Monday Morning Manager
Symptoms:
Hayden was ready for her first call of the day. She had a referral into this prospect's office and had been told they were in need of getting products fast...very fast. In preparation for her meeting she pulled timelines, shipping schedules and production pieces that could impact their products she thought this prospect was interested in.
She went in guns blazing looking to impress this prospect with all of her timelines, schedules and presentation on how quickly her company can execute filling orders.
The prospect, was happy to have the shipping information, informed Hayden it wasn't their biggest obstacle to overcome when evaluating where to place an order.
Hayden left knowing she might not get the order and wishing she hadn't tried to create a problem in an effort to fix is with her company's solutions. Where she seemed to have a disconnect is the manner in which the diagnosis should have been developed in the first place.
Diagnosis:
Many times, salespeople feel their job is to "create" problems even if none exist or to talk about the product or service in an attempt to create "interest". Other Business Development folks that aren't as confident or aggressive tend to talk about their firm in an attempt to establish credibility. Premature presentations result, and this inevitably makes prospects defensive or skeptical, destroys rapport, and produces little or no results without any traction from the missing diagnosis.
The more you act like a vendor, the more you'll be treated like a vendor.
Prescription:
First, can we agree that not everyone is a prospect? Second, can we agree that most people would be happy if they were simply able to get far enough in the relationship to ask the right qualifying questions? If this is the case let's start by creating a collaborative atmosphere where the prospect is comfortable discussing their problems and priorities.
- Ask your referrals what they know about you and why they think you were introduced to them.
- Develop an effective meeting agreement with permission to ask questions and for them to do the same ... remember to use (N-O-T) Naturally - Obviously - Typically.
- Get comfortable with letting the prospect know that it is OK to say No if it doesn't look like there is a fit.
- Admit or agree that there may be conditions that will stand in the way.
- Tone down the aggressive style so that the prospect doesn’t feel pressured.
- The first meetings often set the tone for the rest of the sales cycle. Setting "Expectations" and getting "Discovery" are the engines for a smooth process. If the engines aren't running, then the process is likely to stall. Create an atmosphere where the lines of communication are more open and watch your results improve dramatically.
Critical Thinking
Have you ever been to a doctor, or maybe even asking for advice from a friend, and before you can finish explaining all you are experiencing they have a solution for you? This is the same thing as trying to solve problems that you aren't sure are there with your clients. How do you get back on track with discovery if you get off of track?
The Drill
Final Thought for the Morning:
“Malpractice is prescription before diagnosis.” ~ a Growth Dynamics tenet
“Problems represent the current state of pain, and priorities are the visions of how to handle that in the future.” ~ another Growth Dynamics tenet
Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week
LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.
THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.
