Good sales people can close, but few “step up” for even 
more sales from that close.  Yet stepping up should be one of 
the easiest accomplishments in sales — that is if you know how 
to build the staircase. 

     Do it by applying a leadership tool I have taught thousands 
of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years. The tool is simply 
to foster a particular viewpoint, which is this: Challenge people
not simply to do a task but to take leadership of that task. 

     The difference in results-producing effectiveness between 
doing a task and taking leadership of a task is the difference 
between the lightning bug and lightning. 

     This change in viewpoint may seem simple even simplistic; 
but when put into action many times daily, it can work wonders. 

     For instance, I worked with a manufacturing leader whose 
workers were constantly falling short of productivity goals. I 
told him he was leading the workers in the wrong way; he was 
ordering them to get productivity advancements.  I told him that 
he should have the workers sign on as leaders of productivity 
advancements.  When the workers began seeing themselves as such 
leaders, they started hitting the goals consistently.

     Now, let’s apply this leadership tool to the sales process. 
I’ll show you how to get step-ups in results that go far beyond 
the results achieved from closes.  Here are three ways to do it. 

     (1) Don’t Just Sell Products, Get Cause Leaders: Salespeople
often fail to get step-ups because they have a short-sighted 
view of the customer.  They view the customer as only a customer!
Whereas, if we want to get step-ups, we must see the customer 
not just as a customer but as a “cause leader,” one who can lead 
our cause both inside and outside their company.  Instead of 
aiming just to sell a product, to get a close, aim to turn your 
customer into your cause leader.
 
     For instance, I consulted with a materials supplier that 
wanted to acquire new customers in the computer industry.  The 
salespeople of the materials company not only worked diligently 
on closing with the engineer-customers but also on creating 
step-ups by persuading those engineers to be the cause leaders 
for their materials within the company.

     Here is the way that they enlisted that leadership.  They 
discovered that the engineers needed increased productivity and 
faster cycle-times -- and to do it with fewer resources.
 
     In response, the sales people developed a materials 
performance package for the engineers that increased their 
productivity and cycle-times.  In addition, they brought in 
productivity experts from their own company to help the 
engineers streamline their design processes.  They’re not only 
selling their materials.  They’re selling productivity as well. 
Seeing that the sales people were helping them meet their vital 
needs, the engineers became the sales people’s cause leaders 
within their company — unleashing a torrent of step-ups.

     (2) Start Early: George Burns said, “I had to work hard for 
20 years in vaudeville before I became an overnight success in 
radio.”  That’s a lesson in stepping up.  Stepping up sales 
results with my leadership tool doesn’t just happen overnight. 
You must prepare to get those step-ups starting in the early 
stages of the sales process: when prospecting for new clients, 
identifying decision makers, and making initial calls. 

     In this early stage, ask yourself: “What is the close in 
this sale?  And how can that close lead to the customer not 
simply buying my product but also becoming the product’s cause 
leader, both inside and outside his/her organization?”
 
     For instance, the sales people of the materials company I 
mentioned aimed to replace their competitors’ materials with 
their materials in computer housing applications.  With that 
focus, they would have gotten closes — but not step-ups.  The 
differences between their competitors materials and their 
materials were negligible in cost and performance.

     The sales people continued to develop the traditional 
channels to their customers’ purchasing departments. But they 
also began building step-ups early by including design engineers 
in their first-stage sales activities.  They focused on being 
their customers’ “design partners” — not simply showing them 
where they could save costs and achieve performance advantages 
but also showing them how they could get market share through 
the innovative uses of those materials.

     Getting in early as their customers’ design partners, they 
not only got closes but step-ups from those closes by integrating
their materials into new generations of housings. 

     (3) Link to “Must-Have” Results: Step-ups happen only 
when you answer the vital needs of your customers — not the 
nice-to-have needs.  Discover those needs by asking and 
answering: “What are your customers absolute must-have 
results?”

     Those “must-haves” are your great step-up opportunities, 
because when you are delivering on the must-haves, your 
customers are more likely to become your cause leaders.

     In the above example, the sales people were able to get 
step-ups because they focused on their customer’s “must-haves”, 
productivity and cycle-time.    

     Here’s another example dealing with another busines sector: 
I consulted with an insurance company whose growth had flattened 
out.  We found out a key reason why.  Their products were not 
meeting the must-have results of their customers.  The must-have 
results of their customers were that they absolutely had to grow 
their businesses.  Yet the company’s products did not materially 
address the growth needs of their customers. 

     Only when the sales people convinced their own company to 
develop and sell products that met the growth needs of their 
customers were they able to turn those customers into cause 
leaders. Once those new products were offered to the customers, 
they far outsold the old products.

     Don’t sell yourself short by focusing exclusively on the 
close. Liberate the step-up opportunities that are embedded in 
most closes by using this powerful leadership tool of challenging
people to lead not simply do.  By getting customer cause leaders,
starting early, and linking to must-have results, you can 
multiply sales far beyond what closes achieve.




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2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.   All rights reserved.
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The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE 
LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO 
GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS.  He is founder and president of The 
Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and has worked with thousands of 
leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve 
sizable increases in hard, measured results.  Sign up for his 
free leadership ezine and get a free guide, “49 Ways To Turn 
Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com