Overview

The sales process should never be one-directional, based only on the salesperson’s need to sell a product or service. This exercise illustrates the importance of involving the buyer in the selling process and of ethically considering the role of need in both actual and attempted sales.

Purpose

To encourage buyer input while a sale is being conducted.

Group Size

Any number of individuals can participate. The group should be divided into subgroups of four or five.

Room Arrangement

If possible, arrange table groups for each team of four or five.

Materials

An item to sell, for example, masking tape

Optional: A bag of candy

Procedure

1.Hold up some common item—perhaps one that is in the room already, such as a roll of masking tape or a token prize that you’ve purchased in advance, such as a dictionary or a set of marking pens.

2.Explain that you’ll allow 10 minutes for table groups to come up with a convincing sales pitch, the objective of which is to persuade you to purchase the common item you’re holding. Sales pitches should not be more than 3 minutes in length. Note that one person will serve as sales spokesperson for the group.

3.After 10 minutes, call on each spokesperson in turn and allow each up to 3 minutes to make the sales pitch. Listen carefully to learn if any one of them evinces an interest in finding out what you need.

4.After all groups have made their presentations, award the prize (or ask the class to give a standing ovation) to the table group that inquired about your needs. (If more than one group did, share the candy or have several ovations. If none did, proceed with your concluding remarks.)

5.Discuss the two-way nature of successful sales: not only should salespeople focus on what they need to sell, they should also focus on what the buyer needs to buy. The best relationships between salespeople and their customers depend on a solution-driven process, one that involves questioning, listening, and ethically aligning the customer’s need with the seller’s product. To make a sales only to reach a quota is simply not ethical. In time, such disregard for what customers need may lead to a loss of customers.

Variation

The concept of reciprocity (as shown in concern for the salesperson’s need to sell and the buyer’s need or lack of need to purchase) represents the yin/yang nature of interpersonal relationships. Thus, it can be used in any number of other training programs. Examples follow.

Listening. Have participants work in pairs. One person speaks for a minute regarding an “easy” topic: hobby, pet, family, vacation. Before the second person can continue the conversation, he or she must paraphrase what was said by the first speaker.

Memory Development. We often forget the names of those to whom we’ve been introduced because we’re concerned about the impression we may be making on the person. To help participants focus on the name as it’s spoken, ask the second person in a dialogue to inquire about the name before launching into his or her own introduction.

Communication. Whether it’s a letter participants have to write, a presentation they have to make, or a briefing they have to conduct, they should consider the WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me?”) factor: How will the recipient of the information benefit from the idea being proposed or the product being sold? Ask participants to select a forum in which they often communicate (letter, presentation, briefing) and to express their ideas with the WIIFM factor evident.

Discussion

What steps can salespeople take to move from ego-centrism to other-centrism?

How much do you know about your customers or clients?

How much do they know about you?

What do you do when you learn a client doesn’t really need your product?

Quotation

“The first step in learning is confusion.”

—John Dewey

Points of Interest

Lee Iacocca is regarded by many as the “salesperson of the century.” And, it was Lee Iacocca himself who asserted that the best thing you could do for your career is learn to think on your feet.