News Flash: Sales Isn’t About Selling More, It’s About Caring More

by Dale Turner, The Cooperative Trust

Have you ever been asked by a potential peer or industry peer “what separates you from the rest of the financial institutions in your market?”  A common response: “We have the best service around!” Let me be the first to tell you, if service is your differentiator and you do not have a true sales culture, you’re lying to yourself.  Mark Hunter, of TheSalesHunter.com says it best in his article “Why Customer Service Destroys Salespeople.” Mark writes:

Selling is about digging in and working with customers to help them see needs they didn’t realize they had. It’s about helping customers see how the solution for which they are looking can be found in what you are offering. Selling is not about sitting back and taking orders based on what the customer wants.

As Hunter writes, true sales is determining what our members and clients need and delivering a suite of products and services that meet those needs.  Sales is about offering members the products of which they may not be aware.  It’s about being the financial expert in your market and letting the member know the solutions you have for their wants and needs.  Sales is about caring.  Now, how do we start caring?

3 Simple Steps to Creating the Caring Sales Culture:

#1 – Buy In or Sell Out

Perhaps the most challenging to accomplish is establishing buy in within your organization. There must be a current commitment from management and the belief that delivering only when members ask is not the way to survive, but the first step to the grave.  The best approach is to have management explore need based or question based sales programs geared towards discovering clients needs.  Find a program that matches best with your current cultures.  And how important is creating a culture of ‘buy-in?’ Kevin Eikenberry, the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, notes:

A strong culture engages people. People want to be engaged in their work. According to a Gallup survey at least 22 million American workers are extremely negative or “actively disengaged” – this loss of productivity is estimated to be worth between $250-$300 Billion annually. Your culture can engage people.

The goal here is to determine a program that fits your organization’s needs based on the level your shop is comfortable with it.  If your organization has the resources for a full sales training program, go all out.  Have every team member from the front line staff to your managers commit to caring sales and with management backing, you are on the caring sales train.

#2 – Recognize and Incentivize

First off – for those in smaller shops who are thinking “we can’t afford this part of the caring transformation,” this does not always have to be dollars and cents, but think dollars and sense.  I put to my colleagues an informal poll, asking people how they know they are doing a good job at work.  Most responded that recognition was one of the most important aspects of knowing they are excelling at work.  What I found was what I already knew: recognition is key! Post daily success stories of member’s comments and who on your team owns the success.  Have team members with consistent caring experiences talk in all staff meetings and during team huddles of how they do it.  Have the leaders of the caring sales culture be ‘Caring Captains’ driving the troops daily down the road to sales success.  For those shops that are open to incentivizing dollars and cents, the transition will come quicker and the right team members will step up faster to make an impact in their personal wallets.

#3 – Train, Coach, Hold Accountable – RINSE AND REPEAT

The iconic Zig Ziglar states in his book, ‘Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World’:

“Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis.” 

Creating a caring sales culture is no easy task and must be a daily focus. It starts by adequate training for all team members.  Caring sales is truly a paradigm shift and must be approached as a new way of life.  After adequate training and strategizing, the captains go into coaching mode.  Look at this as “the Practice Field”.  When members call, the captains and leaders are listening to calls, assisting with responses, recommending products for the needs of the members, and approaching each call or contact as an opportunity to ensure we are meeting all of our member’s needs. After adequate training and coaching has been performed, it’s GAME TIME. This is where we are measuring results and determining how many points we can put on the board.  This does not mean coaching stops, but now team members are held accountable.  If needs are not being determined, more training and coaching is needed.  If the team member has been trained and coached appropriate, it’s either up or we move the team member to another opportunity.  We must admit, it’s not cut out for every team member and if that’s the case, we assist that team member to a position in the organization that fits best for both parties, or we give them honest feedback and let them know there is no longer a match between the team member and organization.  We have to be honest and avoid false lead ins that they might catch on.  To be clear, this is only if the adequate training and coaching has been performed.  Lastly, for those team members that are making progress and truly showing results, it’s rinse and repeat.  The goal here is breaking through glass ceilings.  Additional training and coaching will assist to ensure there are no missed opportunities throughout the sales cycle.  The more training and coaching, the better the results.

We are no longer in a world where door-to-door vacuum salesmen pillage innocent neighborhoods and telemarketers unknowingly smile and dial to get true results.  It’s a new world of caring about what people want and providing them with products and services they deserve.  Sales should not start with offering, but simply listening and determining what members need to help them through their daily lives.  With buy in, recognition, and adequate training and coaching, organizations can ride the shifting wave of member satisfaction by selling products and services members need versus taking orders.  Simply put, it’s not about selling more, it’s about caring more.