O
ne of the most important skills that winners have in common is the ability to see things objectively. Ob- jectivity is critical for sales success. It gives us the ability to determine the truth and to handle any situation appropriately. Winning sales requires both outward-focused objectivity—a realistic picture of our true position in a sales campaign—and inward-focused objectivity, a clear-eyed assess- ment of our own skills and capabilities.Keep in mind, however, that in the real world, objectivity is relative, not absolute. No person, however wide-awake and self-aware, can ever be totally objective about everything and everyone—especially themselves.
J. M. Barrie said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
Experience is the best teacher of objectivity. Novice salespeople are often optimists; they have to be, to face all that rejection and keep com- ing back for more. They look for any nuance, any signal upon which they can build the belief that somewhere, somehow, there is business for them to win. Not only can’t they assess a situation objectively, they gen-
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erally don’t see their own weaknesses. They are unconscious incompe- tents, unaware of their own deficiencies.
Even as they mature and gain experience, some salespeople con- tinue to be wishful thinkers with “happy ears.” They cannot—or will not—face the facts as they are; instead, they put a positive spin on any- thing they tell their bosses, their customers, and ultimately (or perhaps primarily) themselves. In other instances, salespeople deliberately avoid learning the truth. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand, they feel that if they don’t ask the question, they can’t get the bad news. Sales- people use these defense mechanisms, often unconsciously, out of fear of some real or perceived threat. (Sometimes salespeople don’t know the difference between bad news and good news, but that’s another issue.)
Inward-Focused Objectivity
Winners have the ability to assess accurately their own strengths and weaknesses and the will to acknowledge them. To winners, everything is open to examination: the skills they have or have not developed over their years of selling, the personal traits they were born with, and the be- haviors they exhibit every day.
“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
—MARK TWAIN
Winning sales professionals are constantly reassessing themselves—
determining where they stand versus the current business environment and their competition, where they need to be to sustain their success, and how they are going to get there. They work constantly on areas needing improvement and, in the meantime, seek help from others to compensate for weaknesses in these skills, traits, and behaviors. They understand that, especially in our world of constant change, what may have contributed to their success then doesn’t necessarily get the job done now.
Winners know that their own weaknesses can jeopardize the success of an entire sales campaign and even their careers. A tendency to panic when things aren’t going well, for instance, or to be a lone wolf, unable
or unwilling to work other members of a team, can be fatal when purs- ing a complex, competitive sales opportunity.
Outward-Focused Objectivity
Winners seek the truth. They understand that it is a vital element of their success. Top sales professionals are consistently objective about the world around them, especially the true state of their sales campaigns and the motivations, intentions, and capabilities of the people to whom they’re selling.
When I am called in to help a company win a difficult sales cam- paign, my first task is to find out how objective the sales rep is about the sales opportunity. It’s not my practice to meet the prospect, so until I can speak with other team members, I have to base my assessment solely on what the rep tells me. If that rep is not objective, I can’t help them.
Deception on the part of the buyer has become more common- place. Whether to spare your feelings or to get a better negotiating posi- tion with another supplier, many evaluators who work for the real buyers will string you along, making you think you may be selected when, in fact, you’ve already lost. You may well find that your prospect is includ- ing you—letting you think you’re at least in contention—merely to sat- isfy a three-bid requirement, having decided long before to do business with another bidder. Other prospects will hide the fact that they’ve lost funding for the project or that it has been postponed. If you’ve learned to assess the sales opportunity with staunch objectivity, you will see through a prospect’s friendly façade, seek the truth about the competi- tion, and ascertain whether a deal is possible.
I always think about the movie A Few Good Men.Jack Nicholson, por- traying Colonel Jessup, is being questioned on the witness stand by lawyer Lieutenant Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise.
Jessup: “You want answers?”
Kaffee: “I want the truth.”
Jessup: “You can’t handle the truth.”
Can you handle the truth about your sales opportunities and your own capabilities?
As you read more in this book about the skills, personal traits, and behaviors of winners, try to be objective about yourself. If you find your-
Can You Handle the Truth? 15
Objectivity is critical for effective qualifica- tion. See Chapter 9.
self saying, “I know that,” or, “I do that already,” stop and ask yourself for hard evidence. See just how objective you can be.
Escaping from the Comfort Zone
When you do identify a skill or behavior that needs improvement, just how capable of change are you?
A while back, I was facing two big changes in my life. I was ap- proaching the 50th anniversary of my birth, and within a week of that milestone, I was going to leave the corporate world for the third time in my career and start The Stein Advantage. I was definitely planning to venture out of two of my comfort zones around the same time.
Needless to say, I was apprehensive. However, being someone who loves and even thrives on change, I decided on a proactive approach. I would go skydiving.
Here’s the way I saw it: if I could stand in an open airplane doorway two-and-a-half miles above the ground and will myself to step into empty space, then I could do anything. If I could do something so counterin- tuitive, I could meet any challenge. Turning 50 and starting a new busi- ness would be a piece of cake.
With this in my mind, I jumped out of my comfort zone. I left the security of a functioning aircraft and entrusted my life to a thin canopy of nylon. After experiencing that thrill and living through it, I was con- fidently able to resign my position at the last company where I would ever be an employee. That marked a new beginning.
I jumped out of my comfort zone and started my third company, The Stein Advantage.
I jumped out of my comfort zone and became an expert in business- to-business sales, as well as a thought leader to my clients.
T a c t i c
Over a two-month period, ask several trusted friends, partners, colleagues, or mentors to give you their objective and candid observations on your behaviors and other professional issues. You’ll have to be willing to hear the truth and to make necessary adjustments in the way you see things.
I jumped out of my comfort zone and withdrew my first proposal to a client—with no other business in the pipeline—because discounting my services was against my principles.
I jumped out of my comfort zone and celebrated my 50th—my best birthday ever—willing to take on anything and everything a person half- a-century-old would have to face.
I literally propelled myself out of my comfort zone—and, in doing so, expanded it.
Do you know the boundaries of your comfort zones? Are they real limitations or merely self-limiting beliefs? If you’re putting up your own boundaries, please understand that expanding your comfort zone re- quires, by definition, discomfort.
I encourage you, for the sake of your professional growth, to invite discomfort occasionally. As winners will tell you, you have only three real options for change.
1. You can anchor yourself in your comfort zone and be left behind.
2. You can reluctantly allow yourself to get pulled out of your com- fort zone and be somewhat effective some of the time.
3. You can take the initiative, expand your comfort zone, and con- trol your professional destiny.
New Behaviors
Here are some business-oriented behaviors you might consider to be outside your comfort zone and, therefore, worth the risk of trying.
• Deliver a speech at an industry or association meeting.
• Call a stock analyst who follows your customer’s industry and offer him insights into that industry.
• Cold-call 25 CEOs.
• Walk away from a sales opportunity that’s not likely to turn into business.
• Understand and memorize your best customer’s latest financial statements. Then talk to that customer about what you learned.
• Commit your sales plan to paper (or disk). Update it as the sale progresses.
Can You Handle the Truth? 17
• Learn about your prospect’s top three products, as well as those of their three key competitors. Then talk about what you learned on your next sales call.
• Refuse to answer an RFP until you meet with the real buyer—the person from whose budget the funds will come for this investment.
• Ask your coach in a sales campaign to agree to help you win the deal—to become an active ally.
• Quantify the risks involved with several different activities in which you are involved, such as a sales campaign (or two), a personal issue, or a personnel challenge at work. Write down your assess- ments and specifically how you will mitigate those risks.
See Chapter 8.
T a c t i c
Figure out what enables you to change yourbehavior proactively. Make an hon- est, objective appraisal of your attitude toward change, your comfort zones, where you need to be, and what you need to do to get there. Then do it!
C h a p t e r