Sales Tip: The problem your prospect presents is never the real problem.
Think about the last time you engaged in a conversation with someone that perhaps you didn’t necessarily know well or trust in the beginning. Maybe something was weighing on your mind, and they asked you what was wrong. Not wanting to totally evade them, you may have said something like, “oh, it’s just this thing. It’s nothing, really.” How many times have we heard people say this?
Upon further investigation and several more questions, the other person learns that this “thing” is actually a big deal – something that is really bothering you. So, why didn’t you just give the details up front? Well, the answer could be for several reasons.
Because we know we build rapport not only up front but throughout the process, maybe you felt like you trusted the person more and more as you opened up. Maybe once you were asked for details or specifics, you felt the other person cared enough to hear it. Or, maybe the additional questions helped you to realize that there was actually a lot more to this issue, and you hadn’t initially realized it. Let’s translate this into a sales scenario:
Salesperson: “You mentioned over the phone that you were interested in having a conversation about one of your employees. Can you tell me more about that?”
Prospect: “Oh, it’s just Bill, my sales guy. He isn’t really doing as well as we’d hoped. Not meeting goals and such.”
Salesperson: “Hmm. Can you give me an example?”
Prospect: “Well, last month he was supposed to bring on five new clients. He didn’t bring on any.”
Salesperson: “I see. How long has this been a problem with Bill?”
Prospect: “Well, come to think of it, I don’t know that Bill has ever met his goals.”
Salesperson: “What have you tried to do about it so far? And has anything worked?”
Prospect: “Well, we’ve sat him down several times, but nothing seems to change. He has lots of excuses, and I’m wasting a lot of time and we are missing opportunities. But I really like Bill. I hate to think about letting him go, but we might be at that point.”
Salesperson: “I’m sorry to hear that, and that must be really tough. Does Bill have a revenue goal? What does the missed opportunity mean for you financially?”
With a few more questions, we find that “a conversation about an employee” at surface level is actually a dire problem: one that affects a relationship, financials, and the tenure of a salesperson’s employment with the company. It’s our job to do a little more digging and build trust in the process so that we can figure out the real problem. We know the prospect probably isn’t going to bring it to us right away.
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