The common theme of most sales methodology is to get sales people to first:

• Ask questions;

• Find out customers' real needs; and

• Find out their buying decision structure

     Then suggest solutions that will meet their needs. 

     However, this model may not be appropriate all the time.  During one customer visit that we had with the key decision maker, we tried asking them various questions to know what they need, so that we can provide the right solutions for them.  The customer replied us "I don't know, you tell me!".  We then find out with whom we can get more information, and then had an agreement from the customer to contact the relevant person.  

     Later, before we can reach out to the said person to ask further questions, we were told that since we didn't impress them enough in the initial contact, there's no need to find out more about their needs.

     While personally I'm tempted to say that that customer is an idiot, on retrospect and reflection, I believe what we could have done better was to be a bit more assertive and earn their attention and interest.  Even when we don't know what their real needs yet.

The Yin of Selling

    Most people will think of Yin and Yang as day and night, positive and negative.  In our case, however, we borrow the concept of Yin and Yang from Chinese martial arts.

     Whereas Yang in martial arts refers to the hard, rigid and aggressive (or assertive) styles, Yin refers to soft, flexible and receptive ones. 

     In sales, the traditional aggressive sales person who would force his products and services right at you, and not let you go unless some cash (usually a big amount) is squeezed out of you.  Generally, they:

• Don't take "no" for an answer;

• Likes to wow you with their product features and benefits, so that you can't say no; and

• Will disappear the moment you made the payment, and won't appear again until it's time to re-order

     This can be described as the Yang sales person.  However, with increasing customer demands for sales people to be more attentive to needs, and be more responsible for customers' results, such sales people and selling style is on the verge of getting phased out.

     Enter the Yin sales person.  Unlike the Yang sales person who is all about pushing products and services, the Yin sales person is attentive to your needs.  She will not suggest any solution to you unless she can identify what your needs are, and how she can help package the right solution to meet those needs.  In fact rather than saying she's a sales person, she actually facilitates your buying, so that it becomes an easier and smoother process for you.

     The Yin B2B sales person usually does this by asking intelligent questions, such as:

     Hence, there's an element in the forceful, "in-your-face" Yang selling that may be able to get the immediate attention of your customers.  However, merely having passion and enthusiasm alone may not be enough to pry open customers' doors.  You need to give them a strong value proposition.

     This strong value proposition, or what Miller Heiman calls Valid Business Reason, is the possible solution that you can provide to solve specific business concerns.  To consumers, this may mean the key benefits that she will get when making a purchase from you.

     Unlike the traditional aggressive sales person who is self-centred, cares only for meeting his sales targets and will do anything just to get a meeting, the new Yang sales person is able to give the customer valid reasons, or value propositions to meet up.  These reasons are not the sales person's reasons, BUT the customers'.  As Warren Buffet puts it, "Value is what you get".  The value here is also phrased from the buyer's, and NOT the seller's, point of view.

     Some examples of possible value propositions/ Valid Business Reasons can be:

• "The purpose of my phone call is to find out if we can help your sales force capture an additional 20% of market share, while improving margins by 7%."

• "The purpose of my visit is to explore if your sales people can apply 99.99% of what they learnt in a sales training, and get observable results within 30 days."

• "We have helped other similar companies to boost sales performance by motivating and retaining the best performers."

     In luxury retail sales, this value proposition can be:

• "Take a look at our limited edition."

• "Here's something that will suit your style."

• "Here's how you can create a strong impression at the gala dinner"

     In these times of increasing competition, customers have become more confused than ever before.  On one hand, they dislike being sold at, and prefer sales people to guide them to make the right purchases.  On the other hand, they need to feel confident and be impressed by the few sales people who can stand out from the crowd.

     As a sales person, if you are overly receptive, customers may not even notice you, and hence may not want to see you.  If you are overly assertive, customers may be frightened, and run away from you.  To be successful, you will have to balance the Yin and Yang of selling.