The kids are alright | #3 of Sales, Playbooks & Rock'n'Roll

I was 8 years old when Keith Moon died at the age of 32.?

I was 18 years old when I started listening to The Who and found out who he was. So I admit and the truth is that everything I know about him I know second or third hand.

For me, Keith Moon was first and foremost this crazy drummer who smashed his drum kit during a show and was simply THE "enfant terrible" of rock music. I really underestimated Keith Moon's influence at first.

Yes, I could hear the complexity of this drumming, but not being a drummer myself, I had no idea how influential he was for generations of drummers to come.

And since I am no drummer, I should stay away from explaining the genius of Keith Moon. I leave this to the experts. If you want to know why “Moon the Loon” was such an influential rock musician, I recommend this 28minutes YouTube Video from Drumeo :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQQX_SrLq0

Watch this and you may understand why I picked Keith as my theme for this issue of Sales, Playbooks and Rock'n'Roll.

But wait, this issue is not about the craziness or brilliance of a sales pitch as you might think now. It is about the affordable truth of a sales pitch.

It's about the affordable truth of a sales pitch

Here is why:

My understanding about the personality of Keith Moon entirely changed when I watched the documentary “The Kids are Alright” from 1979 for the first time. Keith died just a few months after the movie's recording and before its release.

The movie is about the band and their career and has become a memorial for Keith Moon featuring the band's last performance with him.

In this movie there is one scene that I memorized the most. Watch it in this very short YouTube Video:

Keith Moon: The truth, as you wanna hear it? I can't do that! You couldn't afford me!

It took me a few years to understand the depth of this statement.

Yes, I thought it was funny straight away, but it wasn't meant to be funny. It shows how much intellect and thought was behind the silliness and craziness of Keith Moon. He knew exactly what he was doing while performing, what he wanted to achieve with his (crazy) actions and how much value he created for the band's brand. He played with the truth of his personality to sell the show. Maybe this playing with the truth killed him?

The truth in a sales conversation has the highest priority and is of priceless value. It is the basis for trust between customer and seller.

Truth is the basis of trust between customer and seller.

At the same time, how much truth can we really afford during a sales pitch? Sales people have a reputation, especially when you ask service and product people, for exaggerating the true capabilities of their product in order to win business. I'm not sure that's true ;-)

Every salesperson has certainly experienced one of those moments during a sales pitch when you have to decide whether to stick to the factual truth or whether to bend your words so that the prospect you are talking to perceives a slightly different facet of the truth. A seller who denies this is not telling the truth.

But where is the line to be drawn? What level of truth is required to serve prospects in their best interest? How can you paraphrase the truth when necessary to help your customers and take away their fear of making a wrong decision?

Here is a simple example of a question a sales person of an early stage startup may struggle with: "How many reference customers do you have in my industry?" A prospect who asks this simple question certainly doesn't want to hear: "None", even if that is the truth.

Keith Moon, in his interview, gives us an important hint on how to deal with such a question. He didn't say "The truth? I can't do that! You couldn't afford me." He said: "The truth, as you wanna hear it? I can't do that! You couldn't afford me."

The truth, as you wanna hear it

Adding "as you wanna hear it" is very important! Ask yourself: Why is my prospect asking such a question? What fear led to this question? What does she or he need to hear to become comfortable with your offer? Consider whether you can give truthful answers that will help the other person come to a conclusion without supporting these fears.

In our simple example, the customer fears that the product may not be suitable for his industry. He is looking for validation. Are you sure that this fear is unjustified? If so, then, instead of "None" you can also say: "We are at an early stage of gaining traction in your industry and I cannot openly talk about reference customers at this time. I have no permission yet. However, since you ask: If we get together, would you be willing to serve as a reference for your peers in your industry, who ask the same question?"

With such an answer, you turn the tables and ask your customer to tell the truth now. Just like Keith did by saying, "You couldn't afford me." He created a barrier for the interviewer that was too high to get to the truth.

Basically your prospects have two options now: Yes or no. If they want to say "no", they should recognize that they have no right to demand this from other customers for their own benefit. If they say "yes", you can turn around now and say "this is great and I appreciate your willingness to become a reference customer yourself. Let me come back to you on this, as soon as we got permission from other clients to reference them and I will bring you in touch. In the mean time, let's focus on solving your business needs so that you can follow their example". So you didn't say "none" and stuck to the truth.

I have used such a phrase on several occasions, and the fact that I did not yet have any reference customers was no longer an obstacle to such a deal. Of course, I was in a much better position later when I no longer needed such a phrase and could name one or two other customers in the same industry.

What does this mean for your Sales Playbook? Quite simply, you need to prepare for questions that might challenge you to stick to the factual truth.

Prepare yourself for questions that might challenge you to stick to the truth.

Be aware of your weaknesses and competitive disadvantages. Find a way to overcome questions that seem to address them directly with answers that draw the customer's attention to another, more favorable topic or action. But very important: Don't get used to such answers, even if they seem to work. Address this weakness with your team and fix it as soon as possible before the truth comes back to haunt you and potentially kill your business.

Tackle your weaknesses before the truth haunts you and kills your business

Keith Moon died from an overdose of the prescribed tranquillizer Clomethiazole, which he took to get rid of his alcohol addiction.

Header photo taken by NIK (instagram.com/silverskullpix ) for Dark-Art. Band is Warbringer playing in Mannheim in 2023: https://dark-art.com/bericht-ravaging-europe-2023-tour-im-7er-club-mannheim-29-03-23/

Look forward to the next issue of Sales, Playbooks & Rock'n'Roll: Stairway to heaven.

Rock stars are nothing less than some of the best Salespeople in the world. Let's learn from them... This is how it began: Issue #1.