VOLUME I • ARTICLE XII © 2011 Integrity Solutions Holdings LLC. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in part or entirety without written permission from Integrity Solutions.

Establishing Competitive AdvantageWhItEpapEr

Why does one salesperson, with the same background and experience as another, outsell them by five times or more?

What are the key factors that attract customers to do business with an organization or a sales person?

In today’s commoditized and highly competitive markets, establishing a competitive advantage is often less about strategies and products than the day to day actions of your sales professionals. This article focuses on insights gained over forty years of observation and research to validate the specific integrity and ethics-based principles and underlying beliefs that help sales professionals achieve breakthrough performance.

One of our more striking findings is that success has more to do with “who you are” than “what you know.” Although knowledge and skill will always be required for success, a salesperson’s attitudes, beliefs and values provide the catalyst for sustainable customer needs-focused behaviors. In our research, these are the key factors that distinguish the best from the rest.

The unfortunate reality is that most people distrust salespeople—and with good reason. Year after year, surveys done by Gallup, Harris and others consistently reveal that when the general public is asked to rank professionals based on “who they trust” (most to least) salespeople are at the bottom of the list. Why? It’s all about integrity.

Salespeople who develop customer-centric skills, attitudes, beliefs, and values demonstrate behaviors rooted in ethics and integrity. In our experience, salespeople who internalize these important principles and underlying beliefs will realize their potential, attract more customers, build long-term customer relationships, and consistently achieve sales success.

Values-Driven Principles

Principle One: Selling is a mutual exchange of value.

Underlying Belief: Selling is a noble profession of creating value for others and in return being rewarded for it.

Sales professionals who perceive what they do as creating value for people and/or organizations have

a positive attitude about selling that increases their customer-needs–focus. They recognize and expect to be rewarded for creating value for others and are energized by this belief.

Principle Two: Selling is not something you do to people; it’s something you do for and with them.

Underlying Belief: Selling with Integrity is identifying and satisfying customer needs and creating value

for them—not trying to sell them something.

This principle resonates with customer-focused salespeople and increases their achievement drive because it is congruent with their core values. It also empowers them to walk away from an opportunity if what they are offering will not satisfy a customer’s wants or needs. It will not only increase their commitment to the needs of their customers, but also increase

Selling With IntegrityA Values-Driven Approach to Increasing Sales and Customer Loyalty

VOLUME I • ARTICLE XII © 2011 Integrity Solutions Holdings LLC. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in part or entirety without written permission from Integrity Solutions.

Establishing Competitive AdvantageWhItEpapEr

the likelihood that customers will be more committed to doing business with them. Moreover, we have found that this can also have a dramatic impact on referrals—opportunities that have the highest closure rate of all prospects.

Principle Three: Developing trust and rapport precedes any selling activity.

Underlying Belief: Your first sale is you!

A potential customer must perceive that you have their best interests in mind before they will buy from you. You must build rapport by adapting your communication style to your potential customer’s style. When you focus on understanding a customer’s wants and needs, you break through their natural psychological barriers. At that point you will begin to establish trust in the relationship.

Principle Four: Understanding people’s wants or needs must always precede any attempts to offer a solution.

Underlying Belief: Asking the “right” questions of a potential (or current) customer to determine if they have wants or needs you can satisfy is the most important sales skill of all.

Many salespeople wrongly believe that their priority is to show excitement about what they are selling and assume that their “contagious enthusiasm” will lead to a sale. However, if a salesperson is not asking the right questions early in the sales process, they will decrease their likelihood of making a sale. The ability to conduct a consultative interview that uncovers what is most important to a customer is the “master skill” of customer needs-focused sales professionals. By developing this skill, sales professionals can communicate the features and benefits of the products and services that will satisfy a customer’s needs, rather than focusing on what they think will satisfy a customer.

Principle Five: Selling techniques give way to values-driven principles.

Underlying Belief: People don’t want to be sold,

but they do want to buy!

Salespeople that adopt a sales philosophy and process based on values-driven principles, attract more customers. Rather than investing their time in techniques that attempt to persuade someone to buy something, they work at establishing loyal customer relationships based on creating value.

Principle Six: Truth, respect and honesty provide the basis for long-term selling success.

Underlying Belief: People don’t care what you know until they know that you care!

The foundation of customer-centric relationships goes beyond products and services—it’s a mutual exchange of value. In fact, it is a by-product of how salespeople deliver on their promises, creating more value than expected by consistently engaging in customer-focused behaviors.

Principle Seven: Values and Ethics contribute more to sales success than techniques or strategies.

Underlying Belief: Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do!

Customers are naturally averse to any selling techniques or behaviors that they perceive as manipulative. As a result, they are reluctant to buy from salespeople who engage in sales tactics that make them uncomfortable. If a customer perceives that a salesperson is communicating through self-interest, they will resist moving forward with a sale.

Principle Eight: Selling pressure is never exerted by the salesperson, it is exerted only by customers when they perceive they want or need the products or services recommended.

Underlying Belief: Persuasion Paradox—The more you try to convince someone of something, the more they pull away from you. However, the more you try to understand someone’s wants or needs the more attracted they are to buy from you.

A customer-centric sales professional keeps their focus on the customer by building trust and rapport throughout the sales process. Customers will naturally become excited about doing business with a sales person who effectively communicates how their wants and needs will be satisfied by a specific solution.

Principle Nine: Negotiating is never manipulation. It’s always a strategy to work out problems… when the customer wants to work them out.

Underlying Belief: Negotiation is not an adversarial process; it’s one of finding common ground and working out a “win-win” solution.

Most sales training programs on the topic of negotiation teach “techniques” which often feel unnatural to salespeople and are perceived as manipulative by the customer. This dynamic creates tension that can undermine trust in the relationship.

VOLUME I • ARTICLE XII © 2011 Integrity Solutions Holdings LLC. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in part or entirety without written permission from Integrity Solutions.

Establishing Competitive AdvantageWhItEpapEr

When a sales process is guided by ethics and integrity, the negotiation phase is viewed as a positive indicator and an opportunity to work out any problems or concerns. Instead of creating tension that is transmitted to the customer, a salesperson can approach negotiation with positive expectancy of a “win-win” outcome. It is a collaborative, problem-solving process where both parties feel valued and respected and an open dialogue is encouraged to seek resolution.

Principle Ten: Closing is a victory for both the salesperson and the customer.

Underlying Belief: When a customer agrees the product or service you offer can satisfy their wants or needs, simply asking for their business is a natural outcome.

Similar to negotiation, the “close” phase of the sales process is treated in sales training with techniques designed to get the customer to say “yes”. As such, these dynamics create tension and undermine trust in the relationship. When salespeople internalize all the principles discussed here, and they have developed customer needs-focused behaviors, they will know when to ask for the business and they will ask for it with confidence.

The Bottom Line

Salespeople and organizations that adopt customer-centric attitudes, beliefs and values – based on the principles of ethics and integrity—will establish trusted, loyal, long-term customer relationships. Their customers will pay a premium for solutions if they experience value beyond the products or services they purchase. And, as loyal customers they will endorse and refer salespeople and your company to their friends and colleagues.

Salespeople who are hoping to differentiate themselves in a tough market shouldn’t overlook the power of integrity in their sales process. Maximizing talent, developing a customer-centric culture, and achieving aggressive goals are made possible through ethical, values-driven behaviors.

Why? Because “who you are” is often far more important than “what you know.” This insight has far reaching implications for both salespeople and sales executives seeking answers to achieve competitive advantage and higher levels of sales success.

______________________________________________

For more detailed information on implementing a service-selling process that reinforces your values, see our other white-papers at:

www.IntegritySolutions.com