A salesperson from a well-known business was successful in getting me on the phone a few weeks ago. We use two services owned by this business, and I thought this call had something to do with my account. This sales person was from a different division and was strategically calling customers of their other lines of technology. He was selling a file storage service. Here’s how the conversation went…
Sales Person: I wanted to let you know about a special we’re running for current customers to subscribe to our file storage services.
Me: I didn’t realize you guys did that. Can we schedule a call later in the week? I’m in an airport right now. I currently use Dropbox, but I’d like to understand if there is an advantage to bundling with the other subscriptions I have with you.
Sales Person: Are you happy with Dropbox? We … feature after feature after feature. Blah blah blah …
Me (three or four minutes later): Actually, I don’t want to go through the hassle. I’m good. Thanks.
Sound familiar? We’re so wired to sell, sell, sell, and beat the competition that all we do when we get an audience is sell, sell, sell. The only purpose of this phone call was for the sales person to schedule an appointment with me – that’s it! However, many sales people try to close the business at every step of the way. Like many things, Always Be Closing makes for killer scenes in the movies, but it’s ineffective in real life.
Below are some other examples illustrating times we sell instead of trying to meet our purpose:
- Constantly posting the greatness of one’s company on LinkedIn and Twitter, while the purpose is to teach the audience something valuable and position the company as experts.
- At a networking event, when someone asks about a sales person’s company, they fire a dozen features at them. The purpose is to encourage and extend a dialogue.
- At the end of the sale, the decision-making committee asks if the job can be done quicker than proposed because the only remaining competitor claimed they could. The sales person starts spewing out the gazillion benefits that they have over the competition. The purpose is to isolate objections and close the business.
- Sending an email with five paragraphs selling your company, when the only purpose is to schedule an appointment.
- And my favorite: During a qualification call, a salesperson exaggerating their capabilities with the objective of moving to the next stage. The purpose is to qualify the opportunity, but most sales people will oversell to get permission to waste the next five months competing on a job that will be lost.
This discipline is hard. I find myself rolling every now and then about Vector Firm when it’s not the time or place – and I teach this stuff. Before every sales encounter, no matter how small, simply ask yourself: what’s the purpose?
