Sales Conversations: Respond and React: Reactive is Good...
Reactive vs Proactive.
Ok, OK…Reactive is bad, right. Well, I don’t think so and let me prove it to you. I have been trying my entire life to teach people, mostly salespeople, to be better communicators. To be better providers of information. And, well, better human beings.
A lofty ambition, right? Maybe. But for over 35 years as a Salesman, a Sales Manager, Vice President of Sales, Consultant, Trainer, Writer and Speaker, I just came to a realization; We spend 75% of our time preparing to be reactive…Yes, you heard me right, reactive.
I have gone through my “feel, acknowledge, question” shtick, to teach communication hundreds of time. But it wasn’t until yesterday, yes, yesterday (after 58 years on the planet) that I realized the key is being prepared to be reactive. Those salespeople, who think they know the answer, before knowing the question, always seem to bore the crap out of the customer or pitch this month’s solution completely disregarding or even worse oblivious to the customer cues. But great salespeople, the career salespeople who think the job is fun (most of the time), get total exhilaration at listening to a customer, reacting to the objection or question, and responding in a way that energizes the client, creates self-awareness and discovery and drives the interaction to a predetermined result.
How can a predetermined result be reactive? I didn’t say don’t sell (double negative, I know). I said sell reactively from a place of knowledge and preparedness with an anticipated result in mind. A couple of examples and then I’ll wait for the defense's argument.
Let’s start at the gatekeeper.
Me:
Hi, I’m Robert Pappas from SalesLinkage.com and I’d like to speak to whoever is ultimately responsible for employee engagement and effectiveness in your organization?
Gatekeeper:
Oh, I’m not sure what it is your selling, but we’re good right now.
Me:
There is nothing better than being good, right? and I'm glad the organization is doing well. Are you the person responsible then for all the growth and satisfaction of all employees as it relates to their job growth and career enablement?
I could keep going but gatekeeper conversations are most certainly reactive. The back and forth of she said, she said, is so reactive and volatile it is a differentiator with real salespeople. I guess the point is we have to react constantly to what people say, how people act and what people are really saying under the word cloak they protect themselves with. We have to be prepared for the fluidity of known or not known objection and respond in a way to create continued conversation. Not something for the faint of heart.
You made the appointment, sold your way to the right decision maker. You researched 3 company facts, 3 personal facts and in real time gathered 3 facts about the environment you’ve entered. (I do training on efficient call prep but we won’t get into that here). The CIO comes into the room where you were seated and immediately says, “I’m so sorry we only have 30 minutes.” Proactive? Or Reactive? Go!
Great salespeople modify based on priorities they set out to communicate. They understand how to pare down topics that drive, with even more concise questions about the outcome of next steps, real value. Do we need to prepare? Yes. Do we need to acknowledge and teach reactive sales? Without a doubt. If the goal is to sit in front of a decision maker and have valuable human conversations about products and service that add value to the end user, then we need to find a way to teach the basic ability to be reactive with the information we have worked so hard to compile.
Stop teaching salespeople to present and start teaching them better interpersonal skills that allow basic communications and exchange value in their conversation.