Fantasies, Folly, Mirages and Other Illusions of Salespeople

“I like talking with people, so I want to be in sales” is a terrifying conversation to have with one of your staff.  They are not doing so well in their current role, so they imagine they will just glide across to sales to have an easier time of it.  They may try and do it internally as a switch of roles or they may quit their current job and go and try to get a sales job somewhere else.  Given the shortage of salespeople in Japan at the moment and from now on ad nauseum, there is a strong chance they will be picked up by a competitor or another company quite easily.

They are partially correct.  Yes, it helps if you like people as a salesperson.  Also, having good communication skill is a definite requirement.  Talking to someone and persuading them to hand over their hard earned cash is a different equation.  What do we talk about, how do we talk about it, when should we be silent, when should we speak up?  These are important questions about which they are ignorant.

When I hear people say they like “talking to people” that sets off an alarm in my head.  One of the biggest issues with salespeople is that they talk too much.  I am guilty of it too.  I am passionate about helping people to grow their businesses and their careers, so I bring a lot of belief and energy to the conversation.  That is all good, but it is also dangerous.  If I am doing all the talking, I maintain possession of what I already know but I don’t gain any additional knowledge of the client and their problem.

Sometimes, I catch myself and realise the only noise in the room is me talking, so I should ask the client a question, shut up and get them talking instead.  I want them to tell me about their current situation and where they want to be.  In Japan, you can’t do that.  Clients are passively expecting your pitch, so they can destroy it and assure themselves this is a low risk transaction they are considering entering into.  So, the first thing out of our mouths here has to be a question seeking permission to ask questions.  People who like talking will have no problem with this traditional pitch approach. In fact they will probably be happy, to get straight into the pitch.

Fine all around except for one small thing.  What are you pitching to the client?  How do you know what solutions from your line-up will best match the client’s need?  What normally happens is the salesperson blunders on, talking about things which are irrelevant to the client. They completely squander their client facing time and leave the meeting with nothing.  This is not good.

Get permission first, then ask those first two questions – where are you now and where do you want to be?  We are trying to gauge urgency on the buyer’s part.  If they think they can bridge this gap, then they will try and do it themselves and not involve any external parties.  That means no business for us and we are wasting our time to continue sitting there chatting with them, no matter how much we enjoy a good chat.

If they can’t do it by themselves, then we want to know why?  There is no point going straight into solution mode at this point, talking, talking, talking.  We should ask that exact question: “if you know where you want to be, why aren’t you there now?”.  What a pearler of a question.  In this answer lies our raison d’etre.  Maybe we can’t do it for them.  That is good to know, because we have to high tail it out of there and go and find someone we can help.  No point hanging round for more chatting with a business dead end in front of you. Another other issue is talking past the deal. When the buyer agrees, only talk about the follow up and stop selling.  People who like talking get themselves into trouble by saying too much and opening up a Pandora’s box of deal breakers.

If we are doing our job, we are hardly talking at all during the meeting, except to ask a few clarifying questions.  “Liking to talk with people” is a mirage, would-be salespeople see about what is involved in a professional sales life.  This is their uniformed illusion about the job. Instead, I want to hear, “I like asking people questions”.  In all my years in business though, I have never heard that lucid comment emerge as a precursor to a life in sales.  If you want a career in sales, now you know what to say to a prospective boss to get them interested in hiring you.