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The sales person in many sales situation is the competitive edge which ultimately determines who receives the order.
Understanding this, astute sales people acknowledges their strengths and know how to use them to their advantage. One aspect to strengthen a sales person’s position with a prospect is the use of creativity.
A fresh creative selling approach marks the sales person as innovative and helps differentiate them from the competition. Imaginative Selling Tactics also give customers reason to believe you'll use the same ingenuity and originality to contribute ideas and solve problems within their business.
Implications to the Sales Person
Many individuals feel only certain types of people are creative. However creativity is climbing out of the box and examining different ways to view situations. When problems are viewed from different perspectives, different and creative solutions become apparent.
Sales people need to acknowledge their creative potential and believe they’re capable of succeeding. The fact that an individual doesn’t normally generate ideas doesn't mean you they can’t be creative. Creative people are often looking for creative ideas in everything they are exposed to. Often a creative idea used in one industry or application can be readily adapted to another industry or application.
The key is to keep notes on what you might view to be clever or creative, no matter where you find it. When you encounter a situation where creative ideas can make a difference, review your notes to see if any apply. Once you come up with a good idea, think of several ways to implement it. After implementing the idea, try to measure how well it solves your problem and what you can do to make it more effective.
The Application
Focus your imaginative powers on a specific question. Make a list of product's drawbacks, productivity problems and your own weaknesses and design your questions around them. By staying focused on one problem at a time, you'll give some direction to your thinking.
Keep an idea list of the ideas you have observed through your experience or you have either read about or viewed on television. Everything is a potential source of ideas.
At the top of a piece of paper write the question your ideas will answer. Brainstorm and write down every answer that comes to you. After a week or so, review list and select the most promising ideas. Make note of the different ways you might implement them.
You might find more creative solutions to problems by focusing on their relationship to other areas, rather than by concentrating solely on the problem itself. Often solutions are developed by the relationships to what may appear to be random and unrelated concepts.
Another approach is to put a new twist on an exiting concept or idea. You can generate many profitable ideas for product improvements simply by reexamining the products you already sell, how and where they’re used. It's often better to improve what you have than to start from scratch with something completely new.
Engage other people in conversations about your problem by soliciting their input. Hold 30 minute blue sky sessions once a week to stimulate creative thinking in a group setting and allow those with problems to solicit fresh ideas for solving them. Many sales and business professionals will have a breakfast or lunch meeting with others in a variety of professions and industries to discuss ideas. All who attend benefit and bring back fresh thinking and ideas back to their workplace.
Something to Think About
Creativity is a skill that can be developed and fostered. With this in mind, consider the following points:
1. What are some of the ideas you can use to spark creativity in your thinking and sales approaches? Explain.
2. What creative approaches have you used? How did they work and what will be the results? Explain.
-- Timothy F. Bednarz, PhD
Timothy F. Bednarz, PhD is the Principal Partner of the American Management Development Group. He can be reached at 800.654-4935 or amdg@charter.net. Find out more at www.LetsTalkSelling.com.
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