|
A few weeks ago, I was onsite at a company that had hired me to train their
sales team on how to stop using traditional selling and start using the Unlock
The GameT sales approach.
After one coaching session, one member of the sales team came up to me and
said, "Ari, your approach makes complete sense -- but I'm afraid I'll lose
sales if I stop being aggressive and start being passive!"
Whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream because it means that
the person just doesn't yet understand that removing pressure from the sales
process doesn't mean being passive!
But, I didn't scream. I took a deep breath and then explained that Unlock The
GameT is the reverse of passive. Rather, it's an active attempt to create pressure-free
conversations with prospects. However, to do that, we must eliminate behaviors
and language that prospects can perceive as "aggressive." We all know
what these are -- continual e-mail and voicemail "followups" in which
salespeople try to pin down the status of a potential deal -- is one common
example. The problem is that prospects react to aggressive, or perhaps we should
say "overaggressive" sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.
We could say that Unlock The GameT actually takes the "middle ground"
between passive and aggressive by being authentically unassuming, yet effective
-- and that this is the most stress-free and effective way to sell. I mean that
you have to shift away from assuming that every prospect is a fit for your solution.
It's sort of like the legal concept of "being innocent until proven guilty."
We can't afford to make any assumptions about "fit" until our conversation
with the prospect indicates that we've mutually arrived at that conclusion.
The aggressiveness that turns off prospects sets in when you assume, every
time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them. Your tone of
voice and language gives them that message long before they've even had a chance
to agree that they have a problem you might be able to help them solve.
But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming anything while
also communicating in a low-key, unassuming manner, you'll discover a whole
new effectiveness you could never have imagined.
Can prospects sense when you're assuming too much? Sure they can because most
of us have been conditioned to present or talk about our solution as a way to
engage prospects so they'll reveal their problems to us. But that logic is completely
flawed because when you launch into your solution to someone who doesn't trust
you yet, all you do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped "salesperson."
So how do you make this concept of being unassuming but effective a reality?
First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 per cent on generating discussions
around prospects' problems, rather than pitching your solution the second you
hear an opening. Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting the
benefits of your solution into problems that your solution can solve. Third,
after you and your prospects have identified a problem or problems, you can
then engage in a discussion about whether fixing those problems is a priority.
It's only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit permission
to share your solution with them.
Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back in the trap of
being perceived as "aggressive."
Try it, and see what happens.
About the Author:
Ari Galper
With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and more than a decade of experience
creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and
QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been
seeking for years. His profound discovery of shifting one's mindset to a place
of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity,
has earned him distinction as the world's leading authority on how to build
trust in the world of selling. Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel
Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called
on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance. Visit http://www.unlockthegame.com
to get his free sales training lessons. |
