Get Serious -- Avoid 'Role-Playing' with Sales Prospects
On the phone you can only imagine a prospect's body language and facial expressions. You can gain some insight into what they’re thinking by their tone of voice.
But that, unfortunately, is not always a good indicator how the call is progressing.
You see, a lot of prospects out there will sound interested. Their energy is high, they’ll take your call, and they’ll lead you -- you think! -- ultimately to the deal. In short, they’re too damn polite.
These are the worst kind of prospects, the ones who will drain you and forever be in your “maybe” pipeline. Maybe they’ll become a client next week, next month, next year. “I’m still very interested,” they’ll tell you. “You’ve got a great product there, please let’s keep in touch.” Maybe? Maybe nothing.
What’s more frustrating, especially to sales managers, is how young salespeople view these prospects.
“He’s a really nice guy.” “He’s interested, but the timing’s not right.” “He’s a big Yankees fan, like me!”
What? Who cares? None of these comments above mean anything. It’s all filler.
I’ll take a jerk over the “nice guy” any day of the week -- as long as the jerk is asking buying questions and moving the conversations toward a partnership.
Beware the nice guy that's overly friendly and eager to joke around. Why? Because he’s probably not a decision-maker. Too many salespeople equate friendliness with business and fail to these the person on the other end of the line is doing nothing more than role-playing. He’s playing the role of the interested prospect.
How do you deal with these nice guys, these role-players, these time-wasters? Stick to the matter at hand: business. Sometimes this can be difficult because you don’t want to appear to be rude, or curt. Instead, kill them with business kindness.
“Bill, I know you have a busy schedule but you’re used to making executive decisions and don’t believe in wasting time. Do you think my proposal makes good business sense?”
“Yes.”
“Good. What are the next steps?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
And if he starts talking filler then bring him back to reality. Reiterate the fact that you don’t want to waste any more time.
“Nice” equals ice. You’re going to slip and slide and never get any traction, never get the deal.
“Jerk” equals perk. Real decision-makers are busy people. They don’t have time to work on their comedy act during work. They listen for a song called “ROI” and then they make an executive decision.
The perk? You come away with a partnership.
