By Marc Wayshak
The Internet has changed everything for salespeople and their prospects. Information is cheap, and customers no longer need a big sales pitch explaining all the features and benefits of a product. There’s a website for that—and probably more than one.
As a result, today’s prospects are armed with lots of information and are savvier than ever. At the same time, they also are busier than in the past. In fact, the average corporate employee has more than a full week’s worth of work piled up on her desk. Times clearly are very different in the 21st century—and salespeople and business owners must adapt or die.
A salesperson’s job now entails helping prospects discover whether or not they’re the right fit for a particular product or service. Most important, the ability to close a sale in today’s economy depends more on one’s mindset than a specific closing technique.
Casting away old models
Consider the case of Bill, a manager at a mid-size mattress manufacturer struggling with sales despite having an intelligent and energetic team. The team had been coached by an old-school sales trainer to smile a lot, turn on the charm and give rehearsed pitches based on preliminary probing questions. But these salespeople simply were not closing deals—and the deals they did close were won only through very competitive pricing.
Bill didn’t understand what the problem was. His salespeople often would get positive feedback from prospects about how they were treated, and people always mentioned how his sales team had “the gift of gab.”
But by giving rehearsed sales pitches based on little information, being insincerely smiley and friendly, and trying to persuade prospects rather than understand them, Bill’s salespeople were acting like all the other salespeople the prospects had met.
It’s not that this stuff is inherently wrong—it’s just extremely common. When the salespeople were perceived as being like every other salesperson out there, they instantly appeared to offer lower value to prospects.
Standing out from the pack
To close sales in today’s economy, salespeople must be different from the rest of the pack. By being authentic and seeking to truly understand prospects, a salesperson can separate himself from the majority of competitors. The key is thinking of yourself as a doctor rather than as a salesperson.
When you go to the doctor with a problem in your elbow, the doctor doesn’t say, “Well, I have a solution for you! You’re simply going to love this fantastic arthroscopic surgery that we can offer. It is so great!”
That would be ridiculous and insincere, but that is what most salespeople do.
A good doctor asks you where it hurts, what it feels like and what you’ve been doing that might have caused the pain. Consider mirroring this doctor-patient dynamic in your selling life. Replace all of that enthusiasm with a genuine desire to understand where prospects hurt and determine whether you can help them.
People open up to those who they believe genuinely are concerned and interested. A deeper connection with a sales prospect is ultimately created when he feels you seek to understand his situation.
That is why salespeople must change their approach. The entire focus of sales discussions must be on the prospect and his situation. And this is best achieved when you ask questions that dig into where the prospect isn’t satisfied with his current situation—the “hurt” that would be discussed in the doctor’s office.
Rather than begin a sales discussion by talking about the benefits of your product, consider these openers:
- “Tell me about your challenges with your current product.”
- “Give me an example of that challenge.”
- “Tell me a little more about this situation.”
Keeping it simple
It goes back to that doctor’s mindset. A good doctor will thoroughly examine a patient before telling the patient if there’s a solution. Only a quack doctor will offer a solution without identifying the real problem.
Salespeople also must have this mindset and make it their job to quickly and effectively discover which products will be the best fit for prospects’ needs.
As life has become more complicated, many salespeople have sought more complicated solutions to their selling problems. But the solution is not complicated. It’s as simple as a small shift in mindset.
The legendary professional football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things—blocking and tackling.”
The same is true for selling. By changing your mindset to think more like a doctor, rather than a traditional salesperson, you immediately move into an elite group that stands out from the pack. This is the difference required to close sales in the new economy.
Marc Wayshak is a sales coach and the author of two books on sales and motivation, Game Plan Selling and Breaking All Barriers. For his free sales e-book or to learn more about his training, coaching and consulting, visit www.marcwayshak.com.
