The Top 10% of All Salespeople are 4,000% Better at this than the Bottom 10%
Dave Kurlan
Sales Transformations | Sales Performance Expert | Best-Selling Author | Award-Winning Blogger | Columnist at Top Sales Magazine | Top-Rated Sales Trainer | Top-Rated Speaker | CEO
This weekend, a deer ran across the highway and hit our car.?The deer was injured but she did manage to run away so we were relieved that she wasn't killed.?After we returned home, I couldn't find our dog, Dinger.?Regular readers may remember Dinger from these posts:
I found Dinger with his nose glued to my front bumper where some of the deer's hair was still attached to my car.?Dinger, who loves to bark at deer from the safety of our home, seemed to be saying, "Ohhhh, so THIS is what a deer smells like!"
The exact same thing happened to a salesperson I was training.?It wasn't a deer or a dog, it was about Jim's sales aha moment.
His team was asked to send me an email with their five biggest lessons from their first six months of training.?Among Jim's top five was this one:
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Your own bias affects the selling process?- Wow!?I did not realize that my biases are affecting my sales process and approaches.?For example, I have a money bias that was unknown to me until recently.?I make a strange face (as if I am going to get punched in the face) whenever I tell the client the cost for a service or product.?I started noticing my strange face recently on my zoom calls and I now know that my money bias was likely affecting my sales.?I was not confident in my ask for the cost of the service or the product and thus it showed on my face as I waited for the client's rebuttal.?(And usually their?rebuttal would feel like they punched me in the face)
What a great lesson!?Jim was referring to a sales competency found in his Sales DNA called?Comfortable Discussing Money?and an attribute called?High Money Tolerance?found in another competency,?Supportive Buy Cycle.?
Salespeople who?don't?have high money tolerance become very uncomfortable when the amount of money being discussed exceeds the amount they consider to be a lot of money.?Jim believed that $500 is a lot of money yet he was asking companies for $500,000.?No wonder he made a strange face - that's 1,000 times greater than his choking point!?If the salesperson lacks confidence in how much money they are asking for, why in the world would we expect the prospect to have any confidence about buying from the salesperson?
The top 10% of all salespeople are 4,000% more comfortable discussing money than the weakest 10% - 4,000%!?And the top 10% of all salespeople are 100% more likely to have a high money tolerance than the weakest 10%.
Finally, being comfortable discussing money and having a high money tolerance directly support a salesperson's ability to uncover the actual budget.?Salespeople who do uncover the actual budget are 172% more likely to close the business - 172%!
Objective Management Group (OMG) measures 21 Sales Core Competencies and has assessed more than 2.2 million salespeople.?You can view some of the data?here , see how the data changes by industry, and how you and/or your sales team compares to other companies in your industry and overall.
This article was first published on the Understanding the Sales Force Blog at https://omghub.com/salesdevelopmentblog
President at Scottsdale Sales Training (Sandler) ?? Helping growth-oriented Presidents, Owners and CEOs increase revenue, shorten sales cycles and hire better performing sales teams ? 30+ years in the sales field
1 年Great lesson, Dave. Years ago, before it met you, I used the “belly button” close. When a prospect asked me how much, I gave the answer as I looked down at my belly button. I could not look the prospect in the eye as I dropped that huge number on him or her. Now, mostly thanks to you, I’m proud to confirm that large number that I already knew the prospect is willing to pay, and I deliver it while still looking straight at them.
Owner at Moore Power Sales
1 年Great self awareness and recognition by the rep!
??Don't buy sales training, buy results! Talks about #sales, #saas #salestraining, #salescoaching, #salesmindset, #inbound/outbound selling. Specialises in training and coaching remote sales teams around the world.
1 年Great research Dave Kurlan. There’s a theory called the Money Blue Print. It basically says we naturally rise to the salary and financial position of our parents but then stall. For most salespeople this is their self imposed glass ceiling.
I help CEOs and Heads of Revenue hire sales producers | Host of Get Me Someone Who Can Sell ???
1 年Another awesome post, Dave Kurlan! 4000%!! Mind blown! and so glad that deer was ok. Do you notice money weakness gets better with more sales experience or is it something you are stuck with until its coached out of you?