After a couple decades in sales, I have taught a university course in professional sales for the past five years. I have used two different texts and have screened three or four others. Each text follows a sales model that I am comfortable with: the long term relationship model of selling that emphasizes building trust and getting to know the client needs in order to be a problem solver — a consultative seller.
Adapting to the “social style” (driver, expressive, amiable or ) or learning style (NLP: auditory, visual or kinesthetic) is generally covered. In addition a series of sales tactics, selected to not be in conflict with the relationship model or ethical persuasion are presented. I include frequent hands-on role plays and mock interviews and sales to supplement the text.
I am comfortable with the relationship selling model and most of the tactics presented, but worry about prospect “gaming.”
I was involved in technical sales and was a true consultative salesperson during my sales career. My biggest problem was prospects who would string me along, effectively using me as a free consultant. They knew enough about the principles of relationship selling to feed me carefully selected “needs” and “problems” that would lead me to do the research they wanted.
In addition I grew to be skeptical of many of the standard tried-and-true tactics to overcome objections that I suspected prospects were familiar with, assuming many prospects would try to game them also.
Steve Cassaday, president and founder of Cassaday & Company, a investment advisory and financial planning firm (www.cassaday.com), advised me to take a look at a 1995 book by the late David H. Sandler. Sandler addresses each of these issues in procedures he termed the “Sandler Submarine.”
To date I feel that the two best approaches I have heard to deal with prospect gaming of relationship selling are the Sandler system or a collaborative approach to developing a full partnership with clients. I would appreciate any feedback on other promising approaches.
In the beginning of You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar, Sandler lists four problems that a dedicated follower of relationship sales faces. Two of them immediately resonated with me:
- The prospect wants to know what you know
- The prospect purposely misleads you.
They want free consulting… Sandler has two fundamental strategies to level the playing field and restore a balance in relationship selling:
- Find the client’s PAIN, and
- Make a CONTRACT to agree how the sales process will proceed.
Don’t accept easy “needs” that draw you into free consulting, find out what the real fear or pain of the prospect: this is fully consistent with the relationship selling model. A mutual agreement on how to proceed also seems completely reasonable. Sandler argues that finding the pain and employing contracts will enable to a seller to control client gaming and work with prospects on a level, ethical playing field.
I will discuss finding the PAIN and using CONTRACTS in more depth in upcoming posts to this blog, as well as the alternative approach of working towards collaboration.
