How Able is your Value?

I have been in sales my whole life. I started out at 10 years old knocking on doors to sell subscriptions to the local community newspaper and haven't stopped since. I've received hundreds of rejections and experienced some of the greatest highs in my life throughout my sales career by successfully winning and earning business from my customers. There is a trend that is unlike anything I have ever seen in my 35+ years of sales. It's changed the sales landscape with the force of a mighty storm. And I contend sales will ever be the same again.

Today's customers live at a more frenetic pace than at any time in history. I know because I am one. Traditional ways of marketing and advertising have lost their effectiveness. If you have fallen in to the rut of trying to sell on price (and who of us haven't) or trying to impress people with your incredible list of product features I wish you the best of luck in your new career once you figure out that you can no longer survive in the sales world.

The key to succeeding in sales over the next many years is creating VALUE for the people who buy from you. Otherwise, they do not have the time to waste listening to your same old canned (and boring) sales pitches. If you are not perceived as a ValueABLE resource to your customers I suggest you figure out how or like I said good luck doing something else.

Maybe you disagree. But I am finishing up a week in New York where I have talked to many, many customers and observed what I believe is 100% confirmation that I'm right. If you agree with me then I suggest the following 5 applications that you can start working on TODAY.

1. Spend time with your customers
2. Ask great questions
3. Study their business and buying decisions from every possible angle
4. Find out what are the key drivers to their success
5. Tailor yourself and your products and services towards creating VALUE based on what you
learn

Sounds easy enough? Then why don't more people do it? Because it takes extra effort (remember the 212 degrees analogy), because it is a different way to approach sales and because it's an entirely new way of selling that most of us have not been trained to excel in. I am learning every day from places I never imagined could contribute to a sales career.

Next week I will endeavor to define what I mean by value. What it is and what it isn't. Meanwhile I suggest you get to work and make sure you are ABLE to create VALUE for all of your customers in a way that will make in an invaluable business partner and one of those who will begin seeing amazing results no matter what conditions you're competing in.