls with a person the way you did the previous time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, using an opening benefit statement can get the rep into trouble, for instance by generating early objections. As previously noted, talking about benefits or solutions early in the call, before you\u2019ve built explicit needs, undermines your chances of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>An Opening Framework<\/strong> According to the Evolution of Sales<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of traditional methods of call opening, researchers came up with an opening framework based on strategies used by successful salespeople. The evolution of sales showed how that could work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step is understanding your objectives in the warm-up or opening stage of a call. Basically, <strong>you want the customer to agree to give you a hearing and answer your questions, so you can move into the investigating stage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To win consent, you need to specify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-genius\/\">Who you are<\/a><\/li><li>What you want (without delving into product details)<\/li><li>Your legitimacy or right to ask questions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Opening Effectively<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As previously noted, openings don\u2019t play a critical role in large sales. You don\u2019t need to come across as polished or rehearsed, but there are three important elements to an effective opening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <strong>Get to the point of your visit quickly<\/strong>. Don\u2019t spend too much time on a long wind-up. You don\u2019t want to run out of time in the more important stages because you spent time making a lot of small talk at the beginning. You also don\u2019t want to waste your customer\u2019s time. In large sales, you\u2019re not likely to offend busy customers by jumping into your topic with few preliminaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <strong>Don\u2019t talk about solutions prematurely<\/strong>. As noted in the previous chapter, talking about solutions too soon can trigger objections and undermine your success. Discussing your solution early in the call also puts you in the position of answering questions about your product or services, when you need to quickly assume the role of questioner so you can develop needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) <strong>Focus on asking questions<\/strong>. Remember that the opening isn\u2019t the important part of the call; you want to move on to the investigating stage as soon as possible. Instead of worrying about how to open a call, spend your pre-call planning time working on questions to uncover and build needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning about the evolution of sales can help you figure out your best sales strategy, and implement SPIN selling. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the evolution of sales, and what does it have to do with your sales strategy? Of course, sales approaches have changed over time, as strategies have developed and products have gotten more varied and complex. Understanding the evolution of sales can help you see how the SPIN selling method works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,39],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-10149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-history","tag-spin-selling","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Evolution of Sales and What It Means for You - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the evolution of sales, and why does it matter? 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