4. The old ABCs of selling
Always
Be
Closing
Make the sale
(no matter what it takes!)
5. The new ABCs of selling
A
B
C
Attunement
Buoyancy
Clarity
Reference:
Daniel Pink: “To Sell is Human”
6. A is for Attunement
Be attuned to your customers’ needs
and motivations.
Listen to your customers rather than
talking at them.
7. A is for Attunement
Partner role-playing exercise:
One partner will be a “customer.”
The other partner will be a “salesperson.”
After five minutes, switch roles.
8. A is for Attunement
Guidelines:
The “salesperson” establishes the conversation topic by
asking one question.
E.g., “What’s your biggest frustration in school?”
After that initial question, the salesperson advances the
conversations in two ways:
1. Asking “Why?”
2. Asking for more detail.
10. A is for Attunement
Salespeople: What did you learn?
Customers: How did that feel?
11. A is for Attunement
Switch roles: Five more minutes
12. B is for Buoyancy
In sales, you will encounter rejection
more than success.
Remain buoyant (optimistic) by
understanding why some sales leads
work out, while others don’t.
13. B is for Buoyancy
Prospects:
Test your assumptions by
interacting with leads.
Customers:
Convert prospects to customers by
answering all their questions.
Leads:
There will be a lot of people you
assume will be interested.
14. Filling the sales funnel
Outbound sales:
You go to the customers
Ideal for high-cost products
(e.g., custom computer
systems, bulk orders)
Inbound sales:
The customers
come to you
Ideal for high-volume,
low-cost products
(e.g., an app)
15. C is for Clarity
Clarify who you are selling to, and it
will become much easier to refine your
sales approach.
16. Business to business
(B2B)
• Selling to organizations
• Outbound sales
• Goal: Secure bulk orders from a
few large clients
Business to customer
(B2C)
• Selling to individuals
• Inbound sales
• Goal: Attract large numbers of
individual customers
C is for Clarity
Who are you selling to?
17. Business to business
(B2B)
Customize the message to the unique
needs of your large clients.
Demonstrate your willingness to
collaborate with the client.
Business to customer
(B2C)
Create universal messages for different
customer groups.
Demonstrate the widespread appeal of
your product or service.
C is for Clarity
Refine your message
Editor's Notes
Discussion question: Why do you think that salespeople had a negative reputation in the past?
Focused on moving product rather than understanding the needs of the customer
Unequal balance of power—they had more information than their customers
Because of the two items above, there was often a sense of manipulation
Discussion question: How has the internet changed your purchasing habits?
The old ABCs of selling: Always Be Closing
Source: Daniel Pink “To Sell is Human”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKrBitIQrgo
15-minute active listening exercise
15-minute active role-playing exercise
15-minute active listening exercise
Have a quick debrief discussion before switching roles. Have a couple of groups volunteer to share their experience.
Have a final debrief after this:
What is difficult about not being able to control this conversation?
Why is it valuable to let the customer be in charge?