More Behavior to Avoid When You’re Prospecting

[This is the third post in a series about prospecting and sales negotiations. The preceding post suggested that you can hurt yourself by "spilling the beans" too early. This means you should avoid telling your prospect too much about your product or company until she's told you about her problems, goals, wants or vision.]

Life, interrupted

How often do you welcome random interruptions by strangers who want you to spend money on things you don’t know you need or want?

Never. Or almost never. You’re just like everyone else.

Here’s an exception.  Imagine an overweight widow in late middle age. She’s wearing a pink floral housecoat and feathery slippers. In her TV room nine cats are lounging on large, brightly colored pillows scattered across an acrylic wall-to-wall carpet that smells of cat urine. She’s been watching The Home Shopping Network since she woke up at 9:30 a.m.

She knows her UPS route driver by first name. She’s happy to make time for you to tell her all about the interesting things you think she should buy from you now. She’s bored. It’s been moments since her last purchase.

Lucky you to have found her.

Deep Sales Aversion

Most of the time our prospects will begin looking for a way to end any sales intrusion within a nanosecond of recognizing what it is.

For some reason they don’t welcome your interruption of the momentum of whatever they had been doing. They assume sales people will be pushy, dishonest, insincere, self-centered and hard to get rid of. They just want to disengage as fast as possible without being uncivilized. Some will be rude.

Go figure.

Triggers of Disdain

Here’s a list of things that provoke similar responses when sales people call me:

1. Asking me how I am today.  (We’ve never met. You can’t possibly care. You sound mechanical and insincere.)
2. Smiling or being cheerful for no apparent reason. (You sound pleasant but insincere or sappy.)
3. Talking too fast.  (You sound manic or nervous.)
4. Speaking with tension in your throat. (You sound nervous, maybe a little shady.)
4. Sounding as if you’ve rehearsed what you’re saying, you’re reading it from a script,  or you say the same things to everyone. (You sound mechanical, insincere, lacking in confidence, badly trained or stupid. Maybe all.)
5. Giving the impression that I’m just one more contact on your prospecting list. (You sound insincere, mechanical.)
6. Being inconsiderate of my time. (Rude. Thoughtless.)
7. Assuming that whatever you offer is likely to be a good fit for me. (Presumptuous. Stupid.)
8. Talking too much about your offering before I’ve agreed I’m interested in the benefits it can provide. (Out of touch. Self-centered, self-absorbed.)
9. Asking too many questions before I’ve given you permission to do so. Asking permission to ask questions before you establish rapport, trust or credibility. (Insensitive. Heavy handed.)
11. Asking questions for which you expect only “yes” answers. (Pushy. Coercive. Poorly trained.)
12. Pressuring me into taking some next step. (Pushy, coercive.)

Why Expect Your Prospects to React Any Differently Than You Would?

When you’re on the receiving end of such sales behavior, how many of these negative reactions do you experience?

And what’s the likelihood you’d ever want to do business with someone who sounds like this? Or that you’d even want to speak to him or her again?

In a very short time you make an unconscious decision. The return on your investment of any more time with this knucklehead is likely to be very low. You disengage as quickly as possible.

This Goes Against So Much Sales Training

Chances are you’ve been trained and encouraged to do some of the very things that lead your prospects to make similar decisions about you.

So what should you do?

You should start by changing your mindset. A new mindset can lead you to a more confident posture. And your confidence will be apparent in your behavior.

More next time.

Stay fresh.

– Scott Silverback