Shoaib Oosman of Sapphire Inspection Systems: How To Be Great At Sales Without Seeming Salesy
I agree that sales, like any career, is a discipline. A conscious decision has to be made to follow that career track. There are courses that one can study which form part of, or a basis for, a career in sales. Psychology is very useful, as would be a course in communication or economics. It is usually necessary to build a business case for a customer so they understand the benefits of a particular course of action and any of those would help a salesperson in building and effectively communicating that business case.
As a part of my series about how to be great at closing sales without seeming pushy, obnoxious, or salesy, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shoaib Oosman.
Shoaib Oosman is the Commercial Director at Sapphire Inspection Systems, a Cambridge (UK)-based manufacturer of X-ray inspection equipment for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors. Shoaib has been in high-tech sales for the past 25 years. His experience spans international markets and encompasses a number of leading-edge technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), robotic process automation and data analytics. For the last 18 years he has run his own consultancy which helps companies take disruptive technology to market.
Thank you for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this career path?
After graduating, I started as a specialist in networking and communications — working for a big UK systems integrator. I found that I was able to translate very technical “sales pitches” into easy-to-understand business benefits for the customer. I made the decision easy for them and it was really satisfying to see the customer understand why they should take the action we were recommending. I did this by listening and then addressing their concerns. From being a technology specialist, I then went into product marketing, followed by direct business-to-business (B2B) sales, and then channel sales. Along the way I gained experience in selling into international markets, and how to build and motivate effective commercial teams.
Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
In the early 1990s (while still in my first job out of university) I was approached by a Canadian company that wanted to launch a then unknown technology into the European market which allowed computers in an office to communicate using radio instead of being connected by cables. It sounded really interesting, so I decided to make the move. I gave a lot of media interviews and spoke at many conferences all over Europe about this technology — all very exciting and glamourous stuff for a young man! — and landed the first customers, which included some quite big names. Nowadays, we call that unknown technology WiFi — and introducing it to Europe is my claim to fame!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
This is exactly what keeps me engaged in the tech industry. My specialty is taking leading-edge technology to market and making it sell by clearly defining a strategy based on customers, people, communication and prioritised action. At Sapphire, we are preparing to launch a new release of software which will make the X-ray inspection process more efficient by several orders of magnitude. It’s in the final stages of testing so I can’t say too much more about it now but watch this space!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I believe that every line manager, every colleague and every interaction is an opportunity to learn if we are prepared to listen — and that is the key lesson I have learned over and over again. I actually got inspiration from a movie which starred Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. In it there is a line when they are arguing about Jimmy Hendrix and Wesley Snipes says to Woody Harrelson something like: “You can hear Jimmy but you don’t listen to him.” In our everyday lives we engage with people as a matter of course but, sadly, all too often we are just waiting for our turn to speak rather than listening to the other person.
For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit why you are an authority on the topic of sales?
I don’t consider myself an “authority” — it’s just that I have been selling technology internationally for over 25 years, so I guess I have some experience to share about what I have seen works and what doesn’t.
Ok. Thanks for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. As you know, nearly any business a person will enter, will involve some form of sales. At the same time, most people have never received any formal education about how to be effective at selling. Why do you think our education system teaches nearly every other arcane subject, but sales, one of the most useful and versatile topics, is totally ignored?
I agree that sales, like any career, is a discipline. A conscious decision has to be made to follow that career track. There are courses that one can study which form part of, or a basis for, a career in sales. Psychology is very useful, as would be a course in communication or economics. It is usually necessary to build a business case for a customer so they understand the benefits of a particular course of action and any of those would help a salesperson in building and effectively communicating that business case.
This discussion, entitled, “How To Be Great At Sales Without Seeming Salesy”, is making an assumption that seeming salesy or pushy is something to be avoided. Do you agree with this assumption? Whether yes, or no, can you articulate why you feel the way you do?
In a productive, mutually beneficial sales process, the customer should never feel they are being “pushed” or “played” because if the salesperson has done their job correctly up until the point they start communicating then they should be talking to a motivated buyer who will not need to be pushed or cajoled in any way. You don’t just start using cliches and talking “at” the customer. You should have done your pre-qualification and understood if you are talking to a business that will benefit from what you are going to sell them. You should have done upfront research to ensure you know how you will be communicating that benefit to them. So, yes, I agree that seeming salesy or pushy is something to be avoided.
The seven stages of a sales cycle are usually broken down to versions of Prospecting, Preparation, Approach, Presentation, Handling objections, Closing, and Follow-up. Which stage do you feel that you are best at? What is your unique approach, your “secret sauce”, to that particular skill? Can you explain or give a story?
Whenever I am directly involved in a sale, I focus on closing the most. It’s when all the preparation, qualification, communication, influencing, meetings and presentations come to a head. Knowing when to close is key. The customer and all stakeholders need to be in possession of, and to have understood, the entire value proposition for their business and know that they need to proceed — the customer should be the one who is pushing to finalise the deal. There have been books written on closing techniques but, in my humble opinion, they are mostly outdated. In today’s digital, always-on, everything available anywhere world, closing a deal is a foregone conclusion from the get-go because the prospect has been qualified as a viable customer from the start. I am usually in the business of selling complex technology and sometimes a customer may want to run a proof-of-concept (PoC) where they actually use your technology in their live environment to test it out. This is fine as long as success criteria are agreed up-front so if these are met then the customer places the order. It is also quite normal to ask the customer to meet any costs incurred by you in delivering the PoC.
Lead generation, or prospecting, is one of the basic steps of the sales cycle. Obviously every industry will be different, but can you share some of the fundamental strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?
Lead generation prospecting and qualification are absolutely critical to ensuring that a sales person is not wasting their time on an unmotivated prospect. Marketing is absolutely key here. In today’s digital world, targeting the appropriate marketing messages to the customer base we are going for is critical. Cold calling has its place but is less effective. Digital marketing and the use of digital marketing techniques to attract customers are increasingly the norm. There are several ways to attract customers to your solution — using your website, for example, social media and industry-specific online meeting venues. Classic methods such as webinars are also still quite effective. As with all of this, content is king, to coin an old phrase. You have to be imparting information of value.
In my experience, I think the final stages of Handling Objections, Closing, and Follow-up, are the most difficult parts for many people. Why do you think ‘Handling Objections’ is so hard for people? What would you recommend for one to do, to be better at ‘Handling Objections’?
I am of the opinion that objections from the customer are actually a buy signal saying: “Make this decision easy for me.” Objections from the customer should be expected, prepared for and welcomed. They usually come in the form of price or something a competitor can do that perhaps you cannot. Handling objections is an art form. What I tend to do is first of all acknowledge it and then drill down and ask questions to determine the importance of that particular issue to the customer. Usually when an objection is broken down into its component parts, each part can be addressed effectively.
‘Closing’ is of course the proverbial Holy Grail. Can you suggest 5 things one can do to successfully close a sale without being perceived as pushy? If you can, please share a story or example, ideally from your experience, for each.
As I mentioned previously, closing should not be a big issue because the customer will have been qualified from the start. So, the first thing I’m going to suggest is to start by qualifying your prospect up front comprehensively to ensure you are not wasting your time on a prospective customer who would not be motivated to buy. Secondly, listen. What are they saying? What are they not saying? Are they the real decision maker? Have you included everyone who is part of this decision for the company in your normal communications with the customer? Ensure you have spoken to anyone with a vested interest. As part of the influencing phase of the sales cycle, you will have conclusively proved to them everything that your solution will do for their business, how they will increase sales, decrease costs, how efficiencies will be improved through the use of this technology platform. They should be champing at the bit to get it installed and helping their business, helping their bottom line and therefore their stakeholders and shareholders.
Finally, what are your thoughts about ‘Follow up’? Many businesses get leads who might be interested but things never seem to close. What are some good tips for a business leader to successfully follow up and bring things to a conclusion, without appearing overly pushy or overeager?
I believe we teach people how to treat us. Similarly, we teach customers how to treat us. If we have gone to the time and effort of talking to a customer about their needs and how we can help them, we are owed a response from them in a timely manner. If they are not doing that, then they are not respecting you or your time or your company — and this is not acceptable. From the start, the customer has to trust you, trust that you know what you are talking about and that you have their best interests at heart. If you have done a good job of communicating all of that and the value you bring to them, they will not be a customer who ignores you, they will be proactive and will want to communicate with you because ultimately you are helping them. Sometimes situations are out of your control and budgets get cut, projects get cancelled or postponed, and people move to other companies or other roles and things are just left hanging, but even in that instance a customer who has been shown the value you bring to them will be honest — so at least you will know where you stand and things will not just “go quiet”.
As you know there are so many modes of communication today. For example, In-person, phone calls, video calls, emails, and text messages. In your opinion, which of these communication methods should be avoided when attempting to close a sale or follow up? Which are the best ones? Can you explain or give a story?
Closing should, of course, only ever be done in person. Follow-ups depend on a number of factors. If the customer is several time zones away, then following up by phone may not be practical and, in that instance, an e-mail initially may work. I find that SMS messaging or using a messenger app on my phone can also be effective. Just recently I phoned a customer on their mobile phone and they happened to be sitting on a beach on their holiday! I apologised for disturbing them but he was apologetic because he had not informed me that he was going on holiday.
In short, any of those methods would work — but if you have communicated with the customer correctly and they know the value you bring, they will respect and trust you and therefore respond no matter what medium you choose to communicate with them.
Ok, we are nearly done. Here is our final “meaty” question. You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
No-one at the end of their life wishes they had worked harder. The biggest regret is not spending time with loved ones. I’m sure everyone reading this has a wish to spend more time with family and friends — I know I wish I had. So, right now, this very instant, book a restaurant to go to with your family. I’ll do the same.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoaib-oosman-452558/
Thank you for the interview. We wish you only continued success!
