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Think like a prospect for a second and tell yourself how you would feel if you received the following cold call, “Hi, this is Bill and I am your account rep at XYZ Company. We’ve been in business for 22 years and have the largest selection of widgets in the western U.S. I was just calling on you today to see if I could talk with you about your widget use…”

Do you think prospects are tired of hearing that same initial cold call from every salesperson from every continent on earth? Think about the cold calls you’ve heard your sales peers make. They’re all the same, aren’t they? No wonder prospects get annoyed with salespeople.

Sales proposals are another example. Do you think prospects get tired of seeing the same bloated proposals with all of the same elements from every salesperson they see? [Tip: They go right to the price page anyway; if you have some really critical points you want to make, be sure to put them on the price page. More on this in a later post.]

The fact is that most salespeople have average results precisely because they do what every other salesperson is doing. We tend to all look the same because we are the same in our sales approach. When we start a new sales job what do we do? We look around and mirror what everyone else is doing at our new employer.

We feel safe doing what we see others do. We all know that sheep feel safest when they do what the rest of the herd is doing.

We pay a steep price in our sales results when we default to the that’s-how-everyone-does-it sales approach. Sales superstars do crazy and different things to increase their sales revenues and rise above the background noise of their competitors.

I love to hear low producing salespeople make fun of the sales techniques used by the superstars. Do you know why they make fun of these above average performers? Because they are doing something outside of the norm that makes the sub-performers uncomfortable. Instead of making fun of them, they should be learning from them.

Being different and trying new things can be scary and requires work. The work includes learning new sales skills, observing sales superstars, experimenting with new sales ideas and getting out of your sales comfort zone. Keep in mind, being different and trying new things means you’ll fail sometimes too. But the superstars and the soon-to-be-superstars get right back on their feet and keep learning and trying new things.

To close, I’d like to give you some questions to see if you are rising above the white noise of stale sales techniques. If you answer “yes” to two or more of these you might be on the right track.

Are you always in trouble with your sales manager for trying crazy ideas, yet your sales are stellar?
Are your fellow sales professionals always interested in the details of exactly how you landed that last big order?
Do you find that your sales manager has to frequently run interference for you each time you land a big order because you have so many special requests of marketing, product support, pre-sales support, etc.?
Does the VP of Sales or President of your company have to call various department heads from time to time with a message that is similar to, “I know Steve frequently has requests of your department that are unusual, but make sure you work with him as he is about to land another big order.”

How did you do?

Now go out and go crazy. Your prospects are waiting for something fresh.

If you’re not already a subscriber, <click here> to receive Sales Vitamins™ by email or <click here> to subscribe to the RSS feed. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Running up against competitors is a green light, not a red light. Here’s why.

Several years ago I was working with a salesperson and we made a planned call on a prospect. The prospect told us that she was buying from competitor X and there probably wasn’t a reason to talk further. What did this salesperson do in the face of competition? He put his tail between his legs, meekly said “okay” and ducked out of the prospect’s office.

Why did this salesperson run for cover when he was up against the competition? He had no good answers, but I think I do. I have observed that this kind of reaction to competition is common.

Do you feel you or your company aren’t capable of taking on the competition? Do you feel uncomfortable in assertively making your case with a prospect in the face of competition? Very few prospects are going to roll out the red carpet for you if they perceive they are happy with their current supplier. You’ll have to fight for the business. We have to be confident in ourselves and our company. We also have to be able to assertively persuade prospects of our value if we realistically hope to steal business away from the competition.

When we find a prospect that is buying from a competitor we instantly move from home plate to first base. Why? If a company is buying from one of our direct competitors we are virtually assured that we have a qualified prospect on our hands. How convenient.

We’ve all heard this before, “But we don’t stand a chance against X at that prospect because we can’t match their prices.” Virtually every study that has ever been done on why decision makers buy from a particular vendor places price as the fifth or sixth most important criteria. People buy primarily because of quality, service and limited risk. Simply stated, if you can demonstrate to the prospect that you’re stronger in those areas, you’ll get the business.

When you know who your competition is (and therefore their strengths and weaknesses) you know exactly where and how to strike. Competitors lead you to qualified prospects. People buy on quality, service and limited risk, not just price. Now get that tail out from between your legs.

If you’re not already a subscriber, <click here> to receive Sales Vitamins™ by email or <click here> to subscribe to the RSS feed. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Summary: Some of the most effective sales techniques we can use are completely counter-intuitive; they work in a way that is completely the opposite of what we are expecting.

I love watching the old Star Trek episodes. The episodes that involved battles between the Starship Enterprise and the Klingon starships were especially great. Phasers, photon torpedoes, I enjoyed it all.

In one episode the Starship Enterprise was completed outgunned by multiple Klingon starships. There was no way that Scotty was going to be able to work his engineering magic in time to pull them out of this one. At just the moment that most captains would have made a desperate and feeble attempt to fire on the Klingon starships, Captain Kirk told Sulu to “lower the shields.” That’s right. He instructed his helm officer to turn off all of their remaining defenses and become completely vulnerable.

What happened next? The Klingons were so surprised by this “laying down of arms” that they followed suit. They stopped attacking and opened up communication with the Enterprise. They started talking and a compromise was reached. Captain Kirk’s insight saved the day (and consequently allowed them to make many more episodes and movies for me to enjoy).

While this is science fiction, the principle is not. If you want to open up the lines of communication with your customer, especially if there is conflict, then “lay down your arms.” Defensiveness and aggressive behavior toward an unhappy customer only serve to make the situation worse by making them increasingly defensive and aggressive. Consider the following:

Customer: You guys completely messed up our last order and caused our production line to be down for 48 hours, costing us $450,000.

Salesperson #1 response: That may be, but I can prove you ordered the wrong parts. I’m not taking responsibility for this one.

Salesperson #2 response: I know that having your production line down for that long is completely unacceptable to your company. I want to do a post-mortem with you on this order and let’s see what we can do to ensure that this never happens again.

The first salesperson only caused the customer to get more upset and defensive. This salesperson was ultimately going to lose the battle. By “lowering the shields” Salesperson #2 started to immediately diffuse the customer’s anger and laid out a blueprint for future business.

We’re all human. Our natural tendency is to respond to a customer’s anger with defensiveness. But it doesn’t work very well. “Lowering your shields” provides a pathway for communication and inspires your customer to turn off their phasers. Captain Kirk knew best.

Do you have a customer service issue that could be addressed by “lowering your shields?”

If you’re not already a subscriber, click here (salesvitamins.com) to subscribe and automatically receive Sales Vitamins™ as new posts become available. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

I had the distinct pleasure of going Christmas shopping with my daughter last weekend. When I interact with retail salespeople I always come away with a sales training story to tell; this shopping spree was no exception.

Let me begin by saying that I am all about being confident and taking charge with customers and prospects whether you are in retail or business to business sales. Customers want you to take control and assist them; that’s why we have salespeople in the first place. Sometimes I think we forget that. But there is a limit.

My daughter and I were considering a purchase at a department store that is known for their outstanding customer service. Surprisingly, the salesperson that was helping us could not have been more annoying if she had been coached to do so. Included in her many sins was that she was inappropriately aggressive. In spite of her, we bought something. Sadly, I’m afraid that our purchase will only serve to reinforce her less than stellar sales techniques (this is known as the “Benevolent Dolphin” effect which I will cover in another post). We went on to another well known department store and ran into another pugnacious salesperson. Her aggressiveness made me think that if I found myself in a street fight, I would want her on my side; victory would be certain.

I used to have a sales manager that told me, “Scott, don’t push on customers; just lean on them.” What great sales advice that was. We need to be assertive with customers but never aggressive like the two salespeople mentioned above. Assertive means confident and self assured. Would you trust your doctor if he or she weren’t confident and self assured? Your customers won’t trust you either if you aren’t confident and self assured and they will be less likely to buy from you.

Being aggressive with customers is normally counterproductive. Do you respond favorably to people that treat you in an offensive, arm twisting or forceful way? When a customer perceives that a salesperson is trying to force the sale, a bounty of objections will soon follow. They will try to stop the selling process in its tracks by using objections. How do you ensure that you’re not being aggressive (versus assertive) with prospects and customers? Talk to an experienced salesperson that you trust who has observed you on numerous sales calls. Allow them to give you some honest feedback. It might be that you have the opposite problem, being too meek; either way, the feedback will be good.

Every prospect or customer has a different threshold for when they believe a salesperson is becoming aggressive and therefore offensive. We have to adjust our assertiveness for every person we contact. Controlled assertiveness is a necessary ingredient to be successful in sales. Aggressiveness is never well received.

If you’re not already a subscriber, click here (salesvitamins.com) to subscribe and automatically receive Sales Vitamins™ as new posts become available. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer