Thursday, March 13, 2008

From Ireland!

This was sent to me by Michael McGowan in Ireland, after thinking about the sales process. I am passing it on to you, as I think you might find it thought provoking.

Good Selling, Steve


Most salespeople sell on “pain” / “problems” / value / solution / business advantage. We know this. Every sales book contains tons of this garbage.

And, they’re all kinda right. Then, they go on to say stupid things like “if you were able to fix that, what would that mean to you?” The allegedly gullible prospect usually – to be nice –goes “well, that would be pretty cool and if you’re saying it means I’ll get home earlier, that’s even better”. Yet they stay as they are.

The smarter salesperson knows that the prospect isn’t stupid. If it’s time to change, they’ll change anyway. If they’re afraid to change, they won’t – generally – change, or not until the absolutely have to.

So, the really smart salesperson has another strategy. Silently, they are saying, “Now that I (i.e. / e.g. Michael McGowan) have turned up, it’s SAFE to change, so let’s get started .” It’s usually not (really) about “value” and “ROI”. It’s about meeting the right type of (sales)person and taking the risk sooner than you would have. That includes changing when you weren’t even particularly thinking about it.

The really effective salesperson is saying “I dare you to meet me, and not get the urge to do something better – now”.

Probably unteachable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "I dare you to meet me comment" Bravo. It is teachable, it just takes the "want to do" and a month of doing it, every day to make it a habit. It's about the "want to do". Bravo.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, in large organizations, people don't make decisions based upon meeting the "right type of sales person" and taking a "risk"---you must prove value and return on investment, or you can't sell. I sell to that base, and ego stroking such as described here, doesn't succeed.