Selling should be like solving a puzzle, not playing a game.
Ian Altman is being helpful again. In fact, he can’t help but be helpful. It’s in his DNA and his business philosophy and it’s probably one of the reasons we’ve hit it off so well since meeting a year ago.
Altman is truly one of the best when it comes to teaching and practicing the discipline of sales and business development in a fresh and engaging way. He listens, he asks questions, he thinks, and then he speaks and acts. He tries to help first.
Figuring out how to be helpful is at the core of his new book “Same Side Selling.” As Altman points out, being helpful can be a pretty serious competitive advantage. (Get a free preview of the book here.)
Altman and his co-author, Jack Quarles, have written “Same Side Selling” to highlight and teach the methods of getting buyers and sellers on the same side of the table. They’ve even earned the respect and admiration of Daniel Pink, one of the most-respected authors and thinkers in business today. (See below.)
There are brilliant nuggets on the pitfalls of old selling paradigms and the necessity of new approaches. One of my favorite sections discusses sales as a game vs. sales as a puzzle:
We would like to bury the metaphor of competing in a game and replace it with the metaphor of solving a puzzle. Let’s compare the two:
Selling is not a game.
– In a game, you are playing.
– In a game, there is a winner and a loser. You build a win-loss record.
– In a game, you sit across from your opponent, trying to win.
Selling is a puzzle.
+ With a puzzle, you are solving.
+ With a puzzle, you create something. Over time, you build a history of value.
+ With a puzzle, you sit on the same side, determining if pieces are a good fit.
Of course it’s easier to write and say than it is to do, but Altman and Quarles have plenty of exercises and ideas for implementing a same side selling approach.
He’s even found a way to counter the most infamous acronym in sales: ABC – Always Be Closing. Used as a refrain in a well-known scene from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, it illustrates the game mindset perfectly. It’s all about the sale. Getting the sale whether it make sense or not.
Altman and Quarles keenly observe that a great sales process is all about finding the fit. So they’ve created a new acronym to go along with the new same side model – FIT. It stands for Finding Impact Together and it’s their mantra and conscience check throughout the book:
Finding means discovering. It often involves teaching, sharing, investigating, or diagnosing. It also means that the outcome is unknown: what you are seeking might be there or it might not.
Impact is not about your product or service. What you are selling matters, but what’s far more important is how your offering solves someone else’s problem.
Together is collaborative and cooperative. These are nice, friendly words, and they align with an integrity-based approach to sales. As we will discover, putting the client’s perspective first yields better results with less effort.
Altman and Quarles give simple and sage advice. Ditch the pitch. Have a conversation and a real discovery session with buyers, and then compare notes.
Don’t just try to wrap up victory for yourself, but rather, strive for an outcome that has everyone – buyers and sellers – standing in the winner’s circle together.
As mentioned earlier, even one of the best in the business has taken note:
“Altman and Quarles deliver a whole new world of selling, and they’re onto something.”
– Daniel Pink, author of DRIVE and TO SELL IS HUMAN
Have a great week.
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