Do you or your people ‘show up’ and ‘throw up’?

I have done dozens and dozens of sales accompaniments, often as part of trying to understand the needs of a new potential client. Here’s a typical scenario:

We’re meeting a new prospect executive for the first time as part of a sales pursuit. Having been ushered into the office, made our introductions and stirred our coffee, it’s time to get down to business. The sales executive pulls his diligently prepared 60 slide presentation deck out of his briefcase (only 60 slides? I hear you ask) and I can see and feel the atmosphere change. From the body language I can see that there are some of the following possible thoughts going through the prospect’s mind, such as:

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Should I surreptitiously text my PA and arrange for the meeting to be ‘interrupted’ by an ‘urgent’ client matter in 10 minutes time?”

“I’ll just keep nodding, say nothing, and hope they finish within the allotted hour.”

Alternatively, the prospect or client may think “I’ll hijack this by asking some questions.” They then ask a simple question such as:

“We’re having a problem with [whatever the subject is]. How can your firm help us?”

or

“I heard you have a new offering in the [subject] space. Tell me more about your [subject] solutions.”

They are then rewarded (although I am not sure they value it) with a long, uninterruptable monologue about the seller’s organisation, the seller’s solutions, the seller’s clients, the sellers’ case studies, features, functions… and maybe even a white board or flip chart session to demonstrate just how great the seller is.

Why do traditional sellers do this?

• They think that if they get to the demo, prospects will be overwhelmed and compelled to buy from them.
• They are most comfortable talking about the products and solutions they know and are passionate about.
• They are afraid to ask questions that may be seen by the client as invasive or slowing down the process.
• They believe that anything they can do to accelerate the decision is good for them – so they skip vital steps in the process.

The fact is that client executives are usually overwhelmed by the amount of information that sellers throw at them (I call it the ‘show-up and throw-up’ approach). This has the exact opposite of the desired effect and things slow down or stop, rather than accelerate.

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