We operate in a world where digital commerce and streamlined ways of working have reduced face to face transactions and even phone conversation. But, for Carl Reader, small business adviser and director at chartered accountants d&t, the most successful startups and small businesses have retained a human touch.
“I’d go as far to say that business is now simply H2H - human to human,” says Reader. “Some of the biggest success stories, such as Apple, Facebook and Google have had personalities leading the business; but more importantly, personalities at all levels being ambassadors for both the business and the brand.”
From a practical perspective, businesses need to arm themselves and their team with the skills and confidence to carry out the role of ambassador – alongside whatever they are expected to do in their usual role. Training in skills such as public speaking can help bring out the personalities of a team, enabling them to talk confidently to a room of two, or 200.
“Soft skills training in areas such as body language, neuro linguistic programming [understanding how people organise their thinking, feeling, language and behaviour] and conflict management can help equip them to deal with all sorts of conversations,” adds Reader.
Finally, and most importantly, businesses need to decide the type of sales culture that they want. If you’re expecting non-salespeople to sell they should be trained in a much softer, consultative, selling process.
Entrepreneur Max Wiseberg was brought up in the business world by his father, who had worked in the motor trade for the large part of his life. Max learned his professional sales skills during a spell in the insurance industry.
He now provides business advice and support for many young companies, and has been involved in mediation and dispute resolution, as well as running and growing allergy protection business HayMax.
“We always think of salespeople as those with ‘the gift of the gab’ – people who can talk for England. But the truth is that we were given two ears and one mouth, and those are the proportions that we should communicate. You need to listen twice as much as you speak,” he suggests.
Finding out what is important to your customer and what need your product or service will fulfil for them, is key.
“If you are selling a printer to someone to print address labels which won’t run in the rain, then explaining how it can print perfect photographs might be irrelevant.”
Then, Wiseberg suggest, ask a simple question first: ‘If I can show you that this printer will print waterproof text, will you buy it?’
“If you get a ‘yes’ to that, you can simply explain how it fulfils those needs and get your sale. But a ‘no’ can be just as valuable to you, because it will help you to find other critical requirements that you need to fulfil in order to make your sale.”
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Kia Fleet, sponsor of the Guardian Small Business Network Accessing Expertise hub.
