Salespeople Are Tinkerbells

Returning home from another Discover with the Buyer’s Perspective sales training, I want to share with you what I think is one of the biggest challenges we face as salespeople in our transformation to become Trusted Advisors:

We are all Tinkerbells, and it is so hard to not sell solutions right out of the gate

As human beings progress through our evolution, we have been designing our brains to react to challenges. You all probably know about ‘the fight or flight’ reaction: 

In stress or fear, the amygdala triggers the release of cortisol and begins a cascade of intense physical responses. Our emotions boil up, and in a split second or even less, our brain makes a decision about what to do: fight or flight.

All those millions of years of highly evolved brainpower made us “jump to conclusions” to fix things. Whatever is thrown at us, we will find a solution. That’s what Tinkerbells do, and they thrive on solution successes.

Helping Customers in Why Change

This is a logical explanation of how salespeople have become Solution Sellers. It’s in our blood! Unfortunately, customers in the ‘Why Change Buying Phase‘ do not find this very helpful. They are in a different state of mind; They are happy with what they have, although they may review, at times, their Service in Place (or the status quo). But they are, at that moment, not looking for a change. So, while you are pitching your solution and rambling on how good your company is, the customer is listening with a half ear. While in a non-active listening mode, they notice you trying to discover any dissatisfaction or pain points ready to solve. But the conversation is going nowhere and the customer is pointing to the door, politely asking you to leave.

What would get the customer’s interest?

Four things are fundamentally required to get the customer to lean into what you have to say:

1. You understand and respect where they are in their buying process. In the case of a prospect, they are, by definition, in Why Change.
2. You come prepared and show you have done your homework. Your opening is like an executive summary of the Situational knowledge you have gained, and you verify your understanding.
3. You change the customer’s perspective on their situation and challenges by sharing a growth opportunity they may not have been thinking about that would positively impact their business. Your insight can also be about the risk of not changing.
4. Your insight is backed up by third-party research. Why should they believe a salesperson? Instead, believe what other reliable sources say.

From Tinkerbell to Yoda

To be successful in Sales, it’s time to break the Tinkerbell habits and act more like Yoda: Before jumping to conclusions and pitching your solution, take a breath, pause, be patient and apply the above approach. Selling is Helping, so when your customer moves to Change to What, you help them see what solution criteria are needed to make your business idea work.

Yoda would find that a piece of wise advice :).