Einstein....


The other day a telemarketer tried to bully Pat into getting through to me. He pretended I was expecting his call. I didn't know Albert, but I took his call anyway.

"Hello, Albert! Long time no talk," I answered the phone. "How are you? How are the wife and kids?"

"Did .. uh .. did we talk last week?" Albert replied a little taken back by my greeting.

"No. I don't know who you are or what you're selling," I replied, "But by treating my assistant as you did you've lost the sale already. Sorry."

Click.

You don't have to be Einstein to get what I call the ³Law of Reciprocal Sales Actions². "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" (O.K. it¹s Newton, but you get the point.) The harder a salesperson pushes, the harder the prospect will pull back.

Hard selling is hardly effective.

It's easy to understand when you¹re the one being sold: The more overly-friendly the salesperson is the less friendly we feel inclined to be. The more pushy they are the more resistance we want to put up. Action/reaction.

It¹s not like an abrasive salesperson wears down our resistance to buy, it¹s more like they just tend to wear on our nerves. And although hard sell works on some people in some situations, it alienates most and loses more sales than it earns. When someone is pushy, human instinct is to back off with the same degree of energy. The more they try to force the sale, the more resistance they¹ll get.

That¹s because we like to buy from people we like and respect, not people who bully us.

How can you help a salesperson determine if they are coming off as aggressive vs. assertive? Role plays? Nah. Most salespeople hate them. And few people act naturally in those unnatural situations. I suggest you observe the salesperson in the field. But don¹t concentrate on the salesperson. Study the prospect¹s reaction. Watch their face in-person, listen to their intonation on the phone. Are they pulling back?
Sometimes salespeople find themselves on autopilot and just deliver their pitch forgetting to focus on the prospect¹s attention and reaction. As an objective third party, try not to get involved in the selling. Think of yourself as a scientist studying and noting reactions.

Gosh, I never expected my high school physics class would tie back into marketing. Maybe I should consider a marketing tip on Newton¹s 1st Law of motion: Inertia.

- Phil Sasso