At first glance, the definition of a salesperson looks pretty straightforward: A person who sells things. But that’s where the simplicity ends.
You’ve likely experienced what it feels like on the receiving end of a sales conversation. You may have left shaking your head, wondering if the salesperson had any idea who you were or what you were looking for. Those kinds of experiences are what give the sales profession such a bad rap. A HubSpot survey of trustworthy professions found that only 3% of people trusted salespeople, and the statistics have barely improved since.
Why does this happen? Often, it’s because sales professionals are behaving badly — across a pretty broad spectrum. But there are also three essential ways bad behavior ruins a potentially good sales conversation. I call them the 3 sins of selling, and often they can be traced back to human nature.
- You share way too much information. The source for this behavior is basic psychology. As humans, when we meet someone for the first time, we’re most comfortable taking about something were passionate or knowledgeable about. As a saleperson, your company or the product you represent would fall into that category. It feels good to talk about them — chemically. In this initial conversation, as you speak, a hormone called dopamine drips on your brain and makes you feel good. The better you feel, the more information you share. Consider this a drug-induced feature dump.
But aside from dominating the conversation, you’re also creating another other problem. The prospect won’t be able to remember anything you said. Within so much information, the most important things get lost.Instead, identify three benefits you want the prospect to remember. Then, make sure whatever you share with them is in support of those three things.
- You sound just like your competition. There is more to this sin that meets the eye. We’re wired to find things in our environment that don’t belong or stand out as being unique. It goes back to our primal drive to survive: something unusual or something different could be a threat to us.
There’s another aspect to this that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, and that’s your approach to a selling conversation. Do you conduct a conversation or presentation the same way other sellers do? Imagine the prospect having other competitors come in and present their product. One after the other, they show up in the conference room, turn down the lights and start a PowerPoint presentation. The prospect’s brain doesn’t register anything different from one presentation to the other, and simply stops paying attention. It’s no surprise that they don’t remember anything you say.Instead, it’s up to you to identify the uniqueness of your product so that your prospect can quickly differentiate the value. Then, communicate it in a way that is also unique, so the prospect remembers.
- You make the conversation all about you. When you use PowerPoint just like everyone else does, consider what the first 3-5 cover. Likely. They’re all about the company and its world class service, recognizable clients and awards. You started the conversation with all sorts of information the prospect likely isn’t looking for (at least at first), you started it doing the same thing every other salesperson is doing, and you started it by talking all about you.
Here’s the reality: while you’re sharing all of this information, the prospect is trying to figure out what it means to them. While you’re conducting the conversation from your point of view, the prospect is trying to figure out what it means from their point of view. If it doesn’t seem to mean anything to their point of view, what happens next? Likely, not very much.
There’s an incredibly simple and effective way to avoid these mistakes. Before you ever sit down to have a conversation with someone, ask and answer this question: How is your prospect going to be better off as a result of doing business with you?
It’s not as easy to answer as you might think. Try to answer it without making any reference to your product or service. Consider their needs. Perhaps it will give them have more time to focus on other aspects of their business. Perhaps it will give them more peace of mind, knowing that your product fills a stress-inducing gap in the workflow. Whatever the answer is, you have your North Star, and that’s what you need to focus on. Make sure the prospect understands the benefits you’ve identified.
Going through this exercise will make you mindful about learning more about your prospect and limiting the amount of information you share about you. It will help you clarify how your project offers unique benefits you’re trying to realize for your prospect. Finally, it will enable you to see the world better through your prospect’s eyes and speak more about their world than yours. That’s what creates the winning mindset necessary for a successful sales professional: you’re focused on the prospect and what’s in it for them in a selling relationship.
Written by David Kurkjian.
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