CONFIDENT THINKING THE BRIDGE TO CONFIDENT SELLING!

CONFIDENT THINKING THE BRIDGE TO CONFIDENT SELLING


James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© July 2006

Confident Selling (Prentice-Hall 1970) was designed to get past the arrogance of the salesman and the adversarial relationship of the selling situation to how it “listened.” It was also designed to focus on the crippling effect of inappropriate sales psychology. Selling is a walk in the part if the salesman has his ducks in a role and isn’t a barrier to his own success because he fails to see the selling situation clearly.

This intelligence can be first gleaned from his own customer base. Virtually all the problems experienced servicing his accounts have occurred in his prospect’s operations. The confident thinking salesman will not only note but also use this data for he will:

(1) Have an understanding of customer business, history, culture, and operations.
(2) Have a record of past and current complaints.
(3) Have identified these complaints specifically as they relate to application of his products, and how they were dispatched, or not.
(4) Have a record of the time lag between reporting and addressing complaints.
(5) Have a record of complexity and success or failure in meeting complaints.
(6) Have a clear understanding of chronic problems associated with technology.
(7) Have an assessment of customer operating competence.
(8) Have a record of who, what, when, where, how, and why relative to account.

This intelligence alerts the salesman to every possible nuance of the sales call, and is pivotal to an exploration and evaluation of the prospect’s current satisfaction. It also represents listening with a “third ear.” This is not a time to be preoccupied with what to say or make an impression. This is a time to listen and learn. There are three levels of hearing in every selling exchange:

(1) The “hearing level”: we hear a noise, the muddled voice of the speaker, but little else.
(2) The “listening level”: we hear what is said, but fail to decode and register what is meant.
(3) The “thinking level”: we hear the words, understand the implicit and explicit message, and decode and digest its precise meaning.

“Listening” is only possible at the “third level.”

Salesmen, like all everyone, are handicapped when it comes to listening: 40 percent of our development is learning to talk; 60 percent learning to read. This leaves out training in listening completely. It would seem we are supposed to acquire the skill by osmosis. Consequently, most salesmen are poor listeners.

There are a series of natural or imposed impediments to active listening: worrying about some situation at home; wounded pride for lack of interest or respect shown by the prospect; a wandering mind, thinking of the next sales call; or how the commission will be spent. A trigger word by the prospect can also throw the salesman emotionally off balance. When the rebuttal instinct comes into play, the game is over.

Listening demands that most rare of human characteristics, emotional maturity and self-discipline. With this maturity comes control, with control comes confident thinking, and with confident thinking comes competence.

So, for a situation to “listen” well, the salesman must be totally absorbed with his whole body. This means utilizing eyes, ears, hands, and posture as components of listening to display genuine interest and attention. Surveys have indicated that 75 percent of communication is verbal, 25 percent is written, and yet only 15 percent of retained information is received through the ears, while 85 percent is received through the eyes.

For the salesman to see clearly, hear clearly, and react clearly, he must trust his mind and allow his whole body to experience the situation. From the moment he comes into the presence of the prospect and his environs, he wears the unique personality, essence, and character of the place as a garment.

He feels everything from his initial contact with the receptionist, security guard or secretary to the person he is to meet. From this, he has a sense of the space and place and what it projects. Is the climate relaxed, tense, anxious, frantic or self-absorbed? The walls talk from environs of the lobby -- how furnished, decorated and ergonomically appointed -- to how he is treated. Is it a salesman friendly? Does it feel hostile, trusting, suspicious, playful, perky or somber? Does it have a traditional or postmodern ambience? Emerson said, “What you say speaks so loudly I cannot hear you!” Nothing is a function of chance. Everything is crying to be understood.

The salesman can corroborate impressions as he waits by the manner others are greeted and treated in these confines. All this is part of listening.

Unless all feelers are engaged and sensitive to what is going on, something can be missed that is important in terms of the framework of content (sales opportunity), context (relative consistency of how environment listens) and process (business health).

These data will be fed simultaneously into the salesman’s thinking starting with (1) awareness of potential for major and minor goals, proceeding naturally to (2) awareness of what it all may mean leavened by judgment, and continuing to (3) a preliminary diagnosis of the most prospect friendly approach to the situation, keeping in mind (4) a backup plan should the initial approach go awry, then depending on the consensus level (5) readiness to close and implement the sale.

A batter in baseball may only get a hit every third or fourth appearance at the plate, which is considered good, but he expects to be ready to hit every time. He contributes, however, when he puts the ball in play. Likewise, the salesman may face the prospect with a similar success ratio, but he also knows that a sale only begins with the order and not before.

These data are flooding the salesman’s consciousness. On the one hand, he must be ready, and on the other, must trust his mind to process the information efficiently. Confident thinking precedes engagement. A salesman can think too much. Ultimately, he needs to trust his wits, training, and conceptual framework to put him in the zone going with the flow with mind and body, heart and soul all in sync with each other.

His only responsibility is to be open to the experience, alive and sensitive to everything. No matter how the call goes, it is a learning experience and he is making progress. As long as he has the prospect’s best interests at heart, he will not need to use the words of being dedicated to a joint problem solving connection with the prospect. It will be understood.

To avoid the impediment of all his biases, his cultural programming, he needs to display due diligence when they surface.

Once I was traveling with one of my men, who became engaged in an animated conversation with a man at a large construction site. The man was affable and well dressed being moved to ask my salesman for his business card. They exchanged cards and my salesman nearly feinted on the spot. The man he was talking with so comfortably was the chairman of the board of a Fortune 100 company. Up to that time, this particular salesman suffered from being too mechanical and ineffective in his selling. This seemed a breakthrough, but only if he could get his arms around the severity of his reaction. His first comment when we discussed the matter later was, “He’s a civil war buff like I am. We just happened to have that in common.”

No, I replied. That is not why he asked you to call on him in New York City. “No?” No, I repeated. Why, then, do you think he did, I continued. This completely puzzled my salesman. He simply could not believe he enjoyed such rapport because he “listened.” He allowed the CEO to display his remarkable civil war knowledge. Didn’t you notice, I persisted; you hardly spoke at all, fueling his remarks with questions that kept him on theme. You were selling. You could have embarrassed him with your knowledge but you didn’t. You perceived him correctly, and kept him on center stage.

Here was a salesman who was easily intimidated by position power, avoiding it whenever he could. This resulted in him making rote calls again and again on prospects without clout. His bias was showing.

Even with the flicker of bias, the prospect will sense this. It did not show in this case because it was a neutral zone, a construction site, and casual conversation on a subject of common interest with no one required to make a decision. Did the salesman experience an epiphany? I would like to say, yes, but that was not true. He took it as a fluke, and never called on the CEO in New York.

Should the salesman recognize such a bias, such vulnerability, he can control this by being aware of himself as he is, and accepting of this awareness in the conduct of the sales interview. Every interpersonal exchange has the potential for hidden contamination.

Going through the mind of the prospect in the sales interview is likely this chronology in descending order:

(1) Am I comfortable with this person?
(2) Can I see my people working closely with him?
(3) Will his product or service fit comfortably with what we are already doing?
(4) Is he technically competent?

Notice the chronology. It is always in this order, and the irony is that this is usually not clear to either the buyer or the seller. Both have probably bought into the myth that competence matters most, when in fact it matters lease in the fragile nature of interpersonal exchange. That is why high tech people are often duped in the selling situation. They think the mind is dominant when the emotions control the game.

The salesman who recognizes this chronology and works his magic first in creating comfort, then trust, then rapport and finally collegiality will have a trump card when it comes competence. If he isn’t competent, the prospect will be duped and likely become embittered towards people who sell, stereotyping them as distrustful when they are no more distrustful than any other profession, perhaps less so. Comfort, fit, and competence are in sequential order and this never changes despite all the rhetoric to the contrary.

The problem with the selling profession is that the emphasis is on company, product, and personnel competence, along with technical competence, failing to see these are ancillary to interpersonal acumen. Obviously, competence is important, but competence doesn’t produce sales, active listening does.

I know. I worked for a company as a chemical sales engineer, and later as an executive. My initial orientation with the company was a month long intensive technical training program of company technology, products and services, but not an hour on how to approach the prospect other than wowing him to death with my competence. The same “technical dandies” called on me when I was an executive. They were trained to dazzle with know how. It was almost an affront to them to consider selling being anything else.

That said there is also the matter of the “killer instinct.” Everything is in the salesman’s hand, but for the order. When the salesman has the prospect psychically ready to buy with no obstacles in place, he must ask for the order, and not a token order, but the order that will establish truly a new account. This must be done quickly, surgically, honestly, forthrightly, aggressively, but not mechanically. It is the conclusion of a natural progression completed as expected.

I have seen few with the “killer instinct” other than those I would deem intimidators. I do not consider intimidation selling. The prospect and salesman are not adversaries. They are potential partners, but partners must first be comfortable with each other and then trusting of each other before creating a bond of working together. When the salesman punishes the prospect with his personality and knowledge, and attempts to overwhelm with the dance, success may occur in the short term but not beyond. He needs to build a bridge of trust between the two companies to create long-term loyalty.

Given these criteria, it is the reason why introverted salesmen are the most successful in the long run. They don’t have to do the charismatic dance, don’t have to be a big deal, and don’t have to be all things to all people, for they are there to see, to listen, and to act accordingly. Is there still a place for the charismatic backslapping salesman? Obviously, there is because most companies still recruit and develop them.

One time I was at a national sales meeting when all of the high talent area managers of the company were assembled at the remote location of Starve Rock State Park in LaSalle-Peru, Illinois. This was in the 1960s just as a $100 million company was about to soar into an international $1 billion corporation, and would in the matter of a decade.

The atmosphere was electric. After dinner one evening, the national sales manager was holding court in a corner of the huge meeting room, surrounded by his adoring acolytes. They were about four deep, spellbound by his every word. He was the prototype of the charismatic figure, six five, 260, tall, dark and handsome with a booming voice and a roaring laugh that tinkled the glassware on the horseshoe created meeting table. His command of language exploded like firecrackers in the mind.

My friend and I were not part of the group. We were sitting diagonally across the room a distant 100 feet away sipping coffee observing this scenario. Finally, my friend said, “I’ll never make it with this outfit.” I asked him why. “Can you picture me becoming like Tex?” I started to laugh. I got the giggles so bad I was getting a stomachache. This caused the mountain that was roaring across the room to grow silent. All heads turned accusingly towards us. I had interrupted the soliloquy. Obediently, I raised my hand palm up in a gesture of apology, with the mountain resuming his message.

My friend said, “What was that all about?” I had the incredible thought of Tex trying to be like you, I said. My friend was small of stature, slim of physique, quiet with a small voice and an introspective disposition. Although only thirty, he was losing his hair, wore thick glasses that made him look a bit like Woody Allen, and moved with exertion.

He was offended. “Thanks a lot.” Oh, no, I added, I mean no offense. Look at him, I said, he’s a poster board and you’re the real thing, flesh and blood. You’ve outsold the poster board when he was in your shoes ten to one.

I knew this to be a fact. He didn’t know how Tex climbed the ladder. I did. He didn’t know that Tex never sold very much, or that he had a mentor that had greased his skids. The irony is that his mentor was the mild mannered executive vice president that apparently felt he needed the charismatic fire that Tex brought to the table to complement his personality.

He left me that night wounded still believing I had stuck a sword in his side, but obviously he recovered. My friend did leave the company, assumed a similar position with another company, and ultimately became its CEO. I always wondered if he found himself a Tex.

The point is there is no reason to attempt to emulate what we are not, or to apologize for why we are successful as we are.

There is a habit that can be developed that can be more revealing than any book read, guru favored, or training program attended and that is the habit of critiquing every sales call, good, bad, or indifferent with a few words after the call as if keeping a diary.

Words stare back written in the heat of the moment to reveal hidden meanings. They leap up to the mind to make known what lies beyond the hurt, wounded pride, humiliation, confusion, defeat, embarrassment, or euphoria experienced during the sales call. Patterns become apparent showing what works and what doesn’t, when and why. Seeing the sales call in the cool of review can become like footprints to success.

POWER OF THE SALES CRITIQUE

When I was a field sales manager traveling with one of my men, I would critique the sales call immediately afterwards, retiring to a coffee shop, writing on napkins my observations. A former salesman confessed to me one day that the stack of napkins he retained from those calls had grown to eighteen inches high. “I’ve referred to them over the years,” he said, “and found them useful especially as a manager.”

My aim with the sales critique was to impress on the salesman the fact that we carry our geography with us, and no one more so than the prospect. By keeping these notes, the salesman comes to appreciate the prospect’s motivation, as patterns are crying out to be heard as the salesman steps into the prospect’s office.

Culture dictates the implicit behavior of operations, which may be generalized into comfort, complacency or contribution. Data will highlight one or the other or a combination as the prospect handles the interview, his agenda, interruptions or crises.

Then there is the matter of how the prospect wants to be perceived. Books, certificates, mementoes, honors, trophies, personal albums, type and condition of furniture, location of office, and its arrangement all have meaning. It can be quickly gleaned if this is a working place or a shrine. Without a word being said the salesman can undress the prospect as a person. Capturing the essence of a place can avoid bouncing off the walls of resistance with none the wiser why.

When I was a salesman calling on a General Electric facilities manager with my area manager, his office reminded me of a shrine. Not only were university degrees prominently on display but honorary degrees as well. Before I could adjust to this exhibit, he blared, “Give me your spiel,” then immediately turned his swivel chair around with his back facing us and proceeded to cut his fingernails. His office was pretentious to the extreme with furnishings fit for a chief executive officer.

For fully ninety seconds, I did not say a word and motioned to my area manager for support and acquiescence. He nodded. Ninety seconds of silence in a sales call is an eternity. Finally, he turned his chair around, and in a stern voice, as if he were a principal addressing a student, said, “What seems to be your problem, young man?” I said, apparently, we caught you at a bad time. I would like to reschedule when you have time to hear my presentation.

He came back, “What if that is never?” I fed his exact words back to him. What if that is never? And again, I sat there in silence. Meanwhile, my area manager was dying. But I was resolute. Looking him in the eye, I waited. He shook his head, looked to my area manager for support, who turned away, put down his nail clipper, and said, “Set it up an appointment with my secretary.” I said, thank you and left.

The critique to that call was simple: prospect arrogant, cut his nails, no respect, office shrine, need to find another way, find George, made appointment but little point to follow up.

Before the next call, I did some espionage and found Mr. Prospect was not George, or the person who could buy. He was an administrator in power plant operations.

Two other bits of information were eventually learned as well: he was intimidated by technical people, especially engineers; and was embittered having been passed over for promotion several times. This was learned from the chief engineer who was “George,” and quite accommodating.

How was this learned? A call was made to the director of engineering. He was asked (on the phone) technical questions on power plant operations. He referred me to the chief engineer. I have found executives are quite amenable to sloughing off such queries to men in their line of command. To my amazement, then, Mr. Prospect had the title of power plant facility management but was ignorant of operations, and dealt with that ignorance by acting as a barrier to sales people having a role to establish technical exchange with operating personnel.

THE CASSANDRA EFFECT

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of Priam, King of Troy. She was endowed with the gift of prophecy from the god Apollo. The only problem is Cassandra was never believed. Something of that nature has been my experience in the selling situation.

It has been so easy for me to use confident thinking in confident selling. Yet, many of my colleagues saw it as simply a matter of luck, timing or personal influence. When I made presentations on this indirect and unconventional approach to selling, management was often bemused but not convinced that it should depart from the conventional wisdom of adversarial selling, or overwhelming the prospect with benefits, handling objections, and closing with determination. This mechanical approach was totally at variance with my process approach.

The audience for confident selling did not appear until 1970 when a book of that title was published after I retired the first time in my thirties. That audience proved to be more than 100,000. Now, in the early twenty-first century with confident thinking in demand, it would seem the adage applies as well to confident selling, or the student is ready and the teacher has arrived.

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Dr. Fisher was previously a sales executive with Nalco Chemical Company working for that company in South Africa, Europe and South Africa, as well as the United States; and for Honeywell Avionics as a psychologist, and Honeywell Europe, Ltd. as a human resource executive. He is author of several books and articles in this and related genres. Check out his website: www.fisherofideas.com