In this article, we discuss the one percent principle in selling. If sales is a game of numbers, then at times, the numbers can be misleading. For most people, the thought of one percent doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you think about how that one percent difference affects the grand scheme of things, the difference is staggering.

Just 1 percent could lead to 12 babies being given to the wrong parents daily, two unsafe planes landing at international airports hourly, and worst of all 5.5 million cases of beer being produced flat. If you think about the one percent under these terms, that tiny difference in percentages can have huge consequences.

In terms of time, the percentage equals about 14 minutes and 40 seconds of your day and a lot can happen in that short span of time. Adding that much time to your sales day will equal about one and a quarter hours to the week and about 75 hours each year. We often underestimate or overestimate our time and make poor use of the golden hours when customers have the time to speak with you.

Related Article: How to Use Time Management to Become a More Successful Sales Professionals

Inaccurately gauging the use of our time is the root cause of missing deadlines and making mistakes. Time misuse leads to rushing to finish a proposal or project the day before it is due. Missing deadlines for accounts and making mistakes causes lost opportunities. If you spend adequate time developing new business activities and growing your sales pipeline, you can double your sales numbers in less than a year.

The One Percent Principle In Selling

The best sales reps keep up with the percentages and how they apply to their selling success. Top sales representatives understand that selling is about equal to 60 percent listening and 40 percent talking. Why? While it is important to inform your customers about your product’s features, benefits, and solutions to their problems. You won’t be able to accurately express these concepts without understanding how you can help the customer. If you’re more concerned with talking and less concerned with listening, then you’re operating backwards. Your objective is first to find out if what you have to offer is right for your customer. If you and your prospect are both on the same page, then chances are, your customer will find value in your product and a sale will be made.

 

Related Article: Effective Communication Skills for Sales Professionals

Cut The Fat – How To Condense Your Sales Message

When it comes to talking, it’s important to condense your sales messages down to the most important details. You will save valuable time for you and your customer. The 1% principle essentially means focusing on the customer and not on yourself. If you’re not talking about the most important things, then chances are your rambling about unimportant details. Your customer will see through this and most likely lose interest. How can the 1% principle help you when dealing with customers?

Develop the ability to frame conversations from “look at how great my product is” to “how can we help each other?” When consulting with customers, try and look at it from their perspective. Understand their needs and objectives. Putting more emphasis on listening, rather than talking, allows you to better communicate with your customers. Better customer communication helps the customer by answering their questions and providing real solutions to their problems.

 

How The One Percent Principle in Selling Helps Build Better Customer Relationships.

Your ability to successfully utilize the 1% principle during the sales process inherently rests on how well you build a meaningful, trustworthy relationship with your customers. How do you do this? By focusing on how to solve their problem and not so much the details of your product. That comes later when you’ve listened enough to your customer and identified their needs, concerns, and questions.

When consulting with customers, focus on identifying factors such as:

• Why would the customer need your product/service?
• What kinds of problems will your product/service solve?
• How will it make their lives easier or their business to operate more effectively?

 

Utilize The One Percent Principle in Selling to Improve Sales Performance

Small steps can bring on big improvements. When it comes to improving sales skills and training, it can be difficult to refine your sales skills if you spread your focus on trying to get better all in one sitting. However, in order to eat an elephant, you must take one bite at a time. The 1% principle can be a powerful tool for making continuous improvements during your sales training. Sales representatives should put all their focus and efforts into making small improvements, continuously training and learning one inch at a time. The one percent principle in selling provides a practical way of taking on tasks that seem too big to handle all at once.

The Power of Small and Continuous Improvements

Sales is a game of inches. When you add up those inches and start to focus on making small, realistic adjustments, you’ll be more focused on taking care of the essential aspects of a task or situation. Whether you’re trying to qualify a prospect, trimming down the most important details of a proposal, or looking to improve your sales skills, utilizing the 1% principle in selling can help you to focus on isolating the most important details and making small, 1% improvements toward your goals.

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