- August 17, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Many states have crosswalk laws that require drivers to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. If you are walking and wish to cross the street, you simply wait at a crosswalk on the side of the road, and when the oncoming vehicles stop, you cross. It’s a good law – except when it doesn’t work.
The law fails when you are driving, approaching a crosswalk at 30-40 MPH, and a moron simply steps off the curb, begins crossing, and when you aren’t able to stop in time, gives you the finger.
You know the expression, “Give someone a hammer and everything looks like a nail”….Well in this case, paint some lines across a street and some people think it gives them license to start walking – even before a vehicle has yielded the right of way. The intelligent pedestrian qualifies the opportunity to cross by waiting for traffic to stop while the moron crosses simply because the crosswalk is there!
There should be a crosstalk law too.
Salespeople should not be allowed to present until their prospects have yielded the right of way. Where intelligent pedestrians qualify the opportunity to cross, intelligent salespeople qualify the opportunity to present.
The elite 6% and some of the top 26% do wait until their opportunities are qualified. Unfortunately, most salespeople encounter prospects and see them only as opportunities to present. The prospect is there so they start presenting and then, when the prospects don’t buy, the salespeople give them the finger. Stupid prospect. Shithead prospect. Moron prospect.
The problem is that it’s simple to determine whether you have a qualified opportunity to cross the street – vehicles have stopped moving.
It’s a bit more complex to determine whether you have a qualified opportunity to present. The following conditions MUST ALL BE MET:
- The prospect needs what you have
- The prospect has compelling reasons to buy what you sell and buy it from you
- The salesperson has developed SOB Quality (as described in Baseline Selling)
- The cost of the solution is less than the cost of the problem
- The prospect is committed to solving their problem
- The prospect is willing to spend more to buy from the salesperson/company
- Decision makers have been identified and met
- Timeline for the decision has been identified and agreed to
- Decision making process and criteria are understood
- You can provide an ideal solution for the money discussed