Selling for Dummies
Idea Guy Tom Peters has given us 111 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts on Selling. (Free PDF in the link).
Well, if they’re so obvious (duh) why do so many so-called sales experts (much less the rest of us) not do them? Sometimes it’s the obvious stuff that we miss - it’s so close to us, we can’t focus.
Here are three of my favorites (and my comments) from the list:
#23 Great Listeners are great salespeople.
Hmmm. Yep, this one is obvious, but brings to mind one sales trainer that was so busy talking at me about how I should listen, I couldn’t get a word in edge-wise. Then there was the fella who - even when I told him I knew the data he was showing me - still forced me to sit through his pre-canned, step-by-step PowerPoint pitch for an e-commerce sales “solution.” Well, there’s two hours of life I’ll never get back. I was polite, but I also didn’t recommend that my client buy the service.
#36 Don’t waste your time on jerks. It’ll rarely work out in the mid- or long-term.
If they’re rude and waste you time when you’re selling - guess what kind of customer they’d be? A friend of mine has been “working” a deal with a huge company for over three years. They keep stringing her along, asking for more information, rescheduling or cancelling meetings, and so on. That’s jerky behavior.
If they’re not returning your calls or responding to a proposal - they’re just not that into you. It’s impossible to be a great listener if they’re not talking. All the sales technique in the world isn’t going to make any difference if they’re flat not interested.
#46. Keep it simple! (Damn it!) No matter how “sophisticated” the product. If you can’t explain it in a phrase, a page, or to your 14-year-old … you haven’t got it
right yet.
If you’re spending more time “educating” the potential customer than you are listening (and selling) - it’s likely falling into the category of noise for them anyway. Don’t try to tell them everything at once. (I’m bad at this one, I freely admit - so I’ll stop writing now!)
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March 13th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Mary, you picked some of my favorites! Especially “great listeners are great sales people”.
When I worked at Saturn I asked sales consultants to “be willing not to know” (even if you do). All I was arguing for was a willingness to listen and let the customer (we called them “guests” at Saturn) what relevance looks like.
I liked quoting an Old Testament verse from Eccl. 6:11, “the more the words the less the meaning, and how does that help anyone?”
You likely already know this but Gladwell in Blink has a wonderful bit on “narrative medicine” and what happens when doctors listen a just little longer to patients.
March 14th, 2006 at 6:54 am
Listen to patients? Surely you jest. And, yes, Gladwell’s books are always a great whack in the perspective. Toby Bloomberg just posted an interesting conversation she had with a physician about blogging. He thinks they’re a waste of time and he doesn’t need to talk more to his patients.
Which brings me to: When selling you also have to sit aside any idea that you’re smarter or better educated than the customer. (Docs tend to have a real God complex). You’ll be rushing right ahead to what you think is the solution (and likely talking over the customer) - and may well miss what the problem really is (and I also find I learn as much from my clients as they do from me…There’s always a different perspective, nugget of knowledge in a new industry or business.)
October 24th, 2006 at 8:36 am
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