Bike trade sales tips #4: Developing your own way of selling

What are your preconceptions about sales? That it’s generally undesirable and pushy? That it’s something that can’t be learned. That it’s only for a certain few people with a “natural talent”? John Styles continues his ‘sales secrets’ series by bursting a few misconceptions and encouraging execs to explore their own sales path…

Sales is a dirty word. For many, it conjures up images of being stopped in the street by charity subscription sellers when you’re in a hurry. Someone knocking on your door to sell you double glazing. Used car salesman or estate agents with dodgy practices (plenty of that in the news right now, bad news travels fast, and sells more papers).

Now if you define sales exclusively as a pushy, overly extrovert, or even manipulative type of “in your face” activity, I think you’d be right to avoid it. And you’d also be right to say that it doesn’t really happen too often in bicycle retailing. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want to learn anything about sales – i.e. good and professional sales techniques.

There are lots of good things we do in the industry, that really are selling, but we just don’t label it that way. Below is a summary of the main ways that I observe people selling, and I imagine you can probably spot some of the things that you, or people around you, do in store on a day-to-day basis?

TYPES OF SALES – THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

1. Push
This is the type of selling that we all label as bad and seek to avoid. The seller assumes that everyone should buy what they have to sell. And they will push that product to anyone they can. There’s no questioning for actual need. Tactics can include begging, guilt tripping, or overwhelming people with high-pressure, immoral or manipulative techniques.

Any questions tend to be “loaded” and focused solely on getting people to sign. Whether or not they need or can afford the product. Hence “Pushy Salespeople” or “The Hard Sell” is something we all tend to avoid. And we remember and talk about our worst experiences, spreading the notion that “Sales is Bad”.

2. Pull
This type of selling is the exact opposite of a Push sell. It assumes that the consumer doesn’t know what they want and it’s your job to help them find it. And with the right questions, you can establish their needs and only sell them the right thing. This system is often taught as needs-based selling.

3. Companion
This approach assumes the consumer is well researched already and knows what they want. It’s your job to help them to buy what they need, and to verify the research they’ve already done. The best examples of this are included in the well-known book Leading Out Retail by Donnie Perry.

4. Expert
Selling from expertise is something that many people do naturally within the cycle trade, adding their experience and opinion to the product to make a firm recommendation of what they think is best for that customer. The best example of this is bike fitting. Selling from expertise can sometimes get a little ugly though. If expert terminology and strong opinions are used inappropriately, they can put off some less informed or less enthusiastic consumers.

5. Subliminal
Subliminal selling relies on understanding people’s inner drives, for example, status, fear, ambition, hope or a sense of belonging. There can be many reasons why people enjoy cycling, or want to make that next purchase, and it’s not always about the bike or the latest technology. This is also where we find the root of a slightly dangerous myth, that only certain ‘types’ of people can sell. It’s true some are naturally better than others, but in every store, everyone sells to some extent, so everyone can improve.

6. Network
Network selling is about being aware of the network of decision-makers that may influence a purchase decision. We tend to naturally spot this when a family come in shopping for a kid’s bike, one person may be conscious of budget, another more excited about the product, another focused on the colour. We also see it when selling to companies or larger organisations. It’s important to remember that from time to time you’ll be presented with a single consumer, but there may be multiple decision makers they are holding in mind. Perhaps the E-Cycle purchaser who is buying the bike mainly for them themselves, but family members A, B and C will all have occasional usage (or so they keep telling themselves ).

How did you do? Were you aware of these different approaches to customers? Were you aware of which ones you’re already using? In many stores, you may also notice that some people do some of these things, and others do things differently. That is, people have found their own way to sell, based on their own personalities and experiences. It’s not common in many stores for any formal training or sales system to exist. And while you don’t want to bolt everyone down to the same methods, some training can go a long way to help people develop.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT (AND THAT INCUDES YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SALES)

As a teenager, my first two sales jobs gave me the wrong impression about sales. Working in a High Street cloth ing retailer, we were all pressured to sell more jeans, but none of the managers could explain exactly how to do that. Most of the advice came down to anecdotes “I don’t know, I just…”. Everyone did things a different way, built around their own personalities. Some were better than others. Which gave all of us new starters the impression that (a) sales is something that can’t be taught, and (b), it’s just a natural inbuilt thing – either you have it or you don’t. And (c) don’t bother to ask for training, there really isn’t any. My Sunday job was serving as many roast dinners as I could in a well known High St chain of pubs. The ‘Sales Training’ there was a two minute pep-talk before every shift where the manager would instruct us to ask the following question “which bottle of wine would you like to accompany your meal”? Because, head-office had a rule about boosting the average spend per table. I later learned this was a technique called an Alternative Close. The pre-shift pep talk gave all of us new starters the impression that ‘Sales Training’ was, well, a bit ‘Pushy’ and bit  awkward.

Now, I’m guessing I’m probably not the only one who may have had that first experience of sales. Especially when coming into retail environment in your late teens or early 20s. Have a think about your beliefs about sales. That it’s generally undesirable and pushy? That it’s something that can’t be learned. That it’s only for a certain few people with a “natural talent”? That any training you are given might be turning you into something you don’t want to become?

MORE PROFIT TO THE BOTTOM LINE

Perhaps, as stores struggle in these challenging times, it might be time to re-examine that belief? As we all know, every additional sale above your overheads is profit to the bottom line. So, while any extra attention to sales skills / training might only boost your sales by a small %, your profit % will of course be higher still. And in a time when many stores are struggling, it could make all the difference.

CHALLENGING OUR BELIEFS AROUND SALES

Another way we pick up the impression that sales is a bad thing are the countless horror stories around mis-selling. Whether it’s timeshares or pensions, car loans or sharp estate agency practices, we all know some one or have read a story in the media about unscrupulous sales practices that manipulate and deceive unwary consumers. Typically, around high ticket items, e.g. cars, houses, financial products. What ties these situations together is that the product is complex and the seller has more information than the buyer. The power dynamic is one sided. Is it any wonder that a consumer looking spend several £000s on an e-cycle approaches the task with caution. It’s not your fault they’ve been mis-treated in other high-ticket industries.

So, naturally none of us really want to be associated with that kind of selling. And here’s the super-positive thing about the bicycle trade. Although our product can be complex (and a lot of the time store staff have more knowledge than the consumers they are selling to), we don’t generally get that sort of reputational harm that other industries suffer.

In my 20-plus years out on the road, standing in hundreds of stores, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single staff member, owner or mechanic say anything that was remotely misleading to any consumer. We are an industry of passionate enthusiasts who like to sell the right product, to the right person, for the right reason. To provide an appropriate solution. I think one of the reasons why both individuals and organisations don’t spend time investing in sales skills is because, deep down, they worry it may lead them away from their already good and honest values. Which leads us the situation that…

EVERYBODY SELLS, BUT NOBODY IS IN SALES

Last week I was in a store, and some one introduced themselves as the Sales Manager. It’s rare in bikes stores that this task would be someone’s specific responsibility and that they would name it, own it and deliver on it. Most of the time, I meet store owners, managers, deputy managers, mechanics, associates, team members and the like. Rarely do I meet anyone in store with “Sales” in their job title. In most stores, sales appears to be a kind of diluted, unnamed, team effort. We all do it, but no-one really owns it. Everyone sells, but no one really admits to it. Sales, or anything perceived to be selling, is kind of that dirty word again. So, as an industry, we tend to label it as something else. We tend to describe it as serving customers, helping people out, giving advice or providing a service. And I suspect that as the topic is avoided and no one person “owns it” that may be the reason that formal training, and self-learning are less common in our industry than perhaps they could be?

DEVELOP SELLING SKILLS YOUR OWN WAY

If it’s your ambition to own a store one day, or perhaps be a sales rep for a bike brand or distributor, learning sales skills may be the thing gives you the confidence to go-it-alone or that sets you apart from others. So, if you want to start learning by yourself, here are six great books you might want to dip into, and best of all, they’re not all about sales.

Leading Out Retail – Donny Perry
Why We Buy – Paco Underhill
What Women Want – Paco Underhill
Atomic Habits – James Clear
The Chimp Paradox – Steve Peters
Sales Is Therapy – Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson

There are of course some great training resources out there within the industry, some online, some delivered by brands, some delivered in store – especially larger chain stores. You can gather knowledge whenever and wherever it is offered, because you never know when you perhaps might need it. So, to any new starters or those who feel uncomfortable about selling, my humble advice would be: keep an open mind, explore and make it your own.

John Styles is a veteran of the cycling industry, having worked with leading distributors and brands across the sector. With a well-rounded perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, backed by a Bachelors Degree in Economics, John Styles is an expert consultant for the bike trade.