Is a great sales person born or made?  Sales guru Brian Sullivan will tell you that he can make a bottom-rung sales flunky into a top performer in 20 days.  An award-winning sales person and top sales and leadership trainer, Sullivan doesn’t just give pep talks, he lays out a practical formula for improving a person’s power to persuade.  And, according to Sullivan, part of that practical formula is knowing when to stop talking.

In his book, 20 Days to the Top - How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your Company’s Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less, Sullivan lays out a step-by-step plan to sales success that is based on acquiring a truly deep understanding of your prospective customer. It outlines simple principles and habits that, when applied with effort and dedication, will reap real rewards for people both professionally and personally. It is a formula that translates into any industry, or combination of products and services, and focuses on asking questions that not only provide substantial insight into a prospect’s needs, but also lay a foundation of respect and trust, which Sullivan demonstrates as fundamental to successful selling.

In his book, Sullivan describes an epiphany that came in the middle of a successful and rewarding 15-year sales career with Welch Allyn, a leading manufacturer of medical diagnostic and therapeutic devices.  Sullivan describes a call that he believed was on track for a big sale.  He had two gastroenterologists spellbound, or so he thought, until he went for the close.  That’s when he found that they had absolutely no authority to make a buying decision.  Sullivan scrambled to find the decision maker and asked to see him – a man he describes as short, bald and scaly, with forearms the size of Popeye the Sailor Man.

Sullivan launched into his speech of features and benefits for a second time, talking non-stop, until he noticed that “Popeye the Colon Man” had not moved or changed facial expressions for more than 15 minutes.  He was going for the kill with a very exciting feature about his new colonoscope, “Every GI practice like yours needs a video printer to store images, should there ever be concerns about litigation or malpractice.” And, as he suspected, he got a big response out of his prospect – just not the one he expected. “Popeye the Colon Man” stopped Sullivan in his tracks with an interesting expletive and then went on to chastise him for not asking a single question to determine what his needs were during his entire features and benefits speech.  The good news is he walked away with a sale.  The epiphany came, however, when Sullivan realized that after five years of being his company’s top sales person, he was not performing to the best of his sales ability.  He realized that he had plateaued and, and, he says, “was nowhere near the top of the mountain.”

Says Sullivan, “My numbers were convincing me that I was just fine, and what the gurus at sales seminars were telling me didn’t matter.  It took this customer to convince me that I didn’t know what I was doing – not the guru who was telling me how to sell.”

Sullivan realized that he and many of his counterparts had survived for years by just being good enough.  He discussed this with his boss, who charged him with creating a new sales training program.  “This time,” says Sullivan “we talked about attitude and enthusiasm, but we also talked about what to say in front of a customer.  We went from blowing out the numbers to really blowing out the numbers.  That was the genesis of this program.”  In fact, after instituting the new training program at Welch Allyn, they went from 20 percent of the reps selling 80 percent of the products to 65 percent of the reps selling 80 percent of the product.

At the core of Sullivan’s selling technique is something he calls the three “Ps” in the “PRECISE Selling Formula of Top Performers.”  These include posture, precise actions, and something he describes as “PIC” knowledge.  He defines PIC knowledge as knowing your product, knowing your industry and knowing the competition.  “The downside to all of this product knowledge,” says Sullivan, “is knowing when to use it.”

Sullivan’s strategy is based on clear, direct communications.  It may sound extraordinarily simple, but he explains how easy it is to miss the mark, “A common mistake in sales is that we believe that it’s our job to learn as much about our product or service as we can, and then convey that information to the market place. When, in fact, our job is to learn as much as humanly possible, and then find out what the customer we are talking to needs to know.”

Sullivan says the challenge is to convince both the rookie and the veteran that the number one objective is to learn — and then teach.  “It’s difficult for rookies,” says Sullivan, “because they are not confident.  They feel like they have to fill every bit of silence with their knowledge. Them there’s the veteran, who is so smart, who has been doing this so long, that he knows what the customer needs.  He falls back into same pattern as the rookie, but shows too much confidence.  He tries to teach customers what they need, instead of listening and learning what they need.”
Sullivan describes most sales techniques taught in seminars as being like a football player who is coached on the fundamentals but is never told when and in what situation he is supposed to use them.  “It would not be a good thing,” says Sullivan, “if a player were tackling when he should be blocking or blocking when he should be tackling.”
At the heart of Sullivan’s approach to sales is something he calls CLEAR questioning.  It’s described as the $10,000 technique that will get you to the Super Bowl. The anagram CLEAR is used to make it easy to remember the formula and follow it with each prospect.

C = Currently
What product/company/solution are you currently using?
Sullivan explains that the significance of this question is to clearly understand whether the prospect is happy or unhappy with the current product or service supplier, because the sales person’s goal is to make the prospect’s life better than it currently is.

L = Looked
Have you looked at newer technology. . . similar system . . .  other solutions?
The importance of this question, according to Sullivan, is to determine two things; whether the prospect is serious about making a change, and exactly who or what you have to be better than in order to make a sale – not just the current supplier, but other competitors who are also under consideration. You have to know who or what the prospect is looking at to tailor a presentation that meets the customer’s needs based on what ALL the possible competitors are offering.  It’s the difference between being better than the current supplier and being the best choice over all.

E = Effective / Enjoyable
What makes your current supplier so effective?
By asking what a prospect finds effective or enjoyable about a current supplier, you can understand what is important to him.  It also helps you craft an effective solution that works for the prospect, without asking the prospect to sacrifice anything that they really enjoy about the current supplier.  However, Sullivan warns that as you gather information and get a clearer understanding of your customer, you should not look at this as an opportunity to jump in and start selling.  You should be focused on understanding all of the prospect’s needs and preferences.

A = Alter
Is there anything that you would alter about the way your current supplier services you?
The objective of this question is to find an Achilles heel with the current supplier.  It is an important question, because all prospects will not identify the same weak spot with the same supplier.  If you are going to present a solution to a current problem, you not only need to know what the problem is, but also, why this particular issue matters to this prospect.

R = Responsible
Who, as well as yourself, is responsible for deciding about ____________? (insert what you do or sell)
While this may seem like a simple question that any sales person would know to ask, Sullivan explains that sales reps quite often assume they know who the decision maker is, only to find that there’s been a change.  It is critical to confirm that you are addressing the correct audience. Additionally, by posing the question in this particular manner, it puts responsibility on the prospect to either make a decision or to be honest about who does.  “Who, as well as yourself . . .” makes the prospect feel important and helps to open the lines of communication.

According to Sullivan, this questioning technique helps a confused customer, “if you are highly effective at asking the right questions, these techniques help the customer better clarify what they are thinking and feeling.”  Sullivan also notes that most people put themselves in a category. When you can identify that category for them, it helps them to make a choice.  Sullivan demonstrates how the technique moves the sales process forward, “Based on what you told me, Joe, I think there are three options for you.  Most people who have your needs or are similar to you really like this option.  There are others that really like this second option, and then there are organizations, maybe a little smaller than yours, and a little cost-conscious, that like this third option.  Which do you think would work best for you?”

Can CLEAR questioning be effective in the printing industry — an industry, which, in many ways, is like no other?  Each job brings a new set of variables to the table for a product that is already an ethereal mix of art, service and manufacturing.  Does this PRECISE selling technique have real value for the print sales rep?  Sullivan’s extensive sales experience practicing these techniques, as well as years of teaching them to sales professionals in many industries tells him “yes.”  Says Sullivan, “There is no industry where getting in front of this process and working with this approach doesn’t work.  It worked with ice cream manufacturers and with people selling $120,000 laser and esthetic machines.”   Sullivan believes that this method of gathering information is especially valuable when making a sale based on a broad spectrum of variables.  It can make the critical difference between getting the sale and getting the sale again and again and again.  Says Sullivan, “The byproduct of good communications is that you sell a lot of stuff.”

While “solution selling” has become a popular catch phrase in print sales, Sullivan, who is not a fan of buzz words, bristles at the term.  Says Sullivan,  “In business, ‘solution’ has become a buzz word and a cliché. When I hear people say ‘I believe in solution selling,’ I ask the question “what do you think selling solutions is?’  I’ve yet to have people come up with a real answer. ‘I want my people to be consultants.’  I hear that all over the place – consultative selling – what the hell is that? How are you going to do that?  You’re going to have to have a great attitude and enthusiasm; and you’re going to have to ask probing questions.”  Sullivan adds,  “You have to be able to identify the problems for that customer. You have to find out what they really like and how things are working now.  The solutions are there.  They come out of your ability to deliver the benefits of your product or service.”

Says Sullivan, “It’s all based on great questions and great listening skills. It’s about teaching people how to be great communicators.  It’s about helping people, in general, understand what makes people like other people.”  Sullivan adds, “It’s about creating a connection. If you want people to really like you, ask them a question, and then really listen.  If you don’t want them to like you, go up to them, give a little presentation, then don’t ask any questions about them.  If you don’t want to influence people, be a jackass and a poor communicator.”

Sullivan is a member of the National Speakers Association and an internationally known expert on sales and leadership. He delivers high-energy, no-nonsense, interactive seminars on his PRECISE Selling Formula to companies looking to become famous in their industry. He has been quoted in magazines such as Selling Power and Business Week. Sullivan also hosts a talk radio show on Hot Talk 1510, based in Kansas City, MO.  The show, called “Entrepreneurial Moments,” is dedicated to helping business people of all types.

Sullivan may be reached directly at bsullivan@preciseselling.com, or by visiting the Precise Selling Web site at www.preciseselling.com.