Sales Fear Series – Fear of Hard Conversations

Let’s start this discussion off with some data, shall we? Here are four interesting sales statistics from a Zendesk blog.

Did you know:

·???????8 out of 10 prospects prefer email over other forms of initial contact

·???????80 percent of sales require five follow-up calls to be successful???

·???????40% of salespeople think prospecting is the hardest part of the sales process

·???????60 percent of customers will say no four times before they agree to a deal

From these data points, it can be inferred that a strong sales process is going to require multiple prospect touches. That means there will need to be multiple emails, calls, and presentations made to close the business. When you consider the amount of required engagement to achieve success, the idea of salespeople having a fear of hard conversations does not add up.

But it’s true. Salespeople may struggle to discover success because they wrestle with the idea that they may have to engage in a challenging discourse with a prospect.

Why can’t sales be easier? How come the customers won’t simply email what they really want and ask the salesperson for their permission to buy??Well, if that were to happen it wouldn’t be called ‘sales’, it would be called ‘order fulfillment’.

Salespeople struggle with a fear of hard conversations because the potential for conflict brings them anxiety, it exposes weaknesses, and it forces them to acknowledge that there can be differing realities.

Work can be filled with anxiety. Attending college has its share of anxiety. Adulting is full of anxious moments. So, it is only natural to avoid, and out of self-preservation run from conflict. Salespeople are very skilled at looking for the paths of least resistance. They resist getting entangled in a challenging conversation because they recognize hesitation from a prospect as a sign of resistance.

Hard conversations with a prospect have the potential to reveal weaknesses in both the salesperson’s knowledge and skills, as well as in the solution they are proposing. Nothing can set a salesperson back on their heels faster than a prospect asking why your product doesn’t do X or solve Y. Most veteran salespeople have been through various training programs that equipped them to have an answer for almost every scenario. And yet, defending their product or their company can pose a serious threat to their sense of calm.

“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” -T. S. Eliot

The above quote makes me think that reality is a matter of individual perspective. A salesperson’s fear of hard conversations centered around a prospect’s sense of reality is both common and one of the hardest to overcome. Because trying to fix a business problem that also incorporates elements of the personal into it can be difficult to read. Perception can be reality for business owners and managers alike. And when a salesperson must tear that belief down, a hard conversation is sure to follow.

One way to accept that hard conversations are not to be feared, is to realize that the truth of a matter untangles misperceptions. Truth can be an equalizer. It gives both the salesperson and the prospect a sandbox to develop fresh ideas in. Instead of playing defense, each party can share their respective truths and acknowledge the other’s position to achieve business success.

Another way to overcome the anxiety of a hard conversation is that the truth allows both parties to set boundaries. To know with clarity another person’s position allows the other to avoid focusing on minor things and stay committed to the immediate issues that must be resolved.

Over your sales career, how many times have you found yourself fearful of having a hard conversation with a customer, manager, or yourself? How did you avoid the situation? What have you added to your sales toolkit to engage in a hard conversation with confidence?

I’d like to open the digital floor to you and your thoughts on this subject. What is your reality??