How To Recognize the Elephant in the Room #412

Have you ever been ghosted by a prospect? Ever wondered why they’ve disappeared and didn’t have the good manners to tell you why? Have you ever considered that maybe it’s not them, but it’s you, that it’s your fault because you failed to address their concerns or, you didn’t give them the impression they could trust you. In this week’s episode we talk about the elephant in the room, the big issues that sales people are afraid to bring up with hopes it will just go away, but it won’t!

Today’s Chapter – Elephant In The Room

At the first scent of objection
The fool avoids it
Deluding themselves the deal is won.
Like rotten wood covered with new paint
The sale soon crumbles when bearing weight.

Better to shine a bright light on issues
Addressing them as best able
Accepting the truth for what it is.

A destination can be reached by more than one path.
Seek the truth and let the sale be.

Today’s Story

During the sales call the buyer had 100 questions to ask Chris. One question was particularly vexing for Chris. It concerned a service that Chris’s company didn’t provide. It was all Chris could do to avoid answering the question outright. After getting back to the office, Chris was certain the deal was dead and had no idea how the situation could be avoided.

“When you get into this situation deal with it head on”, said Pat, always inquire “is this service important to your business? How come?”

Listen, many times you’re going to find the buyer is just curious, the missing service they are asking about isn’t a deal breaker. But sometimes it is. But avoiding the question does no one any good. It’s better to know now than chase them for the next three months trying to get another meeting scheduled.

Always deal with the elephant in the room when your with the buyer. If you don’t it will be near impossible to restart the conversation”

Take Action Quote

I’m reminded of the of the quote from the late professor Randy Pausch from Carnegie Mellon who said “if there is an elephant in the room, introduce him.”

That’s great advice for any seller who thinks that they can avoid an objection by avoiding the conversation. You won’t!. Sooner….. is better than later. If you don’t you’ll get ghosted!

How To Find The Tao Te Ching of Sales

Many years ago I authored a thrice a week blog titled the “Tao Te Ching of Sales“. It based on a book of poems titled the “Tao Te Ching” by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tze. It dives into non-pushy sales based on the teaching of Wu Wei “non-doing”. You can learn more here:

- This is the link to the blog; https://taotechingofsales.com/
- This is the Tao Te Ching translated to English
- Sign up for Vidyard free account today by going to vidyard.com/babble.

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Sales Consulting To Grow Your Business

Pat helps technology startups and businesses discover the true value they bring to market, find customers who deeply appreciate that value then scale that process to extraordinary profits. We do this with modern 2020 sales and marketing techniques.

Pushy sales doesn’t work! The key is to build trust over time. What tools do we use? LinkedIn, Email and the power of the Voice Mail.

We believe and teach the value of a helping mindset. Your prospective customers have challenges, hopes and aspirations. They need your help. All you need to do is build their trust, and faith, in your organization. Learn how we help here. Once it’s clear you can help, you will have loyal clients for life. When you bring value you make sales. Or if you’re a startup, learn sales for engineers and skills to promote your new venture.

Got a Question?

Something about today’s episode got you thinking? Do you have a question or a comment you’d like share?

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