The Bob Chronicles Part 5 – Bob Can’t Win This Argument Over a Sales Core Competency

Most of us have strong passion in support of our own beliefs and opinions and the degree to which we are willing to embrace the opinions of others varies wildly.   Allow me to provide two examples where people tend not to change sides:

Boston Red Sox fans “argue” with New York Yankees Fans and in rare cases, the arguments can get nasty.  Personally, I am friendly with a boat load of Yankees fans and have never argued with any of them because I’ll never say the words “Yankees suck.”  For the rivalry between the two teams to be at its best, both teams need to be good and when one team sucks, the rivalry ceases to exist.

Democrats disagree with Republicans and it goes without saying that liberals disagree with conservatives.  Over the past five years, those differences have become filled with hate.  I don’t understand why we can’t simply agree to disagree but for some reason, liberals think that all conservatives are racists and conservatives think that all liberals are socialists.  While there is probably some truth to both arguments on both far extremes, most people are much closer to the center than everyone thinks.

I use those two examples as a context for the “argument” I am most likely to have on a daily basis.  As regular readers know, I am the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group. OMG has assessed more than 2 million salespeople and measures their sales capabilities in 21 Sales Core Competencies.  While some might not like their scores, most salespeople agree with our findings because they are extremely accurate.  However, there is one competency of the 21 that causes salespeople to dig in, disagree, and push back.  Today I will explain the competency and share yesterday’s conversation with Bob.  For new readers, and those who don’t remember, Bob tends to get himself into trouble and is representative of all weak salespeople.

You can read more about Bob here.

The 21 Sales Core Competencies fall into three major categories:

1. Will to Sell (Grit) – it’s the difference between Can sell and Will sell.
2. Sales DNA – Six major strengths that support the execution of sales process, sales methodology, sales strategies and sales tactics.
3. Tactical Selling Competencies – these include the things you know and have heard of, like Hunting, Relationship Building, Consultative Selling, Value Selling, Reaching Decision Makers, Qualifying, Presenting, Closing, Sales Process, and Sales Technology.

The pushback comes from within Sales DNA in a competency called Supportive Buy-Cycle.  Buy-Cycle represents how a salesperson goes about the process of making a major purchase.  Like most of the 21 Sales Core Competencies, it has several attributes:

• At what amount of money does something become a major purchase?
• Do you comparison shop or just go to one store/vendor/salesperson?
• Do you shop for the lowest price, buy value or is price not a consideration?
• Do you conduct research?
• When you find what you want do you make a decision or think about it?
• Do you like or dislike being sold? (coming soon)

The science shows that there is a 100% correlation between how salespeople buy and what they are willing to accept from their prospects.  And that’s where the disagreement occurs.  Everyone agrees that yes, what we report about how they buy is how they actually buy.  But a small number of salespeople disagree over whether or not it affects the way they sell.  They usually make their point by saying something along the lines of, “In our business, our buyers must shop around” or “must go with the lowest price” or “won’t spend more than x” or “never make decisions before this happens.”

And when they say these things they are saying, “This is how I buy so it should be obvious that everyone else buys this way too.”

Bob messaged me on LinkedIn yesterday and to his credit, it was not an argument. This is the short conversation we had:

     Dave Kurlan sent the following message at 5:18 PM

     Bob sent the following message at 8:01 PM

     Dave Kurlan sent the following message at 8:26 PM

As I mentioned, I have this very conversation, albeit usually more heated, by phone, email, text, InMail, in the hallway, over Zoom, with at least one person EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Bob revealed three self-limiting beliefs associated with Buy-Cycle.

You should have read:

• “it is smart, normal, wise, fiscally prudent to shop carefully”
• “I do not know ONE person that would spend $580K without being prudent” (Dave’s note – prudent has nothing to do with Buy-Cycle.  Bob thinks $580,000 is a lot of money.  But that is NOT a lot of money for the company that is spending it.  A company that spends $580,000 on capital equipment is generating at least tens and probably hundreds of millions or more in revenue and it’s money they were going to spend with someone.  It’s not new money.)
• “My buying behavior is to use caution and be a great steward with the money I make. How else is there to be?”

Let’s compare Bob’s beliefs with how great salespeople think.  I don’t usually do this but for this example I’ll use myself.

I’ve never test-driven a car in my life.  When I see a car on the road that I like I say to myself, “That’s my next car.”  I call the dealer, order it, and ask when it can be delivered.  I never shop dealers against each other, I never ask for additional discounts over what they offer me, I never think it over and get back to them, and I don’t drag out the process.  This is how I buy everything.  Perhaps you can’t imagine buying the way that I buy but it’s worth noting that I’ve never had buyer’s remorse, I’ve never felt like I paid too much, and I never felt like I wasn’t being “prudent.”  For anything.  Ever.  I ordered my last two vehicles before they were even off the production lines!  Not a single 2021 Genesis GV80 had been delivered to the USA when I ordered mine and not a single redesigned for 2019 Lincoln Navigator had been shipped to a dealer when I ordered that SUV.  My process is order it, sign, and then wait for it to be delivered (months later) because shopping is a colossal waste of time unless you are doing it for entertainment, like, “Honey, would you like to go to the mall?”

I understand that MY opinion and behavior may very well be different from YOUR opinion and behavior but the science says that my opinion is shared by the best salespeople in the world. This buying behavior enables the best salespeople to push back, question, hang in, ask more questions and eventually influence or outright change buying criteria and processes so they can sell value, eliminate competitors, and reach decision makers who are typically protected from salespeople.  Decision makers can change rules, take shortcuts, make decisions, and do it all very quickly.

Let’s go back to the science.  The top 5% of all salespeople are 6700% more likely to have Buy-Cycle as a strength than the bottom 10% of all salespeople and the top 5% score 279% higher than the bottom 10% of all salespeople on this component of Sales DNA.  The science backs me up.  Check it out here.

Bob and other weak salespeople understand the stated buying process with the keyword being “stated.” When Bob follows the stated buying process without questioning it, only buyers have control!  Great salespeople DON’T understand why the prospect is going to talk with five vendors, look for the lowest price, take a month to have six internal meetings, narrow the list, negotiate, send it to legal, and all the other stupidity that takes place.  That enables great salespeople to push back, ask more questions, and get processes changed.  Supportive Buy-Cycles win more business than Non Supportive Buy-Cycles.

Not 30 minutes after this article was first published, I received this email from Bill, who wanted to prove my points above. Bill wrote:

Your analogy between buying capital equipment and how you buy cars makes no sense Dave. What if you liked a Yugo you saw while driving down the road and bought one in preproduction. How would you feel if you bought one of the worst cars ever manufactured without one second of research? Heck, you bought one of the most inefficient gas guzzling monster cars that will only ruin the environment for my children and my grandchildren. How do you sleep with that? I guess you don’t care about the future. You only live for ‘now’.

Shopping is a pain in the ass. The Internet has made a lot of that much easier. Buying capital equipment isn’t an Internet purchase in the half million dollar plus category. Getting past the first purchase with a new sales person is a challenge. Are they competent? Are they knowledgeable? Are they fair? Do you have a rapport with them? Can They meet your expectations?

I just put a fence around my horse pen. One guy wanted $13,000. The other guy wanted $8500. I looked at both quotes, materials, workmanship, referrals and completion dates. They were virtually the same. which one would you go for? Is shopping worth $4500? Or is it only worth it with personal money and not corporate money? When I put the next fence up I’ll probably have my guy for all my fence work. But the first purchase, in my estimation, takes research. All the other purchases are based on trust and relationship.

Your thoughts?

I did respond, as I usually do, with this note:

Hi Bill,

Thanks for taking the time to write, make your point and include the personal attack. That’s the point of my article. People get nasty.

You already know my opinion and while it’s different from yours, you’re entitled to your opinion as I’m entitled to mine. The only difference is that when it comes to selling, the science doesn’t lie and while you might not like it, I happen to be the expert on sales science.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying the horse fence the way you did but it does impact the way you sell. It was right there in your first sentence.

No worries. Thanks again for your kind note.

Bill wasn’t finished.  He felt the need to get the last words in:

Just adding – They get nasty in politics.  If you get nasty in sales, you’re in the wrong business.  Actually Dave, it doesn’t impact the way I sell at all. You are incorrect. Have I made mistakes in the past selling, absolutely. Will I make them again in the future, absolutely. You may be the expert in sales science. I’m the expert in sales. I do it every day, every week, every month every year for over 20 years and I’ve been exceptionally happy and successful. I like what I do. I like my clients. And I believe Sales is more than boxes in complex sales that I do. Your car is a box. 

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