Salespeople are under a lot of pressure to make quota every month, every year and then the year after that. And quotas keep going up! It’s just the nature of the business. After all, hitting our sales target is the key measure of professional success, not to mention financial and job security! So it’s understandable that we have that “number” stamped into our brains. It’s important!
But too much focus on making our number can be insidious. Paradoxically, it can encumber us from actually making the number! How so? Because our brains can only focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is a myth. And when we’re engaging with prospects and customers our undivided attention should be on them, not our number. But this is easier said than done.
We may tell ourselves we’re focusing solely on them and maybe we are part of the time, but often our minds shift to how badly we want (or need) this sale. And when that occurs some undesirable things can happen. We stop listening, start pushing and talking too much, and convey the self-serving attitude of a desperate salesperson. We blather on about how great our company and our product or service is. Even our body language and tone of voice changes. So much for our intention to be a resource who helps the customer improve their situation! And even worse, customers sense this, which damages our credibility and the relationship.
It’s not entirely our fault; according to research our brains are wired to first attend to threats (in this case the consequences of not making quota). So what can we do? I think the answer is to be intentional in the planning and execution of our sales calls. I’m a big proponent of planning out objectives, strategies and an agenda to advance the sale. Surely there are things we want to say, points we want to make. I’m not suggesting total passivity. And we might plan some of the questions we want to ask. But how well do we really listen to the answers? We must be intentional in our curiosity and listening. How often, when the customer is talking, are we thinking of the next thing we want to say? Or when they voice an objection, do we jump in right away to “overcome” it rather than probing to truly understand where they’re coming from? We’ve all heard that we should listen more than we talk, but the question is how are we listening? Are we listening with the intent to truly understand and help, or are we just keeping our mouths shut while we think of the next thing to say?
For me, the key is mindset and discipline. When we engage with a prospect we need to focus on what is best for them, not how important this sale is to making our number. And we need to have the discipline to stay in that mindset throughout the sales call. How do we do this? Here’s a simple idea that can help. As part of call planning (yes, every sales call should have a written plan) make one of your objectives “Listen attentively the entire time the customer is talking”. Then during your after call review (yes, every sales call should have a call review) reflect on the question “On a scale of 1 to 10, did I do my best to listen attentively throughout the entire sales call?” [I plucked this specific wording from Marshall Goldsmith’s excellent book, Triggers.] Add this simple thought process to your call planning and review and I think you’ll be delighted at how much better you understand your customers and, as a result, build better relationships that drive more sales. An added benefit: you’ll become better at disqualifying prospects that aren’t a fit for you earlier in the sales process!
Focusing on your quota is important when you’re planning your territory and prospecting activity. But only solid execution can actually help you hit the target. So when you’re engaged with a prospect or customer, focus solely on them.
