Virtanza

EXCERPT FROM PART ONE: THE ART, SCIENCE, PASSION, AND PRIDE OF BUSINESS SELLING Focus on People If we always keep our eyes trained on the needs of others, we will succeed in our goal of providing the finest services in sales training. An absolute rule for achieving this goal is: Never pre-judge people based on what you think you see or hear. Their clothing means nothing. Their haircuts, or lack thereof, mean nothing. Their accents or their cars or their jewelry or their shoes, even their politics or beliefs—all of it means nothing about the real person with whom you really want to connect, whose needs and goals you must strive to understand. If you respond only to their exterior characteristics or their projected personality, and make decisions about this person’s abilities or that person’s net worth on that basis, you will limit your potential to truly know that potential customer. If you dismiss a person based on their appearance, the shabbiest pair of shoes could be walking out the door along with your multi-million-dollar sale. The inverse is also true: The finest, softest Italian leather loafers or pumps could be disguising a real heel, a phony who will waste your time and, ultimately, your money. My grandfather, Chic Holzkamp, told a story about a day that would become legendary at the Packard luxury auto dealership where he worked in New York, a day when a very disheveled-looking man entered the showroom and poked around awhile, but was studiously avoided by most of the sales staff. They did not want to waste their time on someone who clearly, judging from his inelegant clothing and generally shabby appearance, could not afford their product. But Chic Holzkamp had a different philosophy about people. He believed that everyone deserved courtesy and a willing ear, and that one ought never to disqualify people without first asking many questions and listening to the answers, and so, he approached that shabby man with respect and the intention of meeting his needs—and ended up making a sale to a member of what was at that time, and still is, among the United States,’ indeed, the world’s, wealthiest and most influential families. The key to fostering this kind of attitude in yourself and in any sales team is to listen to what the customer is telling you about himself or herself that you didn’t even know to ask about—to listen to the person behind the appearances. More on this subject will follow in Step 2 of the Virtanza™ process of business-to-business selling, but for now, suffice it to say that, unless we listen and truly look, we will miss the person behind the sale. The Courage to Persevere Even in ordinary lives, we sometimes are called upon to find courage in the face of disappointment, even unexpected dangers. Often, when great rewards are at stake, great obstacles can occur, great challenges or resistance. I will speak more directly of this experience of obstacles in Chapter Four, but here, as an overview of the importance of perseverance in the life of a business-to-business sales professional, I am interested to make two observations based on personal experiences of the need to persevere. For the first observation, I want to draw again on the experiences of my family members, Chic Holzkamp and Robert Holzkamp. As “men of affairs,” as the now-quaint phrase might be used to describe these newspapermen and leaders in their professional circles, Chic and his son, Robert, were both to come up against circumstances that would test their courage and determination to see their obligations through to the right, responsible conclusion. Chic’s closest friend, Gustav Allgauer owned one of the most famous gathering places in Chicago in the 1950s, the eponymous “Allgauer’s Restaurant,” frequented by sales and newspaper people. As it happened, the Senate Rackets Committee, of which then-junior Senator Robert F. Kennedy was Chief Counsel, was investigating the suspected control of various industries in Chicago by organized crime, and Gustav Allgauer was asked to testify against the company that supplied the linens to his restaurant. He agreed, of course. He was the kind of man whose sense of right meant finding the courage to testify when called by his government to do so—even though it probably meant the loss of his business, which burnt to the ground on May 13, 1958. Nevertheless, Gus and several other Chicago restaurant owners testified during the week preceding July 13, 1958, and, in time, Gus opened a new restaurant. EXCERPT FROM PART TWO: THE FOUR STEPS OF SUCCESSFUL SELLING FOR BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES PROFESSIONALS Chapter Three: The Virtanza™ Method Virtanza™ is a four-step, multi-media-based sales training and certification program designed to enhance prospecting, territory management, customer relationships, and sales revenue among sales teams. Its long-term relationship building and mentoring approach uniquely and significantly permits flexibility in responding to rapidly changing media and sales contexts, and can be applied in a variety of industries and businesses. How is the Virtanza™ business-to-business sales training approach different from—and more effective than—traditional or long-established methods? We can describe the four distinct attributes, and chief strengths, of the Virtanza™ process as having: • A total approach to preparing for Business-to-Business Selling that includes not only gathering sales information, researching and qualifying the customer, and generating creative ideas, but also on PREPARING THE SELF to be in the best working condition at all times on behalf of the customer. • Its emphasis on the art of LISTENING, incorporated into the art of selling, and on meeting all people on their own terms—which results in a new and highly effective approach to Qualifying. • Its design to reach a productive stage of CRITICAL FEEDBACK, to work with HUMAN NATURE in addition to financial considerations, to identify the fundamental sources of the customer’s discomfort with change and where your solutions need constant re-visiting. • Its design for the LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP, with built-in expectations of future modifications over years of close, continued consultation.