John and I discuss the business to business sales classic Same Game, New Rules by Bill Caskey, especially how it relates to aviation sales. Featuring a “top ten” list by Jeremy Cox of Jet Brokers.
How This is Different from Every Other Sales Philosophy?
John and I have attended a LOT of sales training, from everyone from insurance companies to auto specialists – Dale Carnegie, Sandler, etc. etc. etc. And we’ve read a LOT of books.
Most sales advice out there is great, but every program or every book seems to throw in something that would be dange
rous or even insulting to try on an aviation industry client. When we do sales training for brokers, particularly for people with a background in MLM or auto sales, some of what we need to do is UNtraining!
Most of the sales philosophy in the United States has been heavily influenced (if not downright adapted from) Zig Ziglar .
With Richard “Dick” Gardner and Hal Krause, Ziglar was a charter member in the establishment of American Salesmasters in 1963. The company’s objective was to raise the image of salespeople in America by providing seminars. They began with cities across the Midwest (Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, etc), featuring speakers like Zig, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Ken McFarland, Cavett Robert, Bill Gove, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Red Motley and many more. They booked an auditorium, put together a slate of speakers and contacted local businesses to sell tickets. Audiences included insurance agents, car salesmen, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, small business owners and curiosity seekers.
Zig went on to speak extensively for audiences of the National Association of Sales Education (NASE), founded by Dick Gardner in 1965, and also became a major sales trainer for Mary Kay Cosmetics. In 1968, he became a vice president and training director for the Automotive Performance company and moved to Dallas, Texas. The company went bankrupt two years later. Subsequently, Zig spoke extensively at seminars for Peter Lowe, of Get Motivated, and eventually signed an exclusive agreement to support Peter Lowe events.
In addition to speaking, Ziglar wrote over 30 books. His first book, See You At The Top, was rejected 39 times before it was published in 1975. It is still in print today. – From Wikipedia.
We have nothing but respect for “Zig,” who died in 2012. And we quote him often. A few of our favorites:
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
You don’t have to be great at something to start, but you have to start to be great at something.
- Customers are much more savvy and suspicious of traditional sales tactics. They can see typical “close” lines coming a mile away and have developed great strategies to avoid anything that smells like a traditional “sales pitch.”
- Unlike retail sales in the 70s and 80s, Aviation salespeople usually have a limited number of prospects for the specific product or service they are selling.
- The sales process for B2B products is much more technical and involved than the average retail sale.
- Quite frankly, many of the old style sales techniques are seen as insulting by savvy aviation decision makers.
I was first attracted to Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale’s podcast, the Advanced Selling Podcast, nearly ten years ago when John and I first got into the aviation marketing industry and I realized that as the owner of the company, I had to be the salesperson. As much as I resisted the idea, generating lots of great leads was not enough – aviation requires person-to-person sales.
The podcast was refreshing because of its tone – low key, laid back, and comfortable. None of the “salesy” Ziggy enthusiasm I’d come to expect from sales training people. So, I recommended the book for our Book Club.
How This is Different from Every Other Sales Book
John and I really liked the way Caskey’s book contrasted “old thinking” with “new thinking” in a neat little table at the beginning of each chapter. That really helped summarize and make the stories, examples and insights from each chapter much more interesting and applicable, because that little table really crystallized the concept.
Caskey’s “Fundamental Shift” is really a mindset change. Before discounting this as unimportant, we have to recognize that at least 80% of communication is nonverbal. If we’re communicating nervousness or fear to a prospect, it might just be that sales calls or sales presentations are not our favorite activity. But when a customer hears “fear” his brain jumps immediately to “scam.”
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking of salespeople as repellent or unpleasant, it’s likely because we naturally find fear or desperation repellent, and many salespeople are scared to death.
They’re scared of not making their quota, of getting yelled at by their boss, of not being able to meet their financial obligations, etc.
In aviation sales, we can’t afford for people to have that repellent feeling. We have to get past that quickly with prospects who have VERY highly developed sales resistance.
Imagine if you could reduce the fear and risk from the sales situation – that’s what it’s like listening Caskey and Neale’s podcast, or reading this book.
Our Book Club is part of our Aviation Sales & Marketing Lab – we review one sales or marketing book each month and discuss how it relates (or not!) to the aviation industry.
It’s also a great conversation piece for networking among our clients. And it’s a great supplement to our Aviation Sales Courses.
Join us!
Have you read it? Do you have a favorite sales book? Let us know!
