Sean works for a major telecom company.During one of our coaching sessions, he told me, "I've been diligent about following
sales process that my company believes is required to make a sale -- but, for some strange reason, my prospects don't want to fit into that process.
What am I doing wrong?"
Sean's comment struck me because it spoke to years of traditional selling programs that promote linear selling -- moving prospects along from one step to another until they say yes -- as a "guarantee" of sales success.
But there's an inherent conflict here.
Linear selling says that you have to impose a predetermined structure on building a relationship -- but that's by definition an unstructured process!
Suppose that "next step" isn't what prospect wants?
"Wait a minute," you might say. "What matters most is that I put as many prospects as possible into my sales process, and hopefully some of them will turn into sales."
If you're thinking that way, it's definitely time for you to consider a different way of thinking.
Of course you can make sales using linear selling -- but you'll never know how many sales you're losing week after week because you're wearing "blinders" of traditional selling.
If we fail to tune in to natural rhythm of trust-building when two strangers become involved in developing a relationship...or if we try to force prospects into our process, we make relationship about us and not them, whether we intend to or not.
And prospects sense that and pull back, because structured, linear sales processes don't recognize human elements required to build relationships that ultimately lead to sales.
Before a sale can happen, prospects need to feel that you're comfortable moving at their pace and their process.
If you try to force changes in that process, you'll only set off alarms that will pigeonhole you with negative stereotype of "salesperson."
That's why I advised Sean to work on becoming aware of milestones that prospects set and that will guide his path to a sale.
