Conviction
In sales, what’s the opposite of love?
We just met with a sales executive who told us about his early days as a technology salesperson. The rule at his company was that any salesperson who had to be physically kicked out of a prospect’s office would receive a sizeable bonus.
After several months of persistence and many calls, he finally set an appointment with the CFO of a worldwide company. In the meeting he proposed to replace the prospect’s existing service provider (the salesperson’s top competitor) with his company’s service. He had data to show that his company’s service was higher quality, and he offered to provide it at no charge. He told the prospect confidently that this was a “no brainer.” (The strategy was to provide the service for free to earn the business to start a relationship that could ultimately be profitable for both sides.) The prospect did not yet feel comfortable with the offer and asked for some time. The salesperson made it clear: “You have a fiduciary responsibility to your shareholders to accept my offer, and I’m not leaving your office until you sign to agree to use our service.” The salesperson proceeded to wrap his legs around the chair legs until the prospect had no choice but to call security. Security arrived and physically lifted up the salesperson still attached to the chair to remove him from the executive’s office. The salesperson earned his bonus.
Later in the week, the prospect called one of the founders of the company that the salesperson represented. The prospect explained what happened and the company founder apologized. In his apology he promised that that salesperson would never call on him again, and then asked, “It did sound like a good offer for your company. Would you be open to the same offer if we had another representative work with you on it?” They won the business and the rest is history.
So in sales the opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s apathy. If you can get your prospect to hate you so much that he calls your boss to complain, at least you’re on your prospect’s mind. Now this strategy does not work every time, and we recommend you’re extremely careful with it. Here’s what you can takeaway from this example:
- Demonstrate conviction. The last four letters of enthusIASM = I am sold myself. There is no substitute for it. If you don’t believe in your offering, how are you supposed to get someone else excited about it? Passionate people sell more in any industry.
- Play the executive card. In the above example you hope the frustrated prospect calls to speak to a senior manager. Many top sales teams also play the executive card proactively. If you’re trying to navigate to a higher contact at the prospect’s organization or want to make a meeting seem extra special, you may be able to leverage a senior person from your team. “It would be great to see how our strategies may align on this initiative and others. I’ll be traveling with my VP next week, could we arrange a meeting with you and the CEO sometime that week?”
- Have fun. Use personality. Top performers make a game of it. When another salesman in our network was told by a client that his company had been “dancing around these service problems”…he broke out into the “worm” dance on the floor of the client’s office. “Now that’s dancing!” The salesperson explained. They both laughed and addressed the issues. If you don’t find a way to enjoy what you do, it’s very difficult to be effective. Celebrate the wins, laugh about the losses (and try to learn from them), and find the next opportunity.