If you want to prove the importance of this paradigm shift, observe a two-year-old child. Their immediate reaction to everything is no. This isn’t when they learn to say no, that happens much earlier in their life. Usually the first word a child learns is no. Did you every wonder why? Think about this. Do you like to be told what to do? Did you ever? It’s just unnatural and it goes against human nature. Then why is this the accepted norm in selling; is it because that’s what we have learned to do to get what we want.
If you have read or heard anything from experts teaching one how to sell, invariably you will be told to ask questions. It falls on blind eyes and deaf ears because that is not what we have been taught to do. The generally accepted opinion is that a good sales person is a great talker and this is how they influence. Well if that is the case, only a small percentage of the population are great talkers and maybe that’s why 80% of sales people struggle to some degree.
This method is brutal on both the prospect and the sales person. It’s exhausting. It wears the customer down and drains the energy of the sales person. It seems to work but does it? Maybe that’s why good salespeople are so often big drinkers, job jumpers and have unsuccessful home lives. We will continue this idea in the next post.
