Sales Success Through Kind Ruthlessness

The Power of Saying What You're Thinking

I’m sure you can think of a client situation, either in the sales cycle or in the engagement itself, where you were granting concession after concession, dealing with obstacles and objections that just seemed to build. The smile painted on your face thinned with your patience at each inconvenience then finally, you snapped. You dropped all pretence of politeness and put an end to the silliness with one ruthless swoop.

How did you feel after? Probably a mixture of relief and guilt. Relief from the pressure that was building as you continued to do the wrong thing or allow the client to do the wrong thing and guilt from the way you treated the client when you finally mustered the courage to correct. To be clear, your behaviour was the source of your relief and your manner or emotional state was the source of your guilt, right? So let’s keep the ruthless behaviour and drop the angry or frustrated emotional state. Kind ruthlessness is what you are striving for. Say what you think and say it with a smile. It’s actually quite easy once you identify the source of the frustration.

How many times have you been in a sales situation thinking, but never asking any of the following…

We’re really just the filler – your third bid in this process, aren’t we?

That’s not enough money.

That’s not enough time.

Who are the other firms under consideration?

What criteria are you using to make the decision?

There’s a better way to do this.

We don’t work that way.

We’ll get started once we receive the deposit.

I’m not going to do that.

You’re treating our people poorly.

Most stress is caused by the things you don’t do. Your frustration in these moments increases with the gap between what you know you should do and what you actually do. Your anger is toward yourself over your own inability to behave properly. If you do the right thing early there is no stress, making it easy to be kind. Ruthless in your behaviour and kind in your words. Kind ruthlessness. Smile when you say it.

In any scenario where you find yourself thinking these things you’re far better off saying what you think as soon as it occurs to you than you are second guessing your instinct, giving the client a pass or waiting for a better moment. The sooner you can say what you think the less emotion you will attach to the words. The angst is created by the gap in time between when you have the thought and when you finally utter it. The longer you hold it in the more likely it is to come out as mean, bitchy or unprofessional. So just say it and say it soon.

Some Helpful Hints

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell and have you think you’ll enjoy the journey. That’s what you’re striving for here. While diplomatic skills come easily to some, to many they have to be learned...

This full version of this article is available on winwithoutpitching.com