The Lies That Sales People Believe
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How do these lies prevent growth? Why do the majority of salespeople struggle to have conversations with buyers that build trust and add value? Learn what science has found are the hidden, but most common, mindsets and beliefs that the majority of salespeople struggle with and discover how they impact sales performance and growth. Watch the on demand recording on the Sales Experts Channel here: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/14877/240415
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The Lies That Sales People Believe
- 1. The Lies that Sales People Believe How do they prevent sales development & growth? @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts
- 2. Introductions Unbound Growth Founder www.unboundgrowth.com linkedin.com/in/carolemahoney @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts
- 3. Agenda Current state & perception of sales development 12 lies salespeople believe & their impact How to debunk the lies Questions @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts
- 4. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 Source: Sales Executive Council
- 5. #mindsetmatters Supportive Beliefs No Need Approval Emotional Control Supportive Buy Cycles Ease Discussing Money No problem with Rejection Source: Objective Management Group @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts
- 7. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 1) “I can’t get referrals.” Image credit: rantsports.com
- 8. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 2) “I can’t call on decision makers.” Image credit: www.csnne.com/
- 9. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 3) “Of course they need to do due diligence.” Image credit: athlonsports.com
- 10. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 5) “A personal sales plan isn’t crucial.” Image credit: nesn.com
- 11. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 6) “I need to educate my prospects.” Image credit: patspulpit.com
- 12. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 7) “I can’t ask them about their finances.”
- 13. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 8) “If they think it over, they’ll buy.” Image credit: bostonglobe.com
- 14. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 9) “Prospects are honest.” Image credit: bostonglobe.com
- 15. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 10) “I have to tell them how to decide.” Image credit: cbsnews.com
- 16. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 11) “It’s more difficult to sell in this industry.” Then: 2000 draft ● #199 in the draft pick ● 6th round choice ● Slowest ● Skinny ● Most competitive league in sports Now: 2017 Super Bowl LI ● 7th time starting a Super Bowl ● 5th Super Bowl win ● Most passes and yards in a game ● Largest deficit overcome (25 points) ● Most first downs in a game ● Most completions in a Super Bowl ● Most touchdowns in a Super Bowl
- 17. @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts 1 12) “Buyers have all the power.” 28 3 3rd 8:31
- 18. What to do? Individuals ●Positive attitude ●Awareness ●Action Plans ●Constant Improvement @icarolemahoney #SalesXperts Leaders ●Culture ●Objective Evaluation ●Ask vs Tell ●Accountability
- 19. The team takes on the mentality of the coach.
Editor's Notes
- Hello and welcome to this Sales Experts BrightTalk Channel webinar on the lies that salespeople believe and how they prevent sales development and growth. For those of you that are new to the Sales Experts Bright Talk Channel, you can continue this conversation on the LinkedIn group, by using the hashtag #salesXperts or simply tweeting to me at @icarolemahoney- I answer everything personally. I will also answer any questions at the end. Also check out the recordings, an excellent one was just done by Lisa Dennis- my go to person for value propositions- check out her recording on “Value propositions that sell.”
- Before we get too much further, for those that don’t know me.
- I got the idea for this presentation from my neighbor. “Here in the lakes region of southwestern Maine, it’s been warm. Which means melting and refreezing- which means lots of icy hills. I’m used to it, I learned how to drive in these conditions with a stick shift Ford pickup truck. But most of my neighbors are ‘from away’- they hail from the suburbs of Connecticut, Massachusetts and even New Jersey. This country living is unnerving to them. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard; “Why aren’t there any street lights anywhere?” One of these neighbors has a driveway that is a hill. Earlier in the week they needed to leave the house when I got this text message: “Can u walk over here for a minute? I’m in the car.” Having no idea what was up, I walked over to see them sitting in the car, white-knuckled hands gripping the steering wheel of their new and massive 4 wheel drive SUV, both feet on the brake pedal with a look of panic on their face. “Can you stay here with the car so it doesn’t slide down the hill so I can get more sand? I have to go by 1 (it was 12:50) but the car keeps sliding and I know I am going to hit that tree there.” I looked around. There was sand everywhere. The tree was over 4 feet away. They were almost at the bottom of the hill. When I explained all this and said it would be fine, just put the 4 wheel drive on and go slow, they sat there for a few more minutes debating what to do, unable to make a decision. Do they risk it and just do it as I said? Or chance being late, getting the sand from the top of the hill, spread it out- but then what if they still slide anyway? What if they take their foot off the brake and the whole car slides? I finally made the decision for them, “Get in the passenger side, let me drive it down the hill.” In a few seconds I had them and their car down the hill without a single slide.”
- First, what is the current state of sales development today? Gartner research shows that companies spent $26.3B in 2015 (up 12.3% from 2014) on CRM but the percentage of sales people who make or break quota didn’t go up. In fact, according to the CSO 2016 Sales Performance Optimization Study, the percentage of salespeople making quota went down to 57.1% in 2015. And let's not forget all the other sales technology other than CRM. Still no results. Is sales training and tech a broken model to improve sales? Yes and no. Yes- it’s broken if coaching is not incorporated in at every level. Yes it’s broken if managers aren’t trained and coached on how to coach. But when coaching is combined with training it is a fourfold return compared to training alone- then no- it’s not broken. If you haven’t heard this stat, I wonder if you have been on a beach somewhere with a umbrella drink in your hand. But even the best sales coaches won’t be able to help a sales person who believes the lies that prevent them from improving. In fact, clients that we work with have seen much higher results than 17% over quota - Many see a 98% increase in sales, or doubling their quota. But only when they start busting through some of the lies I am about to share with you. Sadly, front line sales managers aren’t spending the time to coach, if they are they haven’t been trained and coached on how to- why? Because leadership sees coaching as an intrinsic, trickle down effect that is hard to measure. None of which is true.
- The science- over a million salespeople evaluated. Supportive beliefs influences every aspect of the salesperson mindset, behaviors and ability to execute on a sales strategy. If you haven’t heard me say it before, let me repeat it now. If you want to fix sales, fix the salespeople. Your salespeople are the connection between a problem and a solution. And at the end every of the day, your organization's success comes down to the salespeople who execute all of your training, technology, processes, and strategy. Is training and technology needed? Certainly. But is it the answer in and of itself? The research says no. One to one coaching is the glue that makes the technology and training effective. And if you don’t want to believe me, believe the research that shows that training alone can’t do it. After a week, 87% of training is lost. Technology not only can’t do it alone-by itself puts you in a high danger of scaling crappy sales tactics and alienating your ideal buyers. Remember my neighbor? Why didn’t they just do it? Their fear had convinced them they were sliding, even though they weren’t. It was a myth they had created in their mind. The fear was so powerful that they imagined they felt the slide happening, even though there was no evidence that it was. Like a deer in the headlights, it immobilized them from taking action. I see this happen daily with salespeople too. You can see it too, just watch how people buy, make decisions and especially when they set goals. Making a decision on anything means taking saying no to other things. If you choose option A, you will never know if option B would have worked. Those who need to obsessively research, compare, research again, clarify and discuss are afraid of missing out by making a choice. What if they choose wrong? What if it doesn’t work or happen? They are so weighed down by the ‘what-ifs’ and ‘what-abouts’ that they are convinced that any action they take is doomed. And so they don’t. Today, we are going to focus on the first aspect of the rock star salesperson’s mindset- the supportive beliefs. But because we see the supportive beliefs so rarely (7% of the time according to the OMG research) that it is easier to see the un-supportive beliefs. What you believe and the stories (mindsets) you tell yourself directly impact your behaviors and skills- in sales and in life. Here are 13 myths that I see salespeople buy into out of fear and how they impact their sales effectiveness. So here we go.
- What are we talking about when we talk about supportive beliefs and mindset? Mental toughness. It is what Brady gives credit to for the historic Super Bowl LI comeback and his ability to always be improving. Love or hate the Patriots, you can’t deny their results. If you hate them, you may want to ignore all the slide images from this point on. We all know what the outer game should look like. What the majority of companies are missing is the hidden game that will dictate the outer game you see in your forecasts and pipeline reports.
- What if they think I’m desperate? What if they don’t want to impose on someone? What if I am not good enough to refer to other people and I make them uncomfortable by asking? If you believe any of these, you either won’t do it, or won’t do it enough. And if you do ask, you won’t remind them because you already feel like you are imposing. If you let these myths prevent you from taking action, it means you will not get introductions to decision makers or prospects. And if you are thinking of any type of account based strategy, referrals are paramount. I highly recommend checking out Joanne Black’s referral selling course:http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/training/
- Who am I to call on a CEO? What if they get angry with me because I am wasting their time? No, no- better to have a go-between and not risk upsetting anyway or looking foolish. It’s ok to spend a lot of time with people that can’t buy from me, I’m being helpful...I have to provide information to gatekeepers before they will connect me with the decision maker. I certainly can’t schedule a meeting until I send them something. When you believe this, you will hide behind the gatekeeper, and you certainly will not pick up the phone. Sales cycles will take longer than they should, your chances are slimmer and the answers to your questions are sketchier when you're with the wrong person. Begin your process with calls to the highest ranking individual you can reach, believe that you belong and learn to speak about the things that are important to someone in that role. Just saw this with a client who sells million dollar deals to large enterprises. When one of his target accounts let him know they are committed to going forward to gave him everyone he needed to speak to at a meeting- he STILL hesitated to contact them all directly without the project manager/gatekeeper. After coaching he was able to not only get all the contact information, but also had the gatekeeper tell him to not owrry about copying themon everything.
- “I understand when my prospects want to shop around.” How you buy is how you sell. When salespeople shop around to explore options endlessly, do over extensive research, delay decisions… we accept that behavior from buyers. When we feel the same risk they do of making the wrong decision, or have the same fear of missing out on something by choosing something else,
- Is that even possible? Is it possible for me? This fear prevents us from committing to our goals. When we need to know that something is possible before we will take action, it’s because we fear that it isn’t. If we don't break through the fear asking us "what if?" we never will ask, "not if, but how?" And so we conconve ourself a plan isn’t necessary, or we let ourselves think that our quota is the plan. A QUOTA IS NOT A SALES PLAN! No one can change how much time they have. We all get the same 24 hours A sales plan should include: -personal goals (again, not a quota!) -Number of emails, calls, meetings to close a deal -Buyer personae (who they are, what their problems, opportunties, and risks are, where they go for information) -What content would be valuable? A toolbox of go to information that can be shared with buyers at each stage of their process. Can’t find it? Create it -What obstacles might happen? Have an idea how to get through them -What disciplines are needed to make it all happen? Daily prospecting, getting up earlier? Creating more content regularly? A coach and or mentor to keep things moving?
- Sharing insights and information is one thing- telling prospects everything you think they should know comes from a fear of not seeming smart enough. Whenever I ask salespeople why they didn’t ask a question, I often get the response “I didn’t want them to think I didn’t know or hadn’t done my research.” They end up doing most of the talking, meanwhile never really knowing what they buyer does and does not know, nor what they believe is important. Repeat this mantra: NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK> IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, your product or your service. Learn how to ask layered questions that probe deeper into the problems buyers have, how they became probelsm, what they have tried to fix it, why it’s important to solve and when it needs to be solved by. Uncover what they believe already before you start “educating” on how perfect your solution is for them.
- There are few people who are completely comfortable talking about money. Among the top reasons most marriages fail is lack of communication- especially about money. We fear being judged by how much or how little we have. We are afraid that people will think we are inappropriate. It’s also nearly impossible to help buyers find money when they don’t think they have any if salespeople don’t like to talk about money.. When salespeople are able to discuss finances they are more likely to uncover the actual budget and confirm the prospect's ability to spend it. This will prevent the delays that are blamed on lack of money. This isn’t as hard to fix as you might think. Just start talking about money with people more. What it can buy, the ways it can be invested...
- This one you have to believe because you are afraid to think ‘What if they don’t?’ or even worse, believe that they won’t? That might mean having to pick up the phone more and prospect more. Oh no- much better to believe that almost everyone in your pipeline will buy. Positive thinking rules the day right? We convince ourselves that if they think it over, they will buy. This is simply a lie we believe because it’s safer and easier to avoid the no now, and not later. And so sales cycles are longer, time is wasted, and quotas are missed.
- They want to fix their problem even more that I do, they agreed to the meeting after all...why wouldn’t they be honest? This fear again excuses us from digging deeper under the surface of what prospects are saying and accept it at face value. By asking layered questions to discover why this is a problem and why it’s an important problem for them to fix, we can understand what their bias, perspectives, and experiences are. It’s not that people always intentionally lie, it’s that they are looking through their own filters at a problem- and it might not be the truth. To combat this belief- stop taking things at face value. Seek to understand what is really going on and never make assumptions about what people might be thinking because you are too afraid to ask.
- If you feel you need to tell prospects why they should buy from you, it might be because you fear that they don’t know. Instead of being consultative and uncovering why they already think they should buy from you and how by asking questions, your fear compels you to tell rather than ask. If you want to be wrong, tell it. If you want to learn and help others learn for themselves, ask it.
- Again, what if you really do have everything you need to succeed and your circumstances are of your own creation? For some, that is freeing. For others, it creates a fear of the unknown.
- We hear this everyday don’t we? Buyers are X % of the way through the buying process. We buy into this myth because it excuses us of the responsibility and accountability for our own results.
- How do you break this unsupportive beliefs? As a sales person? How can a sales leader help to create an environment where this is possible? Salespeople download the eguide: Mindset Matters to discover things you can do now to develop a sales growth mindset http://bit.ly/2lSGF3S Join us for the weekly Live sales lab- come and practice- take massive action to improve- stop waiting for someone to give you help- seek it out. Weekly Sales Labs: http://bit.ly/2hpfN8g Sales leaders- download the eGuide: Is sales coaching right for you? For the questions you need to ask and answer to develop a culture of coaching as well as a training program and process to truly develop salesrock stars that will sell more and stay longer. http://bit.ly/2lWzO8H http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/training/
- The majority of sales people are like my neighbor. They have the latest in 4 wheel drive technology, they’ve been trained on how to drive and maybe even gotten some type of degree or certification. But ask any one, to win requires mental toughness.
- FAQs: -How can you tell if a sales person has one of these beliefs? - observation vs evaluation & self awareness - How do you know if someone is coachable and will overcome some of these beliefs? Ref: to 8 reason blog post & Bright Talk session “& reasons Salespeople Don’t Improve” -Is it really the job og the manager or company to give therapy to salespeople? -Personally, I don’t believe it is. I do believe it’s their responsibility to create a culture and enviormnet that doesn’t cause this beliefs to cement and a process that salespeople can get help. That could be through an internal dedicated coach, and external coach, or a manager in some cases. The best model is a combination of those 3 IMO.