The Curse of the classic Talesman...

Prospects buy for their own reasons, never for ours.

Research tells us that Buyers are 57 per cent of the way through their buying process, before we, the sales person, even show up.

Is this what inspires the un-initiated to 'pitch up' and 'pitch at' prospects, I wonder?

I get calls daily from the 'untrained' masses of 'sales' people who have been handed a phone and told (I suspect there is little teaching that goes on) to ring unsuspecting punters up and talk at them until they either 'cut you off' or 'surrender and buy'.

This is the Curse of the classic Talesman!

In Sandler we learn that at the start of every great meeting we must establish a 'watertight' up-front contract. I share some insights on up-front contracting in an earlier post: All's Well That Starts Well

Once we have established a mutually acceptable upfront contact, what happens next?

We move into the process of qualifying the prospect right?

For some this requires little more than subtle evidence that they are sat opposite another human being. The ability for the prospect to 'mist a mirror' is often sufficient.

Our objective in this next step of our Sales Process is to ask some pertinent, inspiring, questions that allow the prospect to open up and share the truth of their situation with us.

Sales (and selling) is simply the search for the truth!

Our goal is encourage the prospect to qualify themselves in as a potential customer that we can work and want to work well with. We must establish a clearly defined and unquestionable 'fit. Not the other way around.

We need to be able to understand not only what the prospect wants, but why they want it?

Taking the appropriate amount of time to learn this information not only allows you to determine what a “best-fit” solution would be for them, but also distinguishes us from the army of Talespeople who are all too eager to project their ‘story’ all over the prospect.

Two conditions must be met then before you commit your (companies) time, effort, and money to creating and presenting proposals, presentations and demonstrations:

1) You must qualify the opportunity by trying to disqualify the prospect!

2) Your prospect must be in a position to say Yes or No!

There are only two things that motivate people to do anything, including buy from you, Pain and Pleasure. In Sandler terms, “Pain” is someone’s compelling emotional reason to do business with you. It can be one of the four motives below.

• Pain in the present
• Pain in the future – or what we might call “fear” or "worry"
• Pleasure in the present
• Pleasure in the future

How can I get them in 'Pain'?

Psychologists suggest that people are more likely to take action to avoid pain than they are to gain pleasure.

The first step is to go looking for Pain Indicators.

Pain Indicators are the prospect’s recognition or admission of a problem, concern, fear, or unattained goal that can be addressed by your product or service.

People don’t buy features and benefits; they buy ways to avoid or overcome pain.

In your Pain Step, you want to uncover all the problems or reasons the prospect may have for buying from you and help them to discover the impact. 

The three elements, or levels, of pain are:

• Surface problems (pain indicators)
• Reasons for the surface problems (business reasons)
• Personal impact

Once you have identified potential reasons for prospects to do business with you, you can help them “discover” those reasons by asking Problem Awareness questions to “test the waters” as to how relevant and important those reasons might be to them.

In Sandler we have a very elegant system for helping the prospect uncover, recognise and openly admit their 'Pain'. The Sandler Pain funnel.

Once the problem(s) have been fully defined and you have decided the prospect is committed to dealing with them, it's time to explore and help the prospect discover, the underlying reasons for the problem.

When you’re telling, you’re not selling.

Take stock of where you are at with your current sales approach. Are you suffering from the Curse of the Classic Talesman?

When you’re telling, you’re not selling.

Getting clients in Pain and having them qualify themselves in as prospects for us will take the nasty surprises out of our selling process and stop you leaving prospect meetings feeling like a punch-drunk boxer.

If you need to develop your selling system and want to sell more, more often, to more people, for more money call me on 0118 969 1752 or eMail me on [email protected].

Or you could request dates for one of my regular complimentary Sandler Selling System Master Classes here.