Slow Down Selling to Speed Up Buying

My friends never take me fishing anymore because I get excited when I feel a nibble and yank the rod too early. I know it’s wrong, but I just can’t help myself. Fortunately for my financial health, I’ve learned to contain my impatience when I sell.

The paradox of selling is that it’s all about results, but if you focus too impatiently on the results during a sales call, bad things can happen. Let’s look at a few, starting from the best case and working downwards:

• You get the sale but leave additional opportunities on the table in your haste to get to yes, otherwise known as “stumbling over dollars to pick up dimes.”
• You may sell the solution you intended, only to fail later because you did not take the time to thoroughly and accurately diagnose the problem.
• The buyer agrees, but you end up losing the deal because you didn’t figure out their place in the decision making process, and you haven’t prepared them to sell your solution internally.
• Or the buyer may say yes, only to suffer buyer’s remorse when they’ve had a chance to reflect.
• You may try to close too early and lose your chance, like yanking a hook out of a hungry fish’s mouth.
• Worse yet, you repel the buyer by appearing pushy or even desperate.

How to speed up by slowing down

Here’s a simple equation to keep in mind:  Patience = Plan + Process + Probe

• Plan. Have a plan going in. This doesn’t mean that you plod along step by step no matter what happens, but it does mean that you have awareness at all times of where you are according to the plan, so that you can make better-informed reactions to whatever happens.
• Process. Focus on the process, not the result. There is always so much going on, even in just a two person sales call, that you need to devote your full mental energy and attention being in the present. If you can do that, the future will take care of itself.
• Probe. Develop the habit of asking just a few more questions. This is especially important in the conflict stage. When you hear about a problem, dig a little deeper into root causes and consequences before suggesting a solution.

That’s the other paradox of selling: the slower you go, the faster you get there.

Now, if I could just get my friends to give me another chance…