The Three Time-Tested Fundamentals of Successful Selling
Throughout the years, there have been many books written, techniques developed, and debates conducted about the art of “closing the sale.”
I have read those books and attended many conferences and have found most of them useless, repetitive, old, unrealistic, and full of platitudes. Most of these programs don’t resonate with me because I’ve discovered that the fundamentals of successful selling skills I learned nearly 25 years ago in my first job out of college have survived the test of time. They are just as relevant now as they were then.
In my first job as a sales representative selling for a consumer packaged goods company, I was taught the three fundamentals of successful selling: Learn, Penetrate, Sell.
These three simple and effective steps were instilled in me from day one and on every sales call with my managers, who had successfully sold using this model throughout their careers. The key objective of Learn, Penetrate, Sell is to help differentiate yourself from your competition by earning the reputation in the eyes of your customers as valued partners and trusted business advisers with skin in the game when it comes to their success. This enables sales teams to be considered more than just another vendor selfishly selling a product or service with no benefit to the valued customer. In addition, Learn, Penetrate, Sell will show your customers the value you bring to the table and will minimize your chance of getting beaten up on price. In other words, you’re selling ideas and value vs. simply selling a commodity. Let’s look at these three simple, yet powerful, steps.
