Are you ever so inappropriate that other salespeople cringe when they see or hear you? If you are not getting the results you believe you should, perhaps you should examine your actions instead of your prospects’ responses.
I spent a few hours at the Farmers Market this week. As I sat with a friend who is also a salespeople, we cringed while listened to the worst salesman to ever attempt the job. I am not exaggerating. He was so bad it was painful to listen to him alienate and irritate prospects. He made not a single sale and it was obvious to a casual listener why this was the case.
This guy was selling “green” cleaning products and his sales pitch was abominable and completely unbelievable. He led with the statement that NASA funded 64 billion dollars in research that led to the formula of his product. 64 billion dollars; yeah, right. And he got the product!
If you didn’t stop and listen, he remarked that you were stupid.
Yeah, right…
While that was depressing, the really discouraging thing was that he was “training” his partner and a salesperson prospect in the fine points of selling his product. His sales pitch was inappropriate, his behavior was inappropriate and he cast a cloud on our honorable profession.
Recently, I asked a good friend to come with me on some sales calls and carefully watch and listen to my process and delivery. She has been a frequent role model in my life and recently retired from a sales career at the age of 54. She is a great judge of the process and a great resource when you want to know what is happening as you are selling.
She made some very cogent observations that included my talking too much (typical), failing to listen carefully to questions (also typical) and bowling over an opportunity to close (darn… even more typical) What she didn’t criticize was my empathy (good) and my desire to innumerate features and benefits that are meaningful to my customer.
The reason I asked her to observe me was that I started experiencing a drop in closure rates from previous months. It was not due to the economy. It was due to my failure to stay true to my training.
If you are working harder but having less success, don’t just blindly attribute it to the economy. Maybe it is time for you to take a look at what you do and how you’re doing it.
Happy Selling!
Nowell
Tags: appropriate behavior