Sales is an Obstacle Course

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan
Become an Author

Free PDF Download
Sales Leadership Challenges to Having a World Class Sales Force - By Dave Kurlan

If you sell, then you encounter obstacles every step of the way. There are the prospects you can't get through to, the same ones who don't return your calls, and those who offer so much resistance that the obstacle appears to be more like a road block than an obstacle. Then there are the obstacles of timing, competition, budget, and disinterest, along with using and happy with someone else, doing it themselves and bad experiences with your company or simply companies like yours. There is no selling without obstacles.

The difference between great salespeople and everyone else is how you approach those obstacles - your mindset, and how you handle those obstacles - your strategy and tactics.

When it comes to mindset, it is crucial that you approach each obstacle as an opportunity. Opportunities to differentiate you from everyone else in your industry, every other salesperson who has called on this prospect and everyone else this prospect has ever worked with. It is an opportunity perform at close to 100%. Let's go to baseball. A pitcher might be throwing at 80-90% at the point in the game where he finds himself in a bases loaded jam with only one out. At that point, he might reach back for something extra and throw at close to 100% of his capacity to escape the jam. Does he seek to be removed from the game? Does he give in? Does he give up? Does he back off? Does he back down? No, no, no, no and no! He focuses, slows things down, gets himself in control and ratchets it up a couple of notches. Which approach is yours in selling?

When it comes to strategy, yours should be the element of surprise. The prospects expects you to resort to features and benefits - to begin explaining why he should talk to you, why he should meet with you or why he should buy from you. Simply don't do that. Do whatever he isn't expecting, which brings us to tactics.

Tactically, when you say what your prospect isn't expecting, it should result in the lowering of his resistance, the changing of his position and the opening of his mind. What are some of the things you can say or do at that moment to accomplish any and all of those things?

* I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called today.
* You must not have this problem.
* You're right.
* I shouldn't have assumed that you would want to cut expenses.
* I never should have thought that you would want to improve efficiency.
* So you don't want to fix the problem you shared with me.

You can add another 100 examples to this list but they should first lower resistance and second get them to change their position. Do not try to turn them around using logic, features or benefits.

You can read more about turning obstacles into opportunities, including use of The Cycle and the Hidden Ball Trick in Baseline Selling.

Recognize Challenges

Sales Success Begins with Defining What You Value

Getting Past Any Obstacles in Life

Ladies, Are You Hitting An Entrepreneurial Wall?

Carol Quinn's Interviewer Tip #1

Developing Positive Mindset and Goals in Online Business.

Managing Sales Obstacles

How 2 Beliefs Increase Sales

Why Your Lowest Price Can Be a Barrier to Closing Sales

Appreciate Your Obstacles!

The No. 1 Secret To Sales and Cash Flow Success – Offer A Canadian Vendor Financing Program & Customer Leasing Plan ! Sales = Cash !

Get Out of the Way and 8 Tips for Sales Success

Carol Quinn's Interviewer Tip #2

How Sales Managers Can Make Meetings & Sales Teams Far More Productive with this One Strategy

Never Give Up! The Power of Determination

Sales Success Begins with Defining What You Value To Better Understand What Motivates You

John Robinson's Secret to Overcoming All Sales Obstacles

The Reason You Can't Close the Sale

How to Turn Any Obstacle Into An Opportunity

Updated: The Age/Entrepreneurship Myth

Home > Sales > Dave Kurlan > Sales is an Obstacle Course > Google +

Free PDF Download
Sales Leadership Challenges to Having a World Class Sales Force - By Dave Kurlan

About the Author: Dave Kurlan

RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website
Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).
Click here to visit Dave's website.

More from Dave Kurlan
Salesperson Selection
Visual Pipeline
Predict Sales Turnover

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Sales is an Obstacle Course

Related Articles

Related Forum Posts

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.


Name:
Email: