Sales is not an easy business. It’s rife with rejection and fighting stereotypes. Poor salespeople attempt to make it as painless as possible. The result is that they aren’t very effective. Good sales people have guts and rise to the challenge to face the hardship head on. What do the hardships look like? Usually it’s asking tough questions. It’s refusing to do things that only benefit the prospect. It’s a mentality that sales is a level playing field and we are in a give and take situation. Poor sales people don’t fight, they accept sales as delivered. The problem arises because the traditional sales process is not designed for efficiency. It wastes time and ultimately money. Great sales people have guts and adopt a logical system to selling, which gains them more sales.
Every step in the sales process has features that aren’t conducive to selling. How often do we find ourselves avoiding prospecting activities? For many of us it’s a daily rationalization, “No time to prospect, I’ve got administrative work that must be completed.” When a prospect says, “Show me what you have”, do we vomit out features or ask questions to get a better idea of what he’s looking for? Many of us opt to vomit. Why? Because it’s easy to do. No one will fight us if we simply chatter on about our company. In most cases, we know it’s not in our best interest. Usually, it’s not in our prospect’s best interest. The traditional sales process is a dysfunctional system that both salespeople and prospects default to because it’s simple and assumed.
Let’s apply the traditional sales process to another profession, our doctor. We walk into the waiting room and are ushered into an examination room. The doctor bursts in the door and starts telling us about his practice and all the medical problems he can help us with, from poison ivy to cancer. Finally, he asks what brought us in today. We respond, “A knee problem.” Without even looking at the knee the doctor gives us a 30-minute pitch on all the options. Would we like ointment rubbed on it, put it in a knee brace for a few months, have surgery to correct the problem, or a monthly special of all three. How quickly would we go to another doctor? Yet this model has been adopted for sales.
Great salespeople have guts and take a rational approach. Be courageous. Stop doing things that don’t make sense. It takes guts. At almost every step of the way you will find a hitch where the prospect wants something and it really isn’t logical. When we apply a rational process that helps the sales person and the prospect see if they are a good fit for one another, we are more effective sales people and our prospect gets a better product or service. The more guts we have the more sales we’ll gain.
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