Did you ever debrief a sales call with your manager in which they suggest a question that you might have asked but didn’t? Did you ever wonder why it seemed so obvious after the fact to someone who wasn’t even there and it did not occur to you to ask? Part of the reason is that there is no pressure in the debriefing session and you might have been feeling pressure on the sales call. Part of the reason might be that the manager has more experience and has made that mistake many times himself so he is sensitive to it. But for veteran salespeople neither of those is probably the case. More than likely it is a case of not staying in the moment with the prospect. Rather than listening intently to what he prospect is saying and trying to decode what he actually means by what he Is saying, you are thinking about something else. So what could a salesperson possibly be doing instead of listening to the prospect? Here are the most common things that salespeople do when they should be listening:

1. Think about how to solve the problem the prospect is describing
2. Strategize your next sales move
3. Concentrate on your sales process
4. Try to remember what the sales manager coached them to ask
5. Look for a chance to jump in with your comment or question
6. Try to figure out how to respond to something that the prospect just said that you were not expecting

So what are the consequences of not staying in the moment? The most obvious problem is that you miss certain things that the prospect is saying. You might not miss anything really big, but what you miss are the subtle cues that they give which would lead you to ask that question that you missed. You might not miss any words, but you are too busy thinking to notice the change in tonality which indicates the prospect is not quite sure about what she is saying or is worried about it. If you were in the moment, you would ask a question but since your mind is too busy, you miss it and a chance to drill down is missed and the opportunity to uncover the real compelling reason to buy is gone forever. When you are in front of the prospect clear your mind and pay attention. This is not the time to solve the problem and it will be your turn to talk soon enough. If your sales techniques and sales process are not internalized by the time you go on the call they will not materialize while you are in there with the prospect. So, just rely on your ability to respond appropriately. Stop thinking and stay in the moment with the prospect. After all that’s why you set this appointment in the first placed isn’t it?

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We all have hidden weaknesses. These are obstacles that we are probably not aware of but that affect us in a big way when we are in front of a prospect. They are not obvious to those around us and they don’t show up on an interview. So what are they? They take many forms but the most common is a belief we may have about the way things are in the world or the way things work in our industry or in sales in general. For example if you believe that you have to call on purchasing agents first before you can contact the end user of your product then that belief will affect your ability to sell and learning sales techniques to help you deal with the end user will be of no help. Maybe you believe that it is ok for the prospect to think about your proposal for a few days even after they committed to making a decision when you delivered it. If that is true, then you will have a low closing rate and closing techniques will be useless until you overcome that self-limiting belief.

Sometimes hidden weaknesses are more psychological. For example if you have a strong need for approval from people then you will shy away from using techniques that you believe might jeopardize your relationship. You will avoid asking any question or making any statement which you perceive to be aggressive because the prospect may not approve and you need the approval.

So how do we know what our weaknesses are if they are “hidden”. Well you can contact me and we can test you for them. But another way is to pay attention to what you do or say and what avoid doing or saying. Ask yourself why you are doing it or saying it. then ask why that is important and then try to compare what you are doing to what the more successful people are doing. Ask yourself what would happen if I tried something different. Listen to your self-talk. What you are saying to yourself will go a long way to identifying your hidden weaknesses. The good news is that if you are able to identify and overcome just one there will be a quantum leap in your sales effectiveness.

Your beliefs make all of the difference on a sales call. Generally, when people bring up this topic they are talking about believing in your product. I take belief in your product as a given. If you don’t believe in the product or service you are selling, there is no way you will be able to convince a prospect to buy it. I am not talking about belief in your product here. What I mean is that your mindset has to be properly aligned with what you are trying to accomplish on the sales call if you are to be successful.

Let’s take a first call for an example. Usually on the first call the goal is to qualify the prospect to see if it makes any sense for us to pursue this prospect. Let us assume that our sales process demands that we discuss money after we determine that they have a problem we can solve. In that case, we must make sure that before we go on the call that we are convinced that we have an absolute right to ask how much the prospect wants to spend and we must expect to get some indication of the size of the project in monetary terms. The reason our mindset is important is that 93% of what we communicate is non-verbal and comes through our tonality and body language. Our belief and our question must be in alignment or we will not get the answer we are looking for and that we deserve.

Let’s just say that we have a weak salesperson that goes on the sales call and knows he must ask the money question. However, he doesn’t believe the prospect will tell him. After all, when he is the buyer he never divulges how much he was planning to spend. But since his boss wants him to ask, he asks. “So, Mr. Prospect about how much do you plan to invest in this project?” I can’t convey the tonality with the written word but if his belief is that they won’t tell him his words may say “tell me” but his body language and tonality will say “there is no way you are going to tell me.” the words are worth 7% and the non-verbal part of the communication is worth 93%. What do you think happens? That’s right the prospect says “I’m sorry I can’t tell you.” or “Gee, we really haven’t thought about it in detail yet.” Both statements are half truths at best. The weak salesperson says to himself. “See I knew he wouldn’t tell me. Those sales techniques never work.” And he has another data point to reinforce the belief he went into the call.

The optimal Salesperson® believes he has a right to know how much the prospect is thinking of spending so that he can be sure they are on the same page. if he is at first rebuffed when he asks he has other moves he can make and won’t leave until he gets a number. The actual words are not as important as the belief that the prospect will tell him. When you are totally congruent (meaning that your question and your beliefs align) the prospect will answer the question. So if you are not getting the answers yo want to the questions you ask maybe its your beliefs that are the problem. Your first task is to sell yourself on the idea that you have a right to know the answer.

Some are born most are made. Born salespeople are as rare as painters like Monet and Picasso or basketball players like Michael Jordan and Lebron James or Tenors like Boccelli and Pavoratti. But even they did not emerge on the scene fully developed. Monet broke internal barriers and helped create the impressionist movement. Jordan spent hours in the gym and set a new standard of excellence on the court and Pavoratti took many voice lessons and practiced for hours to redefine what a powerful tenor should sound like. The difference between successful salespeople and the “also ran’s” is motivation to develop skills through consistent practice and the willingness to uncover hidden obstacles (like discomfort discussing money) and to put in the effort required to overcome the obstacle. You don’t have to be Jordan, Monet or Pavoratti to succeed. Anyone can do it if they are willing to put in the effort and they know what obstacles they need to overcome.

Singers and basketball players have coaches who make them aware the obstacles they have to overcome to progress from level to level. The individual then puts in the effort (or not) to overcome the shortcomings. If they do this enough times and put in enough energy they will eventually move up the ladder and earn large salaries as professionals. However, most never make it out of the amateur ranks and have to get a real job. Salespeople are no different except that the weaknesses are hidden. It’s obvious to even the most casual observer when a basketball player misses a shot or a singer can’t hit a note. But in sales it is not so obvious what causes a salesperson to fail. Most salespeople want to blame it on outside forces like the economy or the market or the competition. However the optimal salesperson® realizes that the obstacles to success are most often within himself. It could be lack of a particular skill or it could be an internal obstacle like fear of rejection or discomfort talking about money or a belief that it is not ok to ask a particular question. There are many hidden obstacles but just eliminating one or two makes a dramatic difference in effectiveness. If you were lucky enough to be born without some of these weaknesses, then you have a natural advantage sort of like being born 7 feet tall. But that alone will not make you successful. You must still practice and work hard to make it as a professional salesperson.

The truly great salespeople are not born that way they are the ones who got an early start in their career identifying the weaknesses they had and working diligently day by day to eliminate them. If you are not where you want to be, are you taking responsibility for identifying the weakness holding you back and working to overcome it?

No one likes it but rejection can be viewed as a positive occurrence. To have someone tell you NO is far better than to have them string you along, wasting your time, with no intention to buy. Even if you closing rate is as high as 50%, you need as many rejections as you do sales. If you are making cold calls, you might need 20 or 30 rejections to get an appointment. To view 20 rejections on the way to a sale as a negative would be like a gold prospector thinking that the 3 months of digging before he finds a vein of gold as a waste of time. And as for fear of rejection … it doesn’t make sense. Watch this one-minute video to find out why.

Most people don’t achieve goals because they trade what they want most for what they want now. Ursula wanted a lifestyle that included a boat and a shore house with a dock. Therefore, she traded time off for hours in sales training. In addition, she traded in some old beliefs for some new empowering ones. She expended lots of time and emotional energy to affect that trade. Now, she spends weekends on her boat. Mike had a similar dream, but he would not trade his comfortable method of selling for a more effective one. He held on to his need to have people like him. He would not get out of his comfort zone to ask a tough question. Mike traded what he wanted most, a house in the mountains, for what he wanted now, comfort on sales calls. It was not a conscious decision.

On one hand, personal growth is a complicated process. On the other, it is simple. Before growth occurs, it looks complicated and almost impossible. After growth has happened, it looks simple and you wonder what took you so long. The reason is that before growth occurs you are staring at many variables and many ways you could possibly go. When growth has occurred you look back and only see the one path that took you to success and ignore the others paths you tried which led nowhere. So how do you pick out the one path that will get you there? The best way is to find someone who has travelled the road before you and get him or her to point out the way. The hard part is picking the right mentor and then the really hard part is to follow their instructions and not try to find an easier path. It may look easier… but it rarely is. If you have the right mentor, they have been there, they know. Listen and follow in their footsteps. It is rarely a straight line.

We all have hidden weaknesses. These are obstacles that we are probably not aware of but that affect us in a big way when we are in front of a prospect. They are not obvious to those around us and they don’t show up on an interview. So what are they? They take many forms but the most common is a belief we may have about the way things are in the world or the way things work in our industry or in sales in general. For example if you believe that you have to call on purchasing agents first before you can contact the end user of your product then that belief will affect your ability to sell and learning sales techniques to help you deal with the end user will be of no help. Maybe you believe that it is ok for the prospect to think about your proposal for a few days even after they committed to making a decision when you delivered it. If that is true, then you will have a low closing rate and closing techniques will be useless until you overcome that self-limiting belief.

Sometimes hidden weaknesses are more psychological. For example if you have a strong need for approval from people then you will shy away from using techniques that you believe might jeopardize your relationship. You will avoid asking any question or making any statement which you perceive to be aggressive because the prospect may not approve and you need the approval.

So how do we know what our weaknesses are if they are “hidden”. Well you can contact me and we can test you for them. But another way is to pay attention to what you do or say and what avoid doing or saying. Ask yourself why you are doing it or saying it. then ask why that is important and then try to compare what you are doing to what the more successful people are doing. Ask yourself what would happen if I tried something different. Listen to your self-talk. What you are saying  to yourself will go a long way to identifying  your hidden weaknesses. The good news is that if you are able to identify and overcome just one there will be a quantum leap in your sales effectiveness. This video will help explain.

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