Sales Therapy: Effective Selling for the Small Business Owner

207 Pages·2007·0.856 MB·English

by  Grant Leboff

Sales Therapy®

Sales Therapy®

Sales Therapy®
Effective Selling for the Small
Business Owner
GRANT LEBOFF
Copyright © Grant Leboff 2007
First published 2007 by:
Capstone Publishing Ltd. (a Wiley Company)
The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, PO19 8SQ, UK.
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Sales Therapy is a registered trade mark of Leboff Enterprises
Problem Map and Problem Maps are trade marks of Leboff Enterprises
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leboff, Grant.
Sales therapy : effective selling for the small business owner / Grant Leboff.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-84112-778-1
1. Sales management. 2. Small business--Management. 3. Selling. 4. Customer relations. 5.
Relationship marketing. I. Title. II. Title: Effective selling for the small business owner.
HF5438.4.L43 2007
658.85--dc22
2007030930
Anniversary Logo Design: Richard J. Pacifi co
Set in ITC New Baskerville by Sparks, Oxford – www.sparks.co.uk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
This book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry
in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production. Substantial
discounts on bulk quantities of Capstone Books are available to corporations, professional
associations and other organizations. For details telephone John Wiley & Sons on (+44)
1243–770441, fax [phone] or email [email protected]
Contents
1 Moving Away from the Transactional Model 1
2 Selling Snow to the Eskimos 11
3 Putting the Relationship First 19
4 Deconstructing the Myth of Benefi t Selling
Part I: The buyer’s motivation 35
Part II: Benefi ts don’t work 39
5 Stop Using Benefi ts – Start Using Problem Maps™ 49
6 Why the USP Stops you Selling 63
7 Your Emotional Selling Point and Giving Value 69
8 Building Pipeline
Part I: Managing the process 81
Part II: Engaging your prospect 89

9 Routes to Market 95
10 Empowering your Buyer 105
11 Understanding your Purchasers 117
12 Asking Questions – the Diagnosis
Part I: The doctor/patient relationship 129
Part II: The fallacy of open and closed questions 135
Part III: Clarity using Problem Maps™ 138
Part IV: Problems and solutions are not enough 145
13 When It’s Time to Talk 155
14 Objections and Concerns 165
vi / SALES THERAPY®
15 Traditionally It’s Called Closing 175
16 Following Up – Continuing the Relationship 185
Epilogue 191
Index 195
1
Moving Away from
the Transactional
Model
The old transactional sales model does not work any more
Compare the old transactional sales model with a car which has a worn
out engine and is continually breaking down. Every few miles, you spend
even more money on a quick fi x so you can drive it a little longer. Really,
you know that throwing money at it is a waste of time. However, without
the wherewithal to replace it, you are unsure of the alternative.
The equivalent of this is happening in sales. People spend time re-
hashing and re-inventing the old transactional sales model in order
to try and squeeze out a few extra sales. All the while, people have

instinctively understood that it really doesn’t work.
Why, when people sell, do they:
• Still make ‘sales presentations’ when they are normally a waste of
time?
• Still persist with the myth of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ questions, when
the model is fl awed?
• Still insist on ‘selling the benefi ts’ when they are ineffective?
• Still obsess with ‘handling objections’, when it is the traditional
sales model that creates them?
• Still focus on ‘closing’ when that is not the way to get results?
2 / SALES THERAPY®
Many business owners who need to sell, but who are not professional
sales people, already feel uncomfortable with the old transactional
sales model. They know they have to put the relationship with the
client fi rst; but do not have a model with which to achieve it.
The idea of the importance of the relationship is not new. The prob-
lem is that sales practitioners continue to use the transactional model
and then pretend to make the relationship their utmost concern. This
simply does not work.
However ‘interested’ these people try to look when they are with their
customers, they still endeavour to press home their presentation,
handle objections and sell the benefi ts. What they are really doing is
trying to force a square peg into a round hole. This is transactional sell-
ing presented to look like the relationship is important.
The old model simply does not work.
(cid:129) Sales Therapy® is a fresh approach to selling.
• The focus is on the customer; not on the sales person.
• The relationship comes fi rst; not the transaction.
• The focus is on the sales process; not on the result.
Sales Therapy® will show you how to sell more naturally and commit

your closing techniques to the recycle bin.
With this new approach to selling, a salesperson does not have to pre-
tend they have all the answers. Like a therapist, they are there to ask
the questions.
Sales Therapy® is therapy for both parties. The old adversarial boxing
match, which selling so often becomes, is cast aside. In this new sell-
ing, both buyer and seller gain from the relationship and the discus-
sion, whatever the outcome.