Selling the Impossible: Sands to the Arabs

Yesterday I met a Sales Director from a Fortune 500 company. He commented that many of the so-called sales training in Singapore and Asia are actually motivational and goal setting training disguised as sales training. They often get people on the high during the course but leave them unsure of what to do after the training.

Most of the sales training do not have adequate sales strategies and techniques. They often teach things that even 10-year old kids know: ask questions, overcome objections and close the sale.

We teach people more than that. We often cover situations that people consider impossible - how to Sell the Impossible. Many people consider the following 10 situations to be selling the impossible:

1. Prospect has just bought from your closest competitor

2. Your product pricing is way too high to be considered

3. Your salespeople have little knowledge to close the sale

4. Prospect has no money to buy

5. Prospect has no time to even look at your offer

6. Prospect has just suffered a financial loss, thus no mood to talk about anything

7. The Government has just introduced additional taxes to discourage your trade

8. Other than pricing, your delivery lead time is too long, specifications are too uncompetitive and your credit terms are totally unattractive

9. The morale of your sales team has just plunged to new lows due to corporate changes

10. A new very aggressive competitor has just entered your market with a 50% price cut

In our sales and marketing training, we coach people that impossible means 'I'm possible'. That means we can still change our tack and come in from a new creative angle. Since the world is impermanent, there is nothing that cannot be changed. Thus we can turn impossible to possible by the following:

1. Prospect has just bought from your closest competitor - we rejoice at our customer for making a decision and assure them that we have not forgotten them. We will continue to update them of our latest offering and see what ways we can help them get the best out of their existing vendor. Customers will be moved and consider us as friends. With relationships built, we have just sold them on the world's most important product - trust.

2. Your product pricing is way too high to be considered - we would sell the value that our product comes with. We let the prospect calculate the savings he can get, which is simply the extra value he gets from us minus the difference in price he pays.

3. Your salespeople have little knowledge to close the sale. We do not close the sale. Instead, we open doors by having closer relationships with our prospects. For example, we provide a series of talks to get people more familiar with what we do and the extra value that we offer

4. Prospect has no money to buy - we work out instalment plans or even offer substantially reduced price for scale-down specifications, thus giving them value for money.

5. Prospect has no time to even look at your offer - we visit them and let them try out our product for free.

6. Prospect has just suffered a financial loss, thus no mood to talk about anything. Waiting is the best strategy and we shall offer love and care to help to liven up their moods.

7. The Government has just introduced additional taxes to discourage your trade. We will offer to absorb the additional taxes - only for those who can commit now.

8. Other than pricing, your delivery lead time is too long, specifications are too uncompetitive and your credit terms are totally unattractive. In this case, we focus on our customer intimacy service and unique experience that they can only get from us and nowhere else.

9. The morale of your sales team has just plunged to new lows due to corporate changes. It's time to close more sales now and morale will be automatically boosted once people see the money.

10. A new very aggressive competitor has just entered your market with a 50% price cut. We will not join the price war but instead, focus on what the new aggressive competitor cannot do - strong local track record and support.

By Andy Ng, whose newest Selling Sands to the Arabs course is on 23 Feb 2018 Friday 9 am to 12.30 pm. For details and special 80% discount, visit here

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