Other Wisdom from Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Sitkins Advisor on Thu, Sep 01, 2011 @ 08:34 AM
He could not tell a lie. That is one of the most well know facts about Lincoln. Another wise quote from Honest Abe is, “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say, and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.”
From the perspective of a salesperson this is an important rule of thumb. It seems to be a simple rule to understand but a hard one to follow. As sales people we are inclined to talk a lot. We have so much to say about the features and benefits of doing business with our firm. And, once we find a hot button, we go into problem solving mode often without truly understanding the full breadth of the challenge.
No wonder CEO’s and other executives we sell to aren’t interested in meeting with us. They see this as a huge waste of time and simply put, many believe that spending time with a salesperson has little value.
We have to change that belief and the reality is we only have a short window of time in which to do it. Roger Sitkins has always said, “We work so hard to get in front of our future ideal client. They deserve our very best.” I agree.
With this in mind, here are a few items to consider when preparing to go see one of your future ideal clients:
- Research the client before you go out on the call and develop great questions based on your research.
- Develop questions based on your prospect’s industry. Think through the challenges that your prospect will likely face in his or her industry due to the current economy, regulations, customer challenges, and employee challenges. Be prepared to have open dialogue about these issues.
- Seek to understand what is important to your prospect. Not what you think should be important.
- Prepare to tie your message to what the prospect tells you. It is more meaningful and it helps them to know you are listening.
- Prepare questions that help quantify the costs of the challenges the prospect faces or could face.
- Prepare to shut up and listen.
The Author, Gregg Goodmanson, is a Vertical Growth Advisor with Sitkins International.