Think about this for a moment.
Salespeople are quick to say how customers are cheap and they don’t want to spend any money. Fine, they can say what they want, but I’ll counter the argument about customers being cheap. I contend that typically it all comes back to the salesperson being cheap.
It starts with the salesperson thinking about who would make a good customer. Too many salespeople target their sales prospecting process toward customers who never will spend any significant sum of money. This might be the B2B salesperson who targets companies that are simply too small, or the B2C person who targets people who don’t have any income.
This often happens because the salesperson is cheap.
Yes, you read that right — the salesperson is cheap! That being the case, the salesperson focuses their prospecting efforts only on the market that reflects their own attitude of cheapness. Salespeople naturally are most comfortable selling to people and companies they can relate to.
A salesperson who is cheap in their own thinking is going to be most comfortable with others who think the same way.
Now this does not mean a salesperson can’t become comfortable and good at selling to a market to which they feel they can’t relate. It’s just that the salesperson must go through a mental shift to connect with somebody not like them.
The easiest way to do this, of course, is for the salesperson to get outside their comfort zone and walk and talk in a way similar to the prospects to whom they are trying to sell. If a salesperson has worked only with small companies, he or she is likely only comfortable selling to small companies. If the person wants to find success in selling to large companies, he or she is going to have to intentionally learn and understand how big companies operate — and how those companies’ employees carry themselves.
If you see yourself as a cheap salesperson, you must begin looking at things not as cheap. Begin to focus instead on what makes what you sell beneficial and valuable to your customers and prospects.
When you change your own personal perspective, you’ll be amazed at how you will change how you present yourself and how you attract better prospects.
For more information on getting better prospects, consider my new Sales Prospecting Program. Just click on the below statement:
Yes, of course… I want better prospects!
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
