As the last recession hit, I was being recruited to a company to be their EVP of Sales. Although it was a similar title as my current job, it was an obvious decision to take the job: my responsibilities were greater, the compensation was quite a bit higher, I had a chance to put my name on something, and I was going to have the opportunity to learn more about sales leadership and continue to build the library of content that ultimately became Vector Firm. There is no way I should turn down this job offer… but I was wavering.
I had just gotten engaged, and the world was on the way down of the worst recession of our lives. If you remember, that ride to the bottom was scary. The risks that come with any job change are always prevalent, but this scenario proved to be paralyzing – I couldn’t make a move. I was searching for stability, and I found comfort in my current position. I didn’t bring this up during our discussions because I was embarrassed. After all, these folks reached out to me because they heard about my strong sales leadership skills. How could I admit that I was scared to make a move?
Then I received a call from the President of the company. Paraphrasing, he said: “Chris, you’ve got a lot going on right now. If I had just gotten engaged and had a stable job in this economy, I don’t know if I’d make a move. I want to ask you a few questions to see if this even makes sense for you.” We then had a 90 minute conversation and within a couple of weeks I accepted the new role.
If he hadn’t brought up that conversation, I would never have taken the job. I would’ve made up some reason that might have had an element of truth to it, but wasn’t the real objection. The real objection was embarrassing to me.
Doesn’t this scenario remind you of hundreds of your customers? How many opportunities do you have right now where it’s obvious that they should be moving forward with you, but they’re wavering? You’re waiting for the objection so you can overcome it, but they’re not giving it to you. They’re using some line of “boy, this is a tough decision and we’ve got so many other irons in the fire…”
Tuesday’s Idea: Bring up your customer’s objection before they do. If they bring it up and you overcome it, then you’re having a bit of a competition where no one wins. More likely, they’ll never bring it up and simply send an email saying they’ve decided on another direction. Look for clues and have the guts to bring up the objection before they do. If you do this, you’ll have a two-way conversation that will lead to a solution. They’ll appreciate it, and you’ll have a much better probability of winning the business.
