When a company takes on a new product line to sell, one of the first things they typically do is call a meeting of the sales people. At this meeting they have the product manager from the marketing department and the technical person supporting the product do a joint presentation on the value the product brings to the marketplace and to their existing customer base. Sales managers then encourage the salespeople to go out and explain the value proposition to as many prospects as they can to boost sales of the new product line and validate the decision of management to bring the product on. This sledgehammer approach to selling value will boost sales but it will also be grueling for both management and the sales team. Initial excitement of the team about the great new product and its value wanes as they hear a continuing stream of comments like: “I don’t see how it will help me”, or “we’re not really able to do anything right now” or “I like it but can’t see how e can use it right now” or any one of a thousand other polite ways of rejecting the new product.

The problem is not the product it is the approach the sales team is using to sell the value. Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It does no good for the salesperson to extol the value of the product (or service for that matter) if the prospect does not see the new product as adding value. So how does the new product add value? It only has value to a prospect if it solves a problem that exits in the world of the prospect. It does me no good to have a machine that is three times faster unless my existing machine is too slow and is causing a problem because of its slowness. The total cost of the solution has to exceed the cost of the problem or it will make no sense to change. In other words it will not add value to me, the prospect.

If you want to sell the value of the product, first find out what the prospect considers valuable. You do this by talking to the prospect and discussing his or her operation and problems that they may be having. Of course if I have a new product that management is encouraging me to sell, I would center my discussion on problems that my new product solves. If they are having a problem, ask the prospect how much the problem is costing them. If the cost of the problem is far greater than the cost of your new product then you have the basis for establishing the value in a way that is meaningful to the prospect. Only after you have established the basis for the value should you explain how your product or service can benefit them. If they don’t have a problem that your new product solves, then talk about something else. It keeps rejection to a minimum.

Miscommunication is rampant among unsuccessful sales people. They know what they want to hear and they know what they think the prospect needs. Then they magically convert what the prospect says into what they were expecting if the two are anywhere close to each other. What happens next is they stop asking questions and just assume that they are on the same page as the prospect. They don’t verify that there is a compelling reason to move forward, they don’t confirm that there is enough money available to address the issue, and worst of all, they move through the sales process too fast. This causes pipelines that are bloated with prospects that are never going to buy. It also causes lots of wasted time writing quotes and proposals for unqualified prospects.

The problem is not only “magical hearing”. One of the primary culprits of miscommunication leading wasted time and pipeline bloat is being too accepting of what prospects say and not being skeptical enough to ask more questions. I am not suggesting that you disbelieve everything the prospect tells you … but keep an open mind … and verify what you think you heard by asking for more clarification. When you think they are saying what you want to hear, ask for more details. When you think you heard what you were hoping they would say, ask them why they believe that, or think that, or need that.

You don’t have to be confrontational, in fact you shouldn’t be (that’s a whole other subject for a future article). But you need to be curious enough to get deeper, to get behind what the prospect is telling you and get enough detail or enough of the rationale to be sure you are not just suffering from “happy ears” … hearing what you want to hear. Remember that prospects are Leary of salespeople until the salesperson earns their trust. They don’t intend to mislead (most of the time) but they do want to maintain control of the sales process and they do want that information that you can provide them. So they tell you enough to keep you in the game and let you draw (or jump to) you own conclusions. Sometimes they are just too nice to tell you no forcefully enough … and you get the wrong idea on your own.

So the lesson for today is to be skeptical about what prospects tell you. You will be surprised how that will change the nature and depth of the conversations you have with prospects. Watch this video to understand more about how that works and get more examples. To get more sales tips click here to sign up for the free OPTMAL SELLING™ weekly video sales tip. Dan Caramanico is a salesforce development expert and he is the author of Attributes of The Optimal Salesperson® One of Selling power’s top ten books for 2010 and Optimal Selling, Sales Conversations of the Optimal Salesperson.

Miscommunication is rampant among unsuccessful sales people. They know what they want to hear and they know what they think the prospect needs. Then they magically convert what the prospect says into what they were expecting if the two are anywhere close to each other. What happens next is they stop asking questions and just assume that they are on the same page as the prospect. They don’t verify that there is a compelling reason to move forward, they don’t confirm that there is enough money available to address the issue, and worst of all, they move through the sales process too fast. This causes pipelines that are bloated with prospects that are never going to buy. It also causes lots of wasted time writing quotes and proposals for unqualified prospects.

The problem is not only “magical hearing”. One of the primary culprits of miscommunication leading wasted time and pipeline bloat is being too accepting of what prospects say and not being skeptical enough to ask more questions. I am not suggesting that you disbelieve everything the prospect tells you … but keep an open mind … and verify what you think you heard by asking for more clarification. When you think they are saying what you want to hear, ask for more details. When you think you heard what you were hoping they would say, ask them why they believe that, or think that, or need that.

You don’t have to be confrontational, in fact you shouldn’t be (that’s a whole other subject for a future article). But you need to be curious enough to get deeper, to get behind what the prospect is telling you and get enough detail or enough of the rationale to be sure you are not just suffering from “happy ears” … hearing what you want to hear. Remember that prospects are Leary of salespeople until the salesperson earns their trust. They don’t intend to mislead (most of the time) but they do want to maintain control of the sales process and they do want that information that you can provide them. So they tell you enough to keep you in the game and let you draw (or jump to) you own conclusions. Sometimes they are just too nice to tell you no forcefully enough … and you get the wrong idea on your own.

So the lesson for today is to be skeptical about what prospects tell you. You will be surprised how that will change the nature and depth of the conversations you have with prospects. Watch this video to understand more about how that works and get more examples.