Albert Einstein’s famous “Theory of Relativity” (e=mc2) is as familiar to many millions of people as a popular modern commercial limerick for a soft drink or a jingle for a candy bar. Although very few among these millions really understand the scientific premise of the “Theory of Relativity”: people innately understand its importance and relate it to its brilliant creator, the wild-haired genius Albert Einstein. The famous equation is to energy, as H2O is to water. It has burned into the collective mind of contemporary culture, even the most scientifically challenged people.
There is a similar equation that is just as relevant, contemporary, and important as it relates to vanishing art and salesmanship: “ABC = Always Close.” The age of instant communication, computers, teleconferencing and electronic shipping has caused the most important business skill ever used to generate trade to erode dramatically. The art of selling is dying. The ability to find, cultivate, qualify, and close a sales transaction is being sacrificed on the altar of impersonal contact and fill-in-the-blank approaches.
Modernists might argue, “So what if sales is a dying art, look at the steady growth of the economy, new businesses, outsourcing and emerging markets. Modern technology has facilitated this growth in a spectacular way.” I agree. Technology is wonderful. The ability to call anywhere in the world with a cell phone, receive email 24 hours a day, and receive FedEx documents overnight is a huge leap in efficiency and productivity.
However, if sales skills, particularly the art of closing the sale, were continuously honed, honed, and honed in every organization, no matter the size, how much more business would be generated? The old axiom, “nothing happens in any business until someone sells something” is as true today as it ever has been. The marriage of modern technology with the application of the time-tested art of closing sales is a recipe for even more amazing economic growth and enrichment for every area of our society.
There are many great, successful, and very wealthy real estate and car salesmen out there. However, a visit to most car dealerships, or a tour of the house with the average real estate agent, is too often an exercise in frustration and a stunning window into the current poor state of sales. The ability to ask questions, listen to answers, identify customer needs, and provide answers to their needs is rarely exhibited. Salespeople want to teach and tell before learning what the customer wants to be taught and told.
Salespeople aren’t the only ones who need to hone their selling skills. No matter what direction your career takes, you’ll be selling. The design engineer for an automobile company is selling his creative vision, designs, and art to his supervisors and managers who will decide if his art makes it to showroom floors as an automotive product. He is competing for a finite amount of production capacity, marketing, and funding money with other designers. Lee Iacocca, Harley Earl, John deLorean, and Henry Ford weren’t just “car guys”—they were salesmen!
Steve Jobs has launched Apple Computer twice. Once as a start-up, and in a phenomenal second act, he has resurrected the company he founded after being left for dead a decade ago. How has he done it? Excelent product? Sure. Instinct? Absolutely. But most importantly, as the face of Apple, he’s always selling his brand.
In every local media marketplace in the United States there is an entrepreneur who becomes the face of his company, product or brand and is bombarding the public with sales messages. Often these companies take on a regional and sometimes national scope. The important point to remember is that they all started small and local. The owner, founder, or spokesperson has been able to cut through the market clutter and succeed because they were able to identify customer needs, address those needs, and sell to the consumer that their product had unique benefits for them. Frank Perdue, the “King of Chicken” started locally and became the face of his nationally successful company. Californians will remember the savvy car dealer Cal Worthington. Mr. Worthington took advantage of his animal-focused commercials, using dogs, lions and elephants in prominent places as guests on The Tonight Show.
“Always Be Closing” is a mantra proudly worn by all the successful entrepreneurs and salespeople I’ve ever met. From the initial contact with even the most disinterested customer possible, to the actual closing of the sale, successful people look for ways to help fill an identified need. This is not a hard sell. It’s all about providing a real benefit that the customer realizes will offer excellent value for money.
It feels great to close a sale. It is especially rewarding when you have provided a good or service that is needed, valued, and appreciated. People don’t like to be sold. They like to buy when they see how a product will benefit them. The ABC is crucial to know the REAL needs, not perceived or declared, of the client. Every question asked, every answer heard, qualifying question offered and details provided about a product or service are key to laying the foundation for a successful transaction.
A key part of any ABC application is “discovery”. “Discovery” is so elemental, so crucial to meeting customer needs that any lack of attention to the discovery process is almost always the reason for failure. “Discovering” must be practiced, not easily taught, and certainly not taught in a formulaic process. Establishing a relationship, talking, relaxing, learning about the prospect is the door to enter before discussing the product being offered. Listening during a good “discovery” will provide endless bits of information that can be used to provide the right product to fit the customer’s needs.
Whether it’s selling insurance, cars or cosmetics, working as a bank clerk, restaurant waiter, travel agent or park attendant, there are constant opportunities to enhance your career by practicing ABC’s. The practitioner of this sales commandment will be successful. The ABC practitioner will also discover that when it comes time for final closing, the answer is so obvious to the client that not much decision is required.
Whether we are quoting Occam’s Razor, Moore’s Law, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, The Commandments of Lords, ABC = “Always Be Closing” or any time honored bromide, it is wise to note the simplicity of buried logic. Adherence to the intent of these words is invaluable in improving performance, whether in science, business, sales, or life. ABC will be used daily by most people; It’s a shame more people don’t recognize that fact and strive to perfect their app.