Whether you like it or not, as the CEO you are your company’s head of sales, and it’s something you’re going to have to get used to, even enjoy. Even when you employ a Head of Sales, your customers will still want to meet you, and you’ll be in ‘sales’ mode.
When I was a junior sales engineer my manager sent me on a week-long residential sales training course. I was to learn the art of persuasion – the techniques I could employ to overcome objections and get that sale. Selling, I was told, was the practice of beating the customer into submission. Whilst the food was excellent at the training centre, the course was rubbish. I’ve never regarded selling as a battle of wills – the best sales I ever made were because I clearly understood how my customer was going to benefit from what I was selling.
And I learned it in a wine shop.
When I was 18 I worked a summer job in the Army & Navy store in Guildford, in the wine department. I worked the till and my boss Fred, a lively octogenarian, worked in the warehouse and occasionally came into the shop (pushing a wine cart and wearing a shabby brown coat) to give customers his recommendations. He’d ask them whether the wine was for a special occasion, what food they were eating, were there guests, did they want to impress and so on? And then he’d recommend 3 different bottles – cheap, mid-priced and expensive. And, when asked for his recommendation, often he’d say, “well you could go for the expensive one, but I think it’s not worth the additional price”. Most often they would go for the mid-priced bottle. And occasionally they’d come back for more.
Fred knew his wine and wanted the customer to feel they were fairly treated in our shop. He (metaphorically) sat on their side of the table and made an effort to understand the occasion when his wine would be drunk. He’d ask about the menu, the guests and the ambience. It may sound overkill, but wine is more than a glass of alcohol; it sends a message about who you are and about your own values. Once you understand that about your customer the sale is made, you’ve just got to agree which bottle to go for.
As an entrepreneur and consultant I‘ve had many first customer meetings, and absolutely every time at that first meeting I have sat across a table, face-to-face with my customer. That position encourages an adversarial stance – we are here to do battle. But by the second meeting I physically sit on their side of the table. The subliminal message is different – we are both facing the same way, seeing the challenge from the same vantage point, poised to work together to solve their problem.
As you prepare for a sales meeting, ask yourself this question, “how will the solution I’m offering solve the problem my customer has got?” Of course, it means you've first got to fully understand their problem, and that might not be immediately obvious. Then you sit with them, facing in the same direction, and together you figure out how their problem might best be solved.
Back in the wine shop I asked Fred if I could taste some of the wine we sold, to understand the differences in taste and quality. Over time I had a range of prices and flavours to suit any pallet and any circumstance – from a glug in front of the telly to a wedding reception. After that I 'sat alongside' the customer and together we solved their problem.
If you can figure out how to do that with your customer, you will make the sale.
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