On the other end of the phone was another salesperson complaining to me about how they can’t seem to close more sales.
I asked the person why he felt that was the case and the response was immediate, “Marketing provides all us with crappy leads. You can’t close anything if your leads are pathetic.”
This guy was complaining the entire time he was on the phone with me, and to think he called me! It was obvious the only thing he wanted from me was to confirm his belief about having stupid customers and somehow wave a magic stick with his management to get the problem fixed.
The more he talked about his leads and customers being stupid, the more I became tempted to say something about it takes a stupid person to spot another stupid person.
But I held back.
This guy didn’t have stupid leads or stupid customers. What he was suffering from was a stupid attitude that had overtaken any sense of intelligence he had.
What I find amazing is how many times people are clueless with regard to realizing how much their attitude impacts their ability to sell. I asked the salesperson why he thought all of his leads were lousy and his response to me was “because they won’t buy.”
Just because a customer won’t buy does not make them stupid. You the salesperson are being the stupid one in this situation for even thinking that. The only two reasons they have not bought is because either they’re not capable of buying or you have not given them enough reason to buy.
A quote I’ve been using a lot lately is, “Change your outlook on life and you’ll change your output in life.”
When we choose to see things in a positive manner, we’ll see positive outcomes. View things negatively and you’ll get negative outcomes. Pretty simple concept.
Don’t go looking for others to change your attitude, because you’re the only won who can change your attitude. The next lead you get your objective is one thing. Uncover a reason to continue the conversation.
When you uncover a reason to keep the conversation going, you put yourself in a position to uncover the next piece of information. Repeat the process enough times and you will likely close the sale.
Your leads will buy when you provide them with the information they need to see that the purchase you’re asking them to make is not a purchase, but rather an investment with a return.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
