Some of the best sales advice I was ever given came to me about a year after I started my career. That would have made me about 22-years old. Insert flashback here.
I was selling in Worcester, MA, some 30 miles or so from the main office where my sales manager, Mike Powers, prowled. Mike and I were talking and he asked for a review of my top 10 accounts and top 10 prospects. What sounded to me like reasons why I hadn’t closed a lot of business must have come across to him as lame excuses.
After listening for a while, Mike said, “Bill, you need to go piss someone off. If you do, you’ll sell a lot more.”
Huh?
Mike’s point, he explained, was that I was too nice a guy and backed down much too quickly when I heard an objection. Naturally my “Nuh-uh” self-defense system kicked in and I went into denial, complete with fetal positioning on the floor. I did not take criticism very well back then. But, like any self-torturing sales type, I replayed the conversation over and over in my head until it finally got through my thick skull and I heard what Mike was trying to tell me.
In cheerleader’s terms, he wanted me to be aggressive. B-E aggressive! OK, that advice is a lot easier for me to understand and follow.
As it turns out, he was right (it only took me 29 years to admit it, Mike). Once I started pushing back and showing a little backbone, sales increased and my confidence grew. I never did make it to the Glengarry Glen Ross division, but I learned to be ready for a fight and to engage. In short, I learned to overcome my fear.
What are you afraid of? That is, what is the worst thing that could happen if you got a tad (or a smidge) more aggressive with your selling efforts?
- The customer says the price is too high and you justify it instead of “sharpening your pencil.”
- A job is rejected because of a petty complaint and you fight urge to reprint just to appease.
- You call a client that you’ve been fruitlessly pursuing and ask, “What’s it going to take for me to get an order from you?”
No one is asking you to become a Drill Sargeant, but would it kill you not to fold like a cheap tent?
I’ve said it before: An objection is a request for more information. That’s not one of mine. It came from Wikipedia and I think it’s brilliant. Keep that thought between your ears as you go through your selling day. With any luck, it won’t take you 29 years to catch on.
Bill’s “Sales Challenge” program starting Jan. 4, 2012. Go to www.TheSalesChallenge.com for more information or call Bill at (781) 934-7036.
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Bill Farquharson is a respected industry expert and highly sought after speaker known for his energetic and entertaining presentations. Bill engages his audiences with wit and wisdom earned as a 40-year print sales veteran while teaching new ideas for solving classic sales challenges. Email him at bill@salesvault.pro or call (781) 934-7036. Bill’s two books, The 25 Best Print Sales Tips Ever and Who’s Making Money at Digital/Inkjet Printing…and How? as well as information on his new subscription-based website, The Sales Vault, are available at salesvault.pro.