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Tangible vs Intangible Selling

Tangible vs Intangible selling is a conceptual question. Every offer is primarily either tangible or intangible. But can an individual salesperson sell something of this type?

Tangible items for sale already exist. They are sitting there on the shelf, or the showroom floor. You can walk over and see them, touch them, maybe even pick them up. Examples are washing machines, automobiles, and jugs of milk.

Intangible items to be sold are not yet physicially present. They exist in the minds of the prospect and, more significantly, the salesperson. Some imagination needs to be used on both sides for this sale to happen. Examples are custom programmed software or being a bestselling co-author in a forthcoming book. Surprisingly, perhaps, a customized sign made for a shop.

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Photo by Designecologist from Pexels

I first discovered I was good at selling the intangible in the mid-2000s while running a metal fabrication shop. Turned out I'd been doing it all along—general contractors would want a custom bracket made of 3/4" steel, let's say, to hold up the beams of the huge open concept cabin they were building. This kind of thing was a gnarly, heavy, this-time-only-angled and drilled connector. Especially with signs, though, specifically the collaboration we'd do with a sign manufacturer, was where it was really pointed out to me that what we were selling was intangible.

The Difference Between Tangible vs Intangible Selling

Alarmingly, the salesperson at the sign shop said, "People have no idea what they want when they come in here. There's no picture in their head of the outcome. They're trusting me to come up with something." She paused, then continued: "And they're handing over thousands of dollars to me on that belief that we'll come up with something good."

"Huh," I thought. I saw her point immediately. In the metal fab world I was more familiar with, it seemed easier. People wanted metal letters, or a gate or railing. Or wrought iron fencing. Or that kind of structural steel I mentioned earlier. That felt necessary. It wasn't hard to visualize what the outcome would look like.

But a sign? That could be anything. Therefore, I realized the prospect was placing a lot of faith into the seller. Should the sign be round or square? How much wood and how much metal? Should the frame be metal, and the lettering routered in relief out of the wood, then painted to stand out? Would there be a picture, maybe of some trees and a mountain? Or should the design go more abstract? Ought we to focus less on imagery and more on style?

The Trust Scale for Selling The Intangible

Subsequently, I realized there was a sliding scale for buyers when it came to trust of the seller's ability to provide a good experience with the intangible sale.

On one side you've got the fully trusting, "I know you: I like you, I trust that whatever you come up with will be excellent and I don't have to worry about it". This could almost be considered abdication of responsibilty; however, I view it more as transference of responsibility, or delegation. Even if the buyer deep down is not in love with the final outcome, they believe the seller knows best.

On the other side you've got minimal trust. "I want to see this every step of the way along. I emphatically want control over what happens." For those selling the intangible, this can be a genuine source of frustration. "Why won't the customer leave me alone to do what I'm good at? Why won't they let me run according to my own internal schedule, rather than trying to worry me along? I know how long these things take. I know the steps to do them in. Why must I explain everything?"

When selling the tangible, you obviously have the thing right there to point at. Features and benefits are available to rely on. If the prospect doesn't follow along, it's readily apparent: you can stop, go back, and find out what's missing.

Selling intangibles...not so much. You must dig. Get to the heart of "Why" this person wants what they want. Likely you'll have to uncover factors they weren't conscious of, preferences they didn't know they had. Unfortunately, it's easy to blow past key sales factors if you don't notice the prospect sitting there nodding mechanically, eyes glazing over.

Deciding whether your firm is focused on tangible vs intangible selling can even have a big tax implication.

Risk Factors In Tangible vs Intangible Sales

In selling tangible offers, you run the risk as the salesperson of falling back on features and benefits. Reliance on these factors is a lower level of selling: it's less effective. Often you'll miss the prospect's "Why" and not get the sale.

As you sell the intangible, you can easily run past the prospect's true reasons for buying. Trying to fit the individual prospective customer into a "one size fits all" process will cause that to happen.

Unless the prospect is well educated about the offer before they arrive, and has a personal sense of urgency about taking action on it, the fact is that the intangible sale is going to take longer. Significantly, what I have observed over a long period in the sales field is this: some people simply don't seem to be able to make the intangible sale.

Whenever hiring into an organization where the intangible sale is a requirement it is not enough that you look at candidates with excellent sales histories. You must find out if they have a history of successfully selling intangible offers.

What Needs To Happen In The Intangible Sale?

A transference of imagination, from seller to buyer, is necessary to make the intangible sale. I'll come back to this in a future discussion, but I want you to understand this for now. Depending on where the prospect is on that line scale I described above, evidently it can take some time to solidify that image and make that transference happen. There's a process to this, of course, but for now all I want you to understand is that this is what happens. Get clear on the concept: tangible vs intantible selling. Which does your organization focus on? Do you have the right people for the role?

>> Jason Kanigan is a sales force developer and conversion expert. Schedule a consultation with him to focus on your specific situation <<

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Three Quick Checks When Hiring Salespeople

Hiring Salespeople: this is the last Sales Tactics post of 2018. That means we're about to head into the FIFTH YEAR of this blog—how many people do you know who have stuck with a thing as long as that?

I asked for topics and "how to screen for good salespeople" came up. This is a good one because it illuminates several key issues ongoing in many businesses—and business owners!

Let's be clear: there are an infinite number of things you could screen for to help you make your decision when hiring salespeople. Over the last two decades plus, though, from my own experience being the sales candidate with my own agenda of getting the job, the hiring authority sometimes pressured to make a decision NOW, and the sales coach charged with cleaning up the mess...here are the most impactful ones.

Check #1 When Hiring Salespeople

First, will they fit into your culture?

This is, in my opinion at least, more important than anything else.

Even if they can be an effective salesperson and do the second thing I recommend you screen for, their time at your organization will be a mismatched misery should they not fit into the culture.

You'll note all three points I raise here about hiring salespeople fit together. Consequences roll from one into the others.

At the last startup I co-founded, we were crystal clear about our culture. We wrote it down. This manifesto was posted on our website, and we sent it to sales candidates who were initially eager to work with us.

This had the desired effect. The "hardcore closer" types? Pulled a fast fade when they realized their style wouldn't match ours. Nobody's time got wasted. We were left with what we wanted: the consultative, fully honest types we wanted representing our clientele.

You must have clarity before starting the hiring process. What kind of organization do you want? Attitude, standards and expectations start at the top and flow down...what you allow is what they will allow. When I find a company with a nasty receptionist, I know that attitude is permitted and even encouraged from "on high"...and it's a sign for me to go elsewhere.

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Hiring Salespeople: Check #2

Second, are they a high performer—and will they sell here?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: talk is cheap. Statistically speaking, the hiring person would have better odds in picking a successful candidate by pulling a name out of a hat compared to the job they do in the interview.

Culture Fit is very important here, because when a person feels they fit in and enjoy going to work they tend to perform better. That should be obvious but it isn't, out there in the hiring world.

Resumes are all well and good, but they are a marketing piece which has the purpose of getting the candidate the interview. That's it: not the job itself. You need to remember that as much as the candidate does.

Past experience similar to your role may seem good, but it's not an Insta-Win.

So ask questions to draw out stories. They've got numbers on their resume? Great...what's the story behind them? How did they make that big sale? Does what they tell you sound like a process that would fit in with your expectations (be ready for some wild surprises here)?

I've talked with too many executives who told me some version, sometimes in these very words, of, "I'm a great study of human nature. I can tell when someone's got the qualities or not." Wrong. Not true. Sorry about the ding to your ego, but you don't. And neither do I. Certainly not from a resume and interview in which the interviewee controls the narrative. I'd say three-quarters of the time or more as an interviewee I controlled the discussion by the way I answered the questions. Especially when the interviewer(s) had the hiring authority and didn't have oversight of an HR administrator. Got the offers, too.

Here's a question you can ask that will draw out any dissatisfaction and potential culture misfit:

"Tell me about a situation in which things didn't turn out quite the way you'd have liked...and what you'd have done differently if you could do it all over again."

This question is worded to do several things. It subtly insists on an answer: few candidates are going to be alert enough to realize they have the choice of NOT giving an example. It lets them vent, which humans like to do. And it shows you an answer to the "What is your greatest weakness" question without having to say that dumb combination of words out loud.

Easy to follow up to their answer with more questions to determine fit.

Watch for salespeople from bad experiences and environments, too. Their poor performance may have been the result of bad leadership and surroundings.

Check #3 When Hiring Salespeople

Third, are you too enthusiastic?

I am a good interviewee. I am comfortable with multiple interviewers and have been since my mid-20s. Therefore I stand out well and as in other selling situations have been able to make the sale and get hired into jobs I really should not have gotten into. I made the sale because I could.

Why did I do this?

Because I was unemployed and needed a job, silly.

Short Term Thinking.

And this is an affliction that will catch you by surprise, too, if you're not careful. A candidate will come in with a stellar resume. Their numbers and stories will be good, from a production perspective. You get the idea they will take the opportunity and run with it. But...

...will they really fit in here?

...will they really sell here?

...are you simply too excited and about to make a bad, in-the-moment, emotionally-based hiring decision?

Are you being a victim of Short Term Thinking to get out of the interview process and have the decision made?

Very common.

Give it a day to cool off.

Don't hire because you are excited about this person. "White Knight Syndrome" in particular, in which an external party is going to ride in and save your day, is a terrible reason to hire and a terrible pressure to put on that salesperson.

>> Jason Kanigan is a sales force developer and business owner. To discuss your hiring process and how to improve it, book a time to talk with Jason. <<