Finding the Buyer, Making the Sale

By Dr. Larry Craft

My trip to a retail electronics store was the best example of a world of difference. 'Jason' greeted me from behind the counter with a disinterested, "If you need anything, just holler." I fumbled around the telephone display rack wondering how long it would take him to leave his sanctuary and take that risk called 'rejection.' After a few minutes, he slowly walked in my direction and stood a few feet away watching my anxiety grow. Eventually he said, "We've got a two-liner on sale this week," and proceeded to give me all the specs without asking a single question. Another customer entered the store, and he turned away from me and asked her if he could be of any help. A few seconds later, I left the store without a phone.

If someone asked Jason what he did for a living, I'm sure he'd tell them, "I'm a salesman." I'd give him a different title: Counter Clerk. Jason only initiated one of the five sales processes. Had he taken at least a few of the following five steps, he would have qualified as a salesman:

Finding the Buyer
Determining the Need
Presenting the Product/Service
Answering Objections
Closing the Sale

There is definitely a world of difference between the professional salesperson and the retail counter clerk. Jason seldom has to find buyers. The employer provides them by advertising or location. He failed to ask any questions or build any 'buyer tension.' I give him credit for presenting the product; even though it was the wrong one (I wanted a one-line phone). He never answered an objection or tried to close the sale.

The sales profession defines itself by these sales processes. In fact, salespeople are paid approximately $20,000 for each activity. A retail salesperson will typically earn a salary that is somewhere near that figure while jobs that require all five steps, such as that of a life insurance agent, can average over $100,000 in sales commissions per year. Of course, the agent will have to perfect each step of the process to see that type of money, but a surprisingly high percentage of agents earn well over that figure.

Life insurance agents 'prospect' for leads and seldom rely on the office or advertising. Agents who sit by the phone waiting for calls quickly find themselves without a job. They use sophisticated 'fact finders' to determine the specific need and they know how to build 'buyer tension' to facilitate the 'close.' They present the life insurance product in a way that minimizes facts and features and focuses, instead, on the buyer's needs and the way the product satisfies those needs. They have memorized the five or ten major objections, anticipate them, and try to eliminate them before they become an issue. If one of the objections is, "I can't afford it," they anticipate it and find out what the buyer can afford before proceeding to the 'close.' When it comes to closing the sale, they use one of the standard closing techniques, such as the 'sense of urgency' close that emphasizes the buyer's situation and need to have immediate coverage. There is truly a world of difference between the retail salesperson or counter clerk and the commissioned salesperson that must perform all five of these most challenging job duties.

The two job duties that are most responsible for separating the retail counter clerks from the commissioned sales professionals are Finding the Buyer and Making the Sale. My research over the past twenty years involving close to a million sales personnel has repeatedly found a direct relationship between the salespersons' drive and motivation and their success in commissioned sales. And drive and motivation come with the applicant, not with the job. In other words, if they don't have the personality when they're hired, you more than likely won't be able to train them to be successful in these two areas.

If you're hiring counter clerks, hire 'down' on the drive and motivation variables of personality. If you're hiring commissioned sales personnel who must find the buyer and make the sale, you must somehow measure their drive and motivation before they are hired or you'll be spending all your time trying to motivate these 'high maintenance' salespeople. This is especially important during an economic downturn when traditional methods yield poor results. Though easy-going, laid back, Order Takers can sell the 'low hanging fruit,' it takes the intense, goal-oriented, Order Makers to sell the 'high hanging fruit' that is hard to find and difficult to pick. During economic recessions when sales are few and far between, your salespeople must have high drive and motivation to succeed.

But how do you measure your sales candidate's drive and motivation? I sincerely recommend CraftSystems' personality tests that have been specifically validated on sales populations and assess the candidate's drive and motivation to find the buyer and make the sale. Few, if any, other questionnaires assess your salesperson's horsepower. Our tests have been used over 1,000,000 times by sales managers in five countries and have successfully predicted sales commissions in dozens of major corporations such as MetLife, Nokia, Xerox, AXA Financial, and Express Personnel. Use either our CPQ (Internet Version) personality questionnaire to separate your Order Takers from Order Makers; your counter clerks from commissioned salespeople; your Racehorses from your Plow Horses.

To assess your salesperson's horsepower or drive/motivation using the CPQ, pay special attention to three of its traits/scales: Goal Orientation (Go), Social Drive (Sd), and Social Confidence (Sc).

High scores on the Goal Orientation scale predict your salesperson's 'sense of urgency' or 'fire in the belly' that will obsess on making the sale (as opposed to focusing on educating the buyer or customer service.)

High scores on the Social Drive scale predict your salesperson's drive to 'meet and greet' prospects, to entertain, to be the center of attention, i.e. find the buyer (as opposed to being socially private/selective).

High scores on Social Confidence predict your salesperson's eye contact, firm handshake, and control of the interview (especially the 'close') that make the sale.

By knowing your applicants' internal motivation or horsepower before they are hired, you'll be able to predict not only sales commissions but the amount of time you'll have to spend motivating and supervising them. If your experience is like the great majority of our clients, you'll quickly discover your slow starters and hire more self-starters who quickly find the buyer and make the sale. For more information on the CPQ, call (800) 228-5866.

Assess the Assessment! If you are a manager with 10 or more employees, business owner, or a consultant, we invite you to complete our complimentary 10-15 minute CPQ personality profile and receive its personalized reports as well as a copy of Dr. Craft's "Developing HorsePower" audio cd. All information will be kept confidential and will not be distributed without your written permission.