Sale's Call Fails

After so many decades of availability of quality information on how to be a professional in sales, you would think that, as the buyer, you would be in good hands. The salesperson visiting you would be very keen to understand your needs, they would have resarched your firm on the internet, taken a look at your annual report, media clippings etc. They would be carefully listening to what you had to say, with you doing 80% of the talking and they mainly listening and asking for further clarification. They would be sitting there carefully sifting through your needs and mentally aligning what you need with their range of solutions. If they find no suitable match, then they would promptly tell us and not waste anyone's precious time.

Here is the reality, by way of comparison. He slid effortlessly into the chair and before I knew it, he had popped open the oyster shell of his laptop and was pointing his screen menacingly in my direction. Uh oh! Powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide bombarded me with detailed data, specs, diagrams and text information. After 20 minutes he stopped the torture. “Wow”, I thought, “he hasn’t managed to ask me even one teensy question during this session of our first meeting”. His business card announced he was the Sales Director – that seemed a definite worry if he was responsible for directing others in the sales role. He looked to be in his early forties, so he was no green kid fresh out of varsity. He probably had twenty years of business experience and presumablty had been in a sales role for many, many years.

 The irony of this sales presentation was that I had requested it. I was in fact, a hot prospect. I had heard his President at a function talking about the new whizbang service their firm offered and I was intrigued. So intrigued, I approached the speaker and asked that he send one of his crew over to see me.

 I should have suspected something was amiss though, by the reaction of the President when I made my enthusiastic “visit me” request. If I had that rection after giving my presentation I would be pretty happy and excited to see some business coming my way. Did he become buoyant with anticipation of a sale and reassure me that this product was the best thing since sliced bred? Surprisingly aloof, I found him, in fact almost disinterested. Was this a Nordic thing, I wondered given his nationality or just his personality? I was quite surpised by his cool reaction to my hot enthusiasm. I will never know why he acted like that, but what I did think to myself was how important it is in sales to be positive and upbeat about your product at all times. Especially with hot, obviously motivated buyers!

 So back at the sale's meeting, after a death of a thousand powerpointslides cuts, I miraculously revived and questioned the Sales Director. Why was I doing all the work? I am the buyer in this situation and shouldn't have to do much. The salesperson's role is to make it as easy as possible for me to say "Yes". Well despite his incompetence, I still had a need. In the end though, I was not a buyer. Partly because I don't think I trusted the company after meeting the Sales Director. If he was so incompetent in his specialised area, how could I be sure that other employees in their specialsed areas were any good? The seeds of doubt had been planted in my mind, so my enthusiasm levels subsided rapidly.

 What could he have done with me? He could have researched what we do as a business, taken a look at our Battlestar Gallactica website, that is packed with information, looked at the hundreds of videos we have on YouTube, checked out my podcasts, done a Google search on me to get background information. From that elevated position he would have been in a great place to start a sales conversation.

He could have started by asking me a few questions to ascertain what I was interested in. He could have holstered his powerpoint weapon before drilling me with detail, dross and pap. Of the ten functionalities of the whizbang, there were only two or three that were of any match with what I needed. Why didn't he know that before he walked though the door?

We could have dispensed with all the irrelevant detail and gone straight to the finish line with the “hotties”. We could have spent the bulk of our time talking about the aspects which were most likely to lead to a sale. Remember, I was a hot prospect, who had requested the meeting. I had raised my hand for help, I was ready to go, all he had to do was find out what I needed and provide it to me.

 Reading this little vignette, I hope you take immediate action and check whether your sales crew or yourself, are any better at questioning than this guy? Don’t assume that salespeople have a sales process in place. Are they spending the bulk of the client interface time, laser focused on where they have the greatest likelihood of success?

 If they are a bunch of clueless “tellers”, then here is a simple questioning step formula that will help your crew get to the heart of the matter and uncover where they can be of the most assistance to the client.

Start with either where the client is now or where they want to be – it doesn’t really matter which one you ask first. This is because what we are trying to understand is how big is the gap between “As Is” and “Should Be”. By the way, unless the sense of immediacy about closing that gap is there, then there will probably be “no sale” today. Clients are never on the salesperson’s schedule and will take no action, unless they clearly understand there is a benefit to doing so. If they think they can do it internally, then they will go that route. The salesperson's job is amplify the opportunity cost of not using their service, the need for action right now in this highly competitive business environment and the value of outsourcing the solution to us.

 Having plumbed the parameters of the current and ideal situation, next enquire about why they haven’t fixed the issue already. This is an excellent Barrier Question and depending on the answer, you might be the solution to fix what they cannot. If they can't solve the issue themselves internally, then that is a great opportunity for us to be of service and here we are sitting in their office all ready to go.

Finally, check on how this would help them personally – what is the Payoff? They may need this fix to keep their job, hit their targets, get a bonus, get a promotion, feel job satisfaction, rally the troops – there are a myriad of potential motivators.

 Why would that particular question be important? When we come to explain the solution to the problem, being able to address their closely held personal win, helps to make the solution conversation more real and relevant.

 If my sales Powerpoint maestro had applied some of these basics, he may have had a sale that day. As I noted, he was in his forties, so one can expect that he has probably been repeating this same flawed performance for decades. Adding it all up, the total amount of lost sales over that period would be mind boggling. Such a shame really and so unnecessary. He has basically flittered away the golden years of his sales career and those years can't be brought back - they are gone forever.

If you want to see revenues go up, get your people asking clients questions, before they mention anything else. Do this one simple thing and watch the difference. In today's society, with all the information we have available on how to properly serve clients, this level of sales ineptiude is unforgivable and inexplicable. No more excuses, time to become a true professional.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.