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Are
You Too Smart For Your Own Good?
Article 3
Are you your own worst enemy? Are you answering your prospect’s and client’s questions, demonstrating your value, showing the dollar benefits of your products and services, and still walking away empty handed? If your answer is yes, then you may be too smart for your own good. You may come across too slick. People may be suspicious and apprehensive of doing business with you. So, you may not be reading your audience correctly. You may need to rethink your sales strategy. I once took over a sales territory in Kentucky where I sold high technology equipment. At least I tried to. Seven months passed before I got my first order. I was teamed with a competent technical person who had all the answers. He could answer any question a prospect could ask, and, more important, the answers were right. In this particular part of the country, many of the prospects want to get to know you before they decide to do business with you. I thought this kind of attitude was the reason for my lack of closing business. From a sales perspective, I could get the prospect’s attention and show the benefits of using my products and services. I could cost justify the acquisition and show a realistic projected payback and return on investment before the call was over. I was providing clients with information their accountants or CPAs usually submitted. With our combined expertise, we were prepared to make a one-call close. We could identify the opportunity and tell the prospect exactly what he needed. We didn’t have a reason to come back once the call was over, because we had done everything we could possibly do, except get a commitment. After a few months, we concluded that perhaps we were coming across as too slick. We needed to invent a reason to come back. So, we decided not to answer all of the prospect’s questions and concerns during our first call, although we could have. We started telling prospects that we would get back with them with an answer. We would schedule an appointment and return at a later time. Once we came back with the answer, we started making sales. The problem: We were coming in too professional and over prepared for a group of prospects who were not used to dealing with salespeople of our caliber. The solution: We “dummied” ourselves down. We quit having all of the answers. We started working with the prospects as a team and let them come up with a solution instead of automatically providing the answer ourselves. The results: I had the #2 producing territory in our branch office that year after going seven months without a sale.
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By
Terry Booton, President