A “Shut Up And Listen” Story…

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Received this success story from a reader who is a medical sales exec. He had just read an article I published on the 5 Mistakes Sales People Make. His lesson was from mistake #1–Shut Up And Listen.

“I attended a trade show recently where I worked our booth for several days. I flatter myself as being a “seasoned problem solving pro”, however, after two days of constantly “throwing up” on customers with the features and benefits of my product, I read your article and changed my approach for the final day of the meeting. 

It was unbelievable what problems I discovered when I closed my mouth and opened my mind to their problems. With just asking the simple question, “how do you see this helping you?” a totally different dialogue emerged where the prospect identified problems they were having in how they were currently doing things. The prospect felt better about telling me the truth- no pressure from me. I felt much better because I discovered problems that I never knew our prospects were having. Lesson learned – sales will follow when problems are solved.

Well done. We hear this all of the time…our ego gets in the way of the prospect buying. Selling is simple. Don’t screw it up by overdoing it!

Want To Learn Communication? Don’t Watch Bush!

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I voted for him, but I’ve never quite seen someone so inept at communicating to people. His poll ratings reflect that–more than they do policy questions. If he’d have been in my seminar in January in DC and had asked me how to handle the Port deal (Dubai World Ports), here would have been my suggestion. (I know he won’t read this–this is really for you–the advanced seller). By the way, I’m not supporting or in opposition to the port deal. I’m merely pointing out errors in process.

TIP 1. Always say immediately what you’re going to say eventually. You can’t hide from the truth so why bother? Caskey: “GW, go on TV and say, ‘Folks, we are looking for ways to create better inspection at our ports and we are talking with some companies. Yes, we are even talking to some foreign companies. I’ll keep you posted.'”

TIP 2. Keep ’em posted. When will GW learn that he needs to inform us directly, rather than waiting until the media does it? The media leaves out important information that he could include. But if he can’t sit down and have a discussion with us, with some charts and graphs and graphics (yes, maybe even a PowerPoint), then you can’t blame us for listening to the media. Where else would we go to get our information? Come one George. Keep us posted. Not on spin, but on facts.

TIP 3. Keep the original intent on the table. In sales, whenever we get sidetracked with objections from our prospects, we always go back to the original pain–the orginal intent–why is the customer wanting to solve this problem? He should do the same. “Folks, here is what we found. That in order for us to run our ports effectively and safely–with a maxmimum of protection–we are looking at one of the largest companies in the world–Dubai. Here is why I’m leaning toward them….a), b) and c). Let me give you some of the ports they manage. Let me tell you what I heard when I talked to the countries they worked with. ”

But the bottom line is he didn’t do any of that. Some of you will say, “yes, but he didn’t even know about the port deal.” To which I would say, yeah, right.

Rule #9-Stay Behind The Prospect

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[STAY BEHIND THE PROSPECT]

This is part two of many, on Rules we use in our trainnig with business-to-business sales teams.

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This means to be slightly less positive than your prospect. This might go against everything you’ve heard about professional sales….”be enthusiastic…it’s contagious.” I don’t find that to be the case.

If you’re going to be Selling From Strength, you have to create space for the prospect to convince you that they have a problem worth solving…and you can’t do that when you’re more positive than they are.  If a prospect says, “I’m not sure we’re interested,” you say, “I’m not sure you should be.” If a prospect says, “We already have a current supplier” you say, “Maybe you should stay with them.” If the prospect says,”Your solution is great, I want a proposal by tomorrow” that’s equally as dangerous…especially if it transgresses your process.

Here is where you have to slow them down by getting behind them. ”Wow, that sounds kind of quick…I’m still not sure I fully understand what you’re trying to fix. And if I don’t understand it yet, how am I going to be able to recommend the best solution? Can we take a step back for a moment?”

How is this relevant to me and my business? Mentally check back to the last few calls you made. Did you sound like you were needy for the sale? If you did, then you were too far in front of the process.

My suggestion is to play a game–with yourself. The game is, create the environment where they are convincing you. Afterall, they’re the ones with the problem, so why should you be convincing them to buy?

Call The Game

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Calling the game is a strategy that you use when there is something going on in the sales process that could qualify as a ‘game’ being played by the prospect.

It typically happens when they begin to see you as a ‘salesperson’ who is interested only in getting the sale. In essence, many times when a game is occurring, it is actually you that caused it, especially if you have noticed yourself launching into pressure tactics and amateur salesmanship.

But…
Calling the game is difficult. It requires you to a) know when it’s happening (when every bone in your body might be telling you to ignore it, b) keep them OK while addressing it (while keeping yourself OK with addressing it), and c) address it straight on.

This post will give you practice at calling the game. Now, one note: the intent of this is not to imply that people play tricks on you—or are out to get you. It is human nature that people play games when there is pressure in the relationship–or when they are Not OK for some reason. Don’t think of ‘calling the game’ as something to “do to” someone else. Think of it was a way to create more honest, meaningful dialogue with your prospect.

Most Common Games

1. Not Being Honest. This happens everyday. It has its source usually in some kind of lack of trust (or lack of apparent pain). It happens when you know there are problems, yet your prospect refuses to share them with you. You asking more questions won’t help. They’ll continue to lie. It has a couple of face; “Aren’t I Cool?” “You’re Just A Salesperson” and “Your Competitor Is Really Good.” All of these have at their root a need to feel OK.

2. Withholding Information. “If I told you that I’d have to kill you.” People get freaked out when asked for information. Yet, you, as a problem finder and solver, need certain information to know what the diagnosis should be. This usually happens because of lack of trust, they don’t know what you’re going to do with it (afraid it may come back to bite them), or they don’t know (and they might be embarrassed about that).

3. Not Taking Action. This occurs after you’ve been through the sales process and they still aren’t taking action. They continue to give you stalls and objections far after they should. The game here is “Postpone the solution.” Or “Hope the problem goes away.”

How To Call The Game
Here are some tips on calling the game.

1. Decide that it’s in their best interest if you call it. In other words, call it from a place of high intent, without trying to catch them (don’t play “Gotchya!” with them. That’s a game sales people play.

2. Make the message neutral. Two ways to do that. 1) Use “I” messages. “I’m feeling like..” or “I must have said something earlier that caused us to get here.”  Or 2) use neutral language as if you and he are looking down at these two people: “Here’s where we are right now.” Or, “Here’s what I think might be happening.” Or, “As I look at where we are right now, I observe that we……”

3. Ask if they’re feeling it too. This might be tough, because they might lie again and say ‘no, not feeling it.’ Pick your spots when you use this. This is truly a bonding experience though if they are feeling pressure and they are free to admit it. You can also say ‘you may not be feeling this’ or ‘you may not have the same impression.’

4. Deliver the call. Say what it is you’re going to say. Don’t make it long and drawn out. Don’t get verbose and say “do you know what I mean?” or “Do you know what I’m trying to say?” Just say it and leave it be.

5. Ask for help. After you’ve said your piece, ask them if they have any ideas on how we might continue. What they say here will go a long way toward knowing if this is a person you can trust to get out of the game.

6. You can always leave. In our philosophy of selling, you have to deliver optimum value to clients. That’s what this is about. If a prospect lies to you, how can you possible deliver your highest and best value? That’s why ‘calling the game’ always has an option of ‘you can leave.’