Tactics For Success
     Franklin Covey built a whole industry out of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and others have followed in his steps. Of the books that came along in a steady stream, perhaps Seven Sins for a Life Worth Living is the most intriguing of them all and one that many may be tempted to not only buy but to actually read it.

To carry it a step further, what about the tactics that make a salesperson successful? What makes them different and why do they stand out from the pack? 

     This week, Promotional Consultant Today will look at the seven strategies of highly effective salespeople. Today we'll tackle looking at customers for solutions and improving presentations.

Knowing The Customer
     Effective salespeople look to the customer for the solution. This may seCuem like a ridiculous statement; yet, effective salespeople operate by it intuitively. The major product they bring to the table is what they know about customers, not what they are selling.
     While product knowledge is important, it's only the baseline. It's customer knowledge that makes them different. Matt Oechsli, who has expertise in the financial services field, drives the point home. "For years," he says, "I have been saying to anyone who will listen, if you are serious about working with the affluent, you must become a student of the affluent."
     It's the same in every industry. Too many of those in sales like to think of themselves as solution experts. What they fail to recognize is that the solution rests with the customer, not with the salesperson. The customer knows the issues and understands the problems. What the customer needs is a way to make the solution a reality.
     TriFactor, Inc., the Lakeland, FL-based material handling systems integrator, operates on this premise. In the company's customer agreement, there is a revealing sentence: "The customer and TriFactor, Inc. will jointly design the particular material handling system." The operative word is jointly. The mission of TriFactor sales engineers is to bring their expertise to bear on making certain the solution meets the customer's requirements.

Improving Presentations
     Effective salespeople are committed to presentation improvement. Here's the skinny: most salespeople think they're much better presenters than they are. There's a reason for this: facing up to the fact that we're poor presenters is threatening, even shattering.
     However, effective salespeople can be excellent presenters if they work at it. Richard Valeriani, the long-time NBC correspondent, tells of being called to work with General Electric CEO Jack Welch on his retirement speech. It was clear to Valeriani that Welch was not about to let down the bar just because he was giving his final presentation.
     Carmine Gallo, a business communications coach and former TV journalist, analyzed Steve Jobs' introduction of Apple's iPhone. One of the comments had to do with practice. Writing in Business Week, he says, "Jobs makes presentations look effortless because he takes nothing for granted. Jobs is known to rehearse demonstrations for hours prior to launch events." And then he adds, "I can name many high-profile chief executives who decide to wing it. It shows."
     Jobs demands perfection in the products Apple sells and nothing less than that in the way he presents them. Highly effective salespeople hone their presentation skills.

     Source: John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. He is the author of The New Magnet Marketing and Break the Rules Selling. He writes for a variety of business publications, and speaks on business, marketing and sales topics.