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The Not So Obvious Sales Mistakes You Should Avoid #440
I just returned from Podcast Movement, the largest conference in the world for podcasting. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. I walked away with a profound gratefulness to be in this industry and sincere appreciation of you the listeners who make this podcast possible. I am honored to have this opportunity to impart a bit of wit, and wisdom on selling. We are in an amazing profession at an amazing time in history. I am humbled to have you in the audience. I know that the Tao of Sales Babble is not for everyone. But here you are! It’s not obvious at first what we are doing in this podcast, which leads well into this week’s topic, on how to be careful to not pounce on the obvious and avoid judging buyers too quickly. Not-so-obvious sales mistakes to avoid, that they topic this week.
Today’s Chapter: Seeing Beyond The Obvious
To understand
We label buyers by what we see
But the labels have limits
Only describing the obvious
Ignoring the subtle.
When you see beyond the label
You can sense the true nature of the buyer,
And better share the benefits of your solution.
Look beyond the obvious
Wake up to the true nature of the buyer
Speak to it.
Today’s Story
On the sales call, Chris quickly built rapport with a prospect and then asked about their business challenges. Lee explained how they have three big issues and then started explaining the quality difficulties over the last six months. Immediately Chris jumped on the quality problems and started explaining how their company had a new program that can eliminate defects. Chris pressed Lee into a demonstration of the functionality and at the end of the call Chris tried to close the deal. But, Lee was hesitant to take the next step and the call ended with no action taken.
Afterwards Pat and Chris huddled to discuss the deal. “What could I have done to close Lee?” asked Chris. “Listen to the recording, did I mess up the demo?” Pat listened and before the demo started Pat stopped the recording and said. “Lee mentioned that they had three issues, but you never got to all of them. Instead you focused on the quality difficulties. Why? What you did was put Lee in a little box and labeled it QUALITY. Who knows what other pressing issue they have! Quality troubles may not be their top problem. Too many seller pounce on the first problem they have. Slow down the sale. Take your time, let the buyer place ALL their problems on the table.”
Take Action Quote
We’ve had Jeffrey Gitomer as a guest on Sales Babble a few times and he believes that….
“Questions are to sales as breath is to life. If you fail to ask them, you will die. If you ask them incorrectly, your death won’t be immediate, but it’s inevitable.”
I wish I had a dollar for every time a sales person asks me a question and immediately hops on my first answer and starts to pitch without fully understanding if I’m truly a qualified buyer. I have to stop them, sometimes raising my voice saying “stop stop stop, I’m not a qualified buyer, you don’t need to pitch me. I’m not qualified!
Don’t be that guy! Questions are to sales as breath is to life. Slow,,,,,,,, down!
Sales Babble Research Study
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How to Connect with Pat Helmers at Sales Babble
Sales Babble shares selling secrets for non-sellers. Masterful selling is understanding what buyers want, discerning if you can help, showing what you have and helping them to make a decision that is good for their business and yours. See https://salesbabble.com
You can be yourself when selling. It’s all about helping others with their challenges and aspirations. I’ve interviewed 100s of sales experts and discuss all things sales: prospecting, qualifying, value propositions, presentations, demos, closing, generating referrals, earning references, upselling, marketing, lead generation, copywriting, and most important the right selling mindset. Stop fearing sales and embrace it. Learn the selling secrets for non-sellers and start making a difference today. Here is the entire back catalog of episodes in the sales podcast. Look here https://www.salesbabble.com/sales-podcast-free-advice/
This is a production of Habanero Media https://habaneromedia.net
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