Nike may have made a billion dollars on that phrase, but in sales you can make a jillion (as my 9 year old would say) by, yes, just doing it!
So many times, though, we don”t just do it. How often do you find yourself overthinking an issue rather than just pushing for a next steps?
Example: John is on a sales call and his prospect has just greeted him with the news that the account that was potentially a ‘deer’ for him (could feed him for a month) was about to turn into a ‘bear’ (he can eat for the winter). Pretend you’re John, do you…
- Say ‘That’s fantastic, what has changed internally?’ and proceed on with the initial agenda for the call which was gathering the scope of work?
- Get flustered and go for the close?
- Start overthinking and underselling – meaning you are worried about saying or doing the wrong thing so you become hesitant about asking tough questions to flesh out what is truly in this opportunity?
Professional athletes train for hours and hours each week so that when they are in the moment and the pressure is on their body and brain know what to do. These are like autopilot settings for them. They have conditioned the response to happen to the point that the actual situation is almost irrelevant.
How is this any less critical than your success in sales?
Sales is about process, not online casino personality. Malcolm Gladwell talks about what defines an ‘expert’ in Outliers (awesome book by the way, highly recommended). In his definition, it’s not someone who is particularly gifted or talented in any one area, but someone who has devoted 10,000 hours (roughly translated to 5 years of 40 hour weeks) to becoming the best in the world at what they do.
So how long have you been in your career? Professional sales? Many of us have exceeded the requirement to become expert, but we have not trained ourselves in the process of selling to the point of always being ready to be in the moment. Through training you will be able to manage the curve balls that your prospects throw your way. You don’t think about it – you simply follow the process that helps you to uncover why he threw it. But that”s not usually what happens. Usually, we overthink, freak out, and wimp out. We don”t handle the curve.
You are in sales whether you chose this career path early or not. Whether you like it or not. Whether you signed on for it or not. I don’t care what position you are in your company you are in sales, internally or externally. None of that is important.
It”s not about personality – it”s about process. That means you need to…
- Find out why your prospects (employees are internal prospects, potential clients are external) would buy from you.
- Learn the process they are going through now to change their buying behavior – and trust me, it’s different than it was last year. So truly, what got you here won’t get you there.
<
- Discover what method you can use that will best satisfy your (potential) customers” decision making process (there are many on the market). My personal favorites are Miller Heiman, Sandler, Integrity Selling and a host of others.
- Test one or two or three out. Find the methodology that works for your business, study, and practice, practice, practice so when that curve ball comes – you handle it with grace and Just Do It!