Sales and Golf - Success Starts With Preparation

This is a follow up to my post last year titled Why Sales People Love Golf that I posted on my blog You Don't Have to Read This.

 

I believe there are many similarities between the craft of selling and the game of golf, more than can be detailed in this one post. The best place to start the comparison is with preparation.

 

Before I step up to the first tee I like to stop by the course driving range and hit a few balls. It allows me to limber up a bit, to loosen the “golf” muscles so to speak. It also helps get me in the right frame of mind, to focus on the golf and not the 10,000 other things I have going on at any moment in time.

 

After hitting 20 or so shots with various clubs I like to visit the practice green to get a sense of the speed of the greens and complete my preparation process. Before each practice shot, I go through my pre-shot routine, just as I will during the round ahead.

 

I do all this to hopefully eliminate a 50-yard slice off the first tee.

 

So what does this have to do with sales?

 

How many times have you made cold calls and stumbled through the first few only to hit your stride after five or so? What if you could have had your A game on the first call? Preparation will help with this.

 

Rehearse what you will say a few times before you make those first few calls, role play with a colleague or your manager. Everyone can have a different pre-call routine and a different way to warm up before the first call.

Have a pre-call routine that you follow before every call. This will help you start with purpose and focus, and keep you on track if you encounter any challenges.

Do you have a pre-call routine? What do you do before your first cold call to focus and get in the game? I’d love to hear how you plan for your success!

The Skill of Listening

Sales people know stuff, lots of stuff. They want their clients to know that they know this stuff, so they tend to talk about the stuff they know. They are experts in their field and believe that if the client knows how much stuff they know, the client will have no choice but to trust their advice and buy from them.

Here’s the issue I have with this overly simple idea. The stuff that is important to the customer is usually unknown to the sales person because they are spending all of their time talking about the stuff that they know. Ironic isn’t it.

I am a firm advocate that the most powerful sales technique a sales person can employ is listening, and the best tools for this is their ears. I have also witnessed many sales calls where the sales person has talked themselves out of a deal.

Multitasking is all the rage these days. We all do it from time to time. I admit that I have sat through conference call or two while clearing out emails. Inside sales people are excellent at adding notes in to a CRM tool while actually on a call with a client. I hope most of us can walk and chew gum at the same time. Regardless of the above it is impossible to talk and listen simultaneously.

I remember attending a sales training event many years ago that opened with a questionnaire containing 20 questions. At the top of the page were instructions to read the ENTIRE questionnaire before answering any of the questions. The last question asked us all to answer only questions 2 and 10 – most of us had already answered questions 1 through 19! The purpose of the exercise was to highlight a (possible?) misconception that sales people don’t read.

This is nowhere near as frightening as the possibility that sales people don’t listen. Not wanting to paint all sales people with the same brush, I know there are some very successful people that do a great job listening to their clients. I also know there are a large percentage of sales people that would be just as successful if they listened more. Here are some tips to help you be a better listener:

If you are explaining something and your client starts to ask a question, stop talking IMMEDIATELY and listen.

Chances are that what is about to come out of your customer’s mouth is pretty important, and could help you close the deal. They may even be about to say “I’ll take it!” but as the expert that knows stuff you keep talking about this stuff and say something that causes them to question something else.

Do not finish any sentence or question on behalf of your client.

This is never a good idea in any relationship, especially a business relationship. What you are actually saying to the customer is that you don’t care enough about them to hear them out. What you know about stuff is more important than anything they may know about stuff.  You may finish their sentence correctly but you also may not. Then you miss the opportunity to really learn about their interest in or concern with your offering. Do not assume you know what your customer is thinking.

If your customer asks you something that you do not know the answer to, admit it. Commit to finding the answer by a specific deadline and keep the commitment.

Many times I have seen a sales person answer a question with a bold assumptive answer to a question that they do not know the answer to. Their first assumption is that if the customer wants to know this I should probably know the answer. The second assumption is that if I do not know the answer then I will lose some credibility with the customer.

Sales people, while very knowledgeable, are not expected to know the answers to every question. That is why there are sales managers, product specialists and program managers in many industries. It will add to your credibility when you admit that you do not know the answer and that you have a resource that you will contact and get the answer on their behalf.

Do not, under any circumstance, answer your own question.

If you are going to answer it, why did you even ask it? One of the most uncomfortable situations on any sales call is silence; it is also an incredibly strong tool in its own right. If you ask a question, let the client answer. No hints for them either. If they didn’t understand the question they will eventually admit it, if they have other questions they will ask.

When you let them off the hook by breaking the silence you don’t get to listen to the silence. You don’t get to eventually hear what is on the client’s mind; you lose the advantage of knowing even more stuff, Stuff about the client, their interest and concerns. Not knowing stuff like this is much worse than not knowing stuff about your product.

As we start a new week, month and quarter remember that we all have two ears and only one mouth. We should all listen more and talk less. We will learn more, sell more and earn more.

Happy selling!

Under Promise and Over Deliver

The first piece of coaching I always give a new sales professional is to under promise and over deliver. This holds true for dealings with their customers as well as with their manager.

When working with a customer if the sales professional knows that their proposal will be ready for presentation by Thursday at noon, set the expectation that the client will receive it on Friday. If a product is on back order and won’t be delivered for two weeks let the client know that the product will be there before the end of the third week.

There will inevitably be times when the two week delay turns in to a four week delay, and how this is communicated carries just as much importance. As soon as the sales professional is aware of the extended delay they need to act. Contact the customer to explain and apologize for the inconvenience this delay may have caused. Be proactive, is there a possible substitute that is in stock that can ship right away?

Keep appointments and time frames. If you booked a 30 minute meeting at 2pm, be there early and make sure the appointment does not last past 2:30, unless your client requests it. Always leave yourself some extra time between appointments so that you are not late for the next one.

How does this impact the customer? It shows that the sales professional is organized, diligent and is respectful of the clients business. It adds to their credibility with the client and builds valuable trust.

When communicating with a sales manager many sales professional’s initial instinct is to impress. Instead of giving a conservative (and accurate) forecast of the business they put on their rose coloured glasses and estimate a higher number. The other side of this coin is that they estimate a lower number in order to over achieve it by a large margin, believing it will make them look like a superstar. Neither of these will scenarios will give the sales manager any confidence that the sales professional has any understanding of the business environment they are in.

A lot of this seems like common sense, and it is. It just seems like common sense isn’t so common these days.

Happy selling!