It's The Way I Tell 'Em

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Sometimes the way we express ideas uses analogies that are deep rooted, but whose day has been and gone. We need to move on in our speaking and writing and let go of the old ways when they are no longer relevant.

I wonder how many readers have won an order this month? How many have launched a new Sales and Marketing campaign during the last quarter? How many joined forces with a strategic alliance partner to blow away the competition and capture some business last year?

If, as I believe, Sales and Marketing is about long term relationships and both parties gaining the maximum possible, why do we persist with military analogies? War is a win-lose process leading ideally to the early death of the losing combatant, so why do we use their language?

There is a better alternative!

Let me ask you to imagine a visit to your doctor. If, as you are about to sit down in the Consulting Room, you are aware that the doctor has already decided what treatment to prescribe for your condition, do you think you would trust their medical judgement? Of course not!

But isn't that how sales used to work? You knew what you had to sell and you jolly well went out there and sold it! And the best salespeople were known to be able to sell sand to the Arabs and snow to the Eskimos!

Actually the conversation with the doctor may well run like this:- "What seems to be the matter?"; "Where does it hurt?"; "What does the pain feel like?"; "Where else does it hurt?"; "Does it hurt when I apply pressure here?"; "Can I take your temperature and blood pressure?"

What the doctor is doing, and we find it quite natural for them to do this, is understanding the problem. They are asking probing questions, then keeping quiet and listening to the answers, in order to gain understanding. This ties in exactly with one of the best one-liners I know in Sales and Marketing: "Talk less, sell more!"

I'm presuming that everyone has heard of 'open' and 'closed' questions; that 'open' questions - the ones that start with Who, Why, When, Where, What or How - are allegedly better than 'closed' questions - to which you could answer Yes or No - when information gathering.

Notice that our imaginary doctor does not exclusively use open questions! Open and closed questions don't matter! I can ask you an open question and get a one-word answer.

What colour car do you drive?

Or I can ask a closed question and get a lengthy diatribe.

Are Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling handling the current economic situation in the best way possible?

What matters are questions that produce open answers!

Meanwhile, back in the Consulting Room, the doctor hasn't finished yet. The conversation continues: "When did it start?"; "Does it hurt all the time?"; "Does anything seem to set the pain off?"; "What have you tried already?"; "Have you found anything that works?"; "What seems to make the pain stop?"; "Do you drive or operate machinery for a living?"

The doctor is now seeking to understand the circumstances in which the problem exists. At the end of this they will have a very good grasp of what is wrong with us, and what treatment to prescribe. And if they don't, they will have the professional integrity to admit it and in that case probably say, "I'm not 100% sure about this. I'd like to send you to the hospital for some more tests and to see the Consultant."

And during this process the doctor will have been checking back with the patient to make sure he has understood correctly what they have said.

The Sales process should be exactly the same. Understand the problem and understand the circumstances, and only then prescribe (suggest) the remedy, or refer the prospect to someone better placed to help.

Be aware that you have to really concentrate on staying focussed on the circumstances. It is so easy to slip back into the detail of the problem. And don't worry about forgetting to understand the detail. As I just said, you will naturally slip back from circumstances into detail without really having to try!