Sometimes…my Sales Leaders hate me. Why?
I tell my sales teams and sales leaders a simple but VERY divisive philosophy that serves me better and better as time goes on:
“Not all money is good money”
As you put your eyes back into your skull, let me expand a little bit on this thinking. How many times have you worked your tail off to FINALLY close that lead only to realize that you’ve:
– Killed your margin?
– Lost WAY too much sleep answering their messages at all hours?
– Given away the farm?
– Made promises that will be VERY hard to keep?
– Taken a hit on your own check?
– Feel like you’ve just stepped out of The Octagon
I’m willing to bet the answer is more than twice. So WHY would you continue to do this? Quotas? Money? Profit?
Nonsense. It’s because you’re afraid to walk away. Not only are you afraid, you don’t know how. And to top it all off, one of the HARDEST things for the competitive, successful salesperson to say is “I don’t really want this sale – it’s not worth it.”
So why am I banging this drum so hard? In my experience on the Operations side of the house, 99% of the time, these customers (you know the ones) are the absolute worst customers to support. They’re needy, unreasonable, impatient, cheap and impossible to please.
Before you dismiss my idea, go ahead and open up your CRM. Look at your prospects lists. Go through it. If you’re like most of the successful salespeople I’ve known over the years, you know at least something about almost everyone on that list.
Now take a look and do some rough math. I’ll bet you a coffee that 90% of those customers are folks you’re actually looking forward to talking to again. That other 10%? They don’t respond to your emails. They txt you one- or two-word answers to questions. They won’t commit to times for a call. They return your VMs at 7PM during family dinner. You’ve sent them the same quotes 4-5 times because they “can’t find it in their email.” And IF they do finally close? It will be on a deal that hurts both the company’s wallet AND yours.
“But Fred…” you say. “They promised me several more deals next quarter if I took care of them on this one!”
Uh-huh. You new here? First month on the job? This happens MAYBE 2% of the time (and you know it).
So, if I may humbly suggest a different approach? Tell them, very simply, “Prospect, I enjoyed talking to you and learning about your business but it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to help you with the solution you need. Good luck!”
-Click-
You’ll get one of two responses:
1) The prospect will call back and all of a sudden they will have decided to become more reasonable and more responsive
2) They don’t call back
Either way, you have freed up the most precious commodity you have; TIME. Time to close the customer who is actually worth your (and your company’s) time.
Thank you for coming to my #FredTalk