Salespeople are trained to disregard the need to understand what their prospect needs and wants. Seriously. Based on actual behaviors there is no other conclusion. Salespeople have a belief that their job is to convince the prospect of a need for whatever product or service the salesperson is offering. So, they spend a lot of time talking and little to no time listening. And they wonder why it’s so hard to close a sale!
Throughout time, salespeople have adopted the idea that everyone is a potential customer. They view everyone they meet through the lens of a sale. Chances are you’ve been the victim of this at one time or another. I’m guessing you didn’t like it. We have a disconnect here. On one side we have the salesperson convincing, persuading, cajoling, and talking, trying to get you, the prospect, to buy. On the other side we have you, the prospect, feeling harassed, pushed, strong-armed. Add to that the feeling of not being understood. This just isn’t a recipe for success. Some prospects might buckle under the pressure and say yes. But they’ll only do that once. After that the salesperson will find it difficult to re-engage. The now client will have learned the art of avoidance. Most people will disengage right away, leaving the salesperson wondering what went wrong.
The sales manager will lean on the salesperson to be more aggressive, try tricks, and ‘no-brainer’ deals to coerce the prospect into buying. The prospect will continue to recoil. And the cycle continues. Time to take a giant step back and reconsider process and methodology.
Okay, we’ve determined this setup is bound for failure. So, what should salespeople be doing to close more deals? The first thing is to accept the truth that the salesperson has no idea what the prospect wants or needs. Assuming you know is dangerous. It leads you to circumvent critically important information gathering and consideration. When you realize that you don’t know anything about the prospect you can now go on a discovery mission.
The second step in closing more deals is to devise a comprehensive list of questions you should be asking in order to fully understand the prospect. These questions go beyond the possible need for your product or service. You need to develop a deep understanding of the prospect. Who are they? How do they decision make? What’s their timeline? Have they worked with anyone in your industry in the past? Do they right now? What was/is their experience? What’s their investment tolerance? What does success look like? How do they problem solve?
How they answer these questions gives you a window into what it will be like to work with them. If they aren’t forthcoming with the answers there’s a strong chance they don’t want to work with you. If their answers uncover an expectation that they will be difficult to work with, that’s valuable information. If their answers jive with your business practices and expectations, there’s a chance they could become a great client.
And, it bears repeating – you don’t know until you ask. Until you ask and really listen to the answers. You can’t just go through the motions. You need to be open minded, and out of sales mode.
Sales mode is when you are so focused on making the sale that you disregard anything that might get in the way. You play down any danger signs. You convince yourself that it isn’t going to be that bad. And, possibly more troubling is that you telegraph to your prospect that you solely focused on closing the deal. When they realize this truth they won’t want to work with you.
Your job is not to convince. It is to discover. Discover what the prospect needs, how they work, what they value. Frame that information against what you offer, how you work, and what you value. When you do, finally, speak, you should be confirming what you heard and matching it to your solution. When you do this, you are telling the prospect that you respect them. You’re telegraphing that your main interest is in discovering whether you can help them; that you are genuinely interested in learning about them.
When a prospect feels like the salesperson is truly interested in helping, not selling, they are more likely to share information. Trust is built through authentic curiosity. If we lead with the premise that you don’t know whether you can help the prospect AND you don’t know whether you want to work with them your only course of action is to find out.
In truth, the conversation is much easier and natural when you approach it with a desire to learn, not sell. You can even start the conversation saying that you aren’t there to sell anything. It’ll remind you why you are there and it’ll help the prospect feel less vulnerable.
We don’t know what prospects really want. Well, here’s what we do know. They don’t want to be sold. They do want to be respected. They do want to be listened to. They don’t want to feel like someone is trying to convince them they need something. They do want to feel like the salesperson is genuinely interested in learning about the need and determining whether there’s an opportunity to help. They want to feel like they matter; that they’re not just another bell-ring.
Hmmm, I guess we really do know what prospects want! How ‘bout we give it to them?