Tweet

THE TOO SALESY PARADOX WHY PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS CANT SELL AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Guest post by: Mike Schultz

Article Overview: By John Doerr The distress is obvious. The complaints are frequent. The clear disdain for the activity is surprisingly unfiltered. What are we talking about? Selling, or more specifically, selling professional services. In conversation after conversation as I work with clients, conduct seminars, or network with my professional colleagues, I hear the same comments: Selling conflicts with my values as a professional. Selling gets in the way of building strong relationships. You have to have it in your genes - like a used car salesman. I don't sell professional services - I work with my clients to create the best solutions. People won't respect me as a professional if I am selling to them. I can't sell to them. What will they think of me? It (selling) is not what we do around here.

THE TOO SALESY PARADOX WHY PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS CANT SELL AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

By John Doerr

The distress is obvious. The complaints are frequent. The clear disdain for the activity is surprisingly unfiltered. What are we talking about? Selling, or more specifically, selling professional services.

In conversation after conversation as I work with clients, conduct seminars, or network with my professional colleagues, I hear the same comments:

Selling conflicts with my values as a professional.

Selling gets in the way of building strong relationships.

You have to have it in your genes - like a used car salesman.

I don't sell professional services - I work with my clients to create the best solutions.

People won't respect me as a professional if I am selling to them.

I can't sell to them. What will they think of me?

It (selling) is not what we do around here.
So what happens the moment these same professional service providers (be they lawyers, accountants, or consultants of every ilk) start to do any business development? They become their worse nightmare - the overly aggressive, too “salesy" used car sales person.

They try so hard not to sell or to have any appearance that they are selling, the effect is quite the opposite of what they intended. As Queen Gertrude said to Prince Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

On Being Too “Salesy"

First of all, there is nothing wrong with selling. Quite the contrary, the act of selling itself, when done well, adds a significant amount of value. A well planned sales conversation can help even sophisticated buyers make smarter decisions.

However, having learned that questions are the key to having good sales conversations, professionals sometimes ask the questions such that you can almost hear the seller thinking:

First, I'm going to ask a few questions about the person's family...I'll make small talk about fishing and his kids. OK, that was a good warm up...now I'll say ‘let's get down to financial business,' so I can be viewed as a focused financial advisor.

Now is the time I ask questions about his situation and goals...While I'm doing this, I need to seem very professional and financial so I'll put my glasses on and take out my calculator...question six: retirement cash flow...question seven: tax planning...question eight: estate planning...

OK, now that the questions are done, I'm going to get him to explicitly state the value of the solution I propose, close the deal, get the order, and thank him for his ‘valuable time today.'

I do not have an exact definition for too “salesy," but I do know when I am on the receiving end of the hard sell. So do most buyers. And when they do see it, their reactions are consistent:

Buyers' defenses go up. First impressions are important. If the buyers' first impression is, “He's a sales guy," it is tough to shake it.

Trust is difficult to establish. Being too “salesy" makes buyers question the seller's motives, making trust difficult to establish.

Buyers feel patronized. Sellers may be trying to be deferential by saying transparent things like, “thank you for your valuable time." Most times buyers feel the seller is contrived.
While being too “salesy" is ill-advised for almost any sales rep, it is particularly bad for sellers of consulting, professional, financial, and technology services. Buyers of products can often say, “I don't like the sales rep, but I can tune her out for the next few minutes and simply evaluate her product against the competition."

Buyers of services are evaluating the sellers themselves. Why? The seller is very often the service provider. The relationship does not end when the sale itself is completed - it is just beginning. Thus, the foundation of trust set up between the buyer and seller in the sales process is of paramount importance.

Non-“salesy" selling

How do you avoid the trap of the too “salesy" paradox and discover client goals and offer the right solutions without sounding contrived?

Take pride in selling. Sometimes salespeople say too quickly, “Now I don't want this in any way to be viewed as a sales discussion...I'm here to help you." This sounds like a contrived speech and very close to “I am from the government...and here to help you." There is nothing wrong with selling. Avoid being a sales apologizer.

Choose not to be contrived. While it may seem simplistic, one of the most important ways to avoid sounding contrived is to choose to avoid it. By saying to yourself before a sales conversation, “I'm not going to deliver phrases like ‘thank you for your valuable time' and ‘what keeps you up at night'," you will erase a certain amount of contrived language from your speech patterns.

Relax. Sellers that seem rushed create buyers that feel rushed. Rushed buyers feel pressured. This fosters distrust. If a seller seems too eager, the buyer thinks “Why does he seem to want/need this sale so badly...what's wrong with this picture?"

Be a person, not a robot. The underlying strength of most sales methodologies is their focus on helping you to understand buyer needs. This is good. However, engaging these sales methodologies like they are a script creates a robotic, stilted sales discussion. The more your sales discussions resemble normal conversations, the more real rapport you will be able to build.

Meet your commitments. As you improve at conducting sales conversations that flow like conversations, you will generate an increasing level of trust. Be worthy of that trust; keep promises and deliver on what you say you will.

Get feedback. Almost every seller can improve their sales conversations. The most consistent and fastest way of developing your skills is to have someone whose opinions you respect observe you in action. It is worth the time and resources to get good feedback. Actively seek it out.
Sincere selling is valuable and rewarding; “salesy" selling is contrived and ineffective. As you are selling, tune into how “salesy" you sound. You may find that a few stylistic changes can dramatically change your sales success rate and keep you from becoming another victim of the “salesy" paradox.

Related Articles
  Hosting Service Providers in India: Ways to Solve Outgoing Spam Problem
  Present trends in PSD to HTML/XHTML conversion services
  The Land Of Purposeful Paradoxes - The Birthplace Of Your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose
  SERVICES SELLING I DIDNT RAISE YOU TO BE A SALESMAN
  Free Web Hosting

Article Tags: accountants, best solutions, business development, car sales, car salesman, conduct seminars, conversations, disdain, financial business, genes, ilk, john doerr, prince hamlet, professional colleagues, professional selling, professional service providers, professional services, queen gertrude, sales person, sophisticated buyers



Related Forum Posts
Top performing Franchise Loans - Evan, There are over 120 Franchises listed by the SBA with 0% Loan Failure from 10-1-00 to 9-30-05 these companies have at leat 10 loans disbursed. A number of the companies are Hotel/Motel Franchises so I listed them separately. Since all the ones listed have 0% loan failure I listed them descending by # of loans disbursed. Top 20 (by # loans Disbursed) 0% SBA Loan Failure (does not include hotels/motels) 1 21425--CULVER'S FROZEN CUSTARD 85 2 66910--PRIMROSE SCHOOL (DAYCARE) 76 3 14467--CARTRIDGE WORLD STORES 54 4 68021--QUIZNO'S SUBS 41 5 06560--AUNTIE ANN'S (SOFT PRETZELS) 40 6 29912--FIREHOUSE SUBS 35 7 31154--FOOT SOLUTIONS 35 8 52707--MEDICAP PHARMACY 35 9 09802--BEN & JERRY'S ICE CREAM 33 10 67759--COMFORT SUITES 33 11 70150--RITTER'S FROZEN CUSTARD 32 12 05650--ARBY'S 31 13 65160--PLATO'S CLOSET 31 14 67417--PUMP IT UP 30 15 69149--REMAX 30 16 71456--SALAD WORKS, INC. 30 17 76282--SONIC DRIVE-IN 27 18 84725--UNION 76 OIL 27 19 17049--CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AUTOMOTIVE 26 20 78950--SUNOCO SERVICE STATION 26 Top 10 0% SBA Loan Failure Hotel/Motels 1 10275--BEST WESTERN INN 104 2 67750--COMFORT INN 98 3 38605--HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS 87 4 36680--HAMPTON INNS 57 5 53165--MICROTEL 33 6 75385--SLEEP INN MOTEL 26 7 04160--AMERIHOST INN 18 8 69134--RED ROOF INN 13 9 17230--CLARION INN & SUITES 11 10 20715--COUNTRY INN 11
Placemat / Table Top Advertising - Was curious if any of you have done anything like this and how you pitched it. Some people say placemat advertising dont work and I laugh. To say such a thing would mean no advertising works. Advertising in the form, not even newspapers can compete. We have a CAPTIVE audience unlike any other form of advertising. Everyone waits for their food while dining out and obviously rather than stairing at there silverware, they are going to read a few if not all the ads searching for great deals in coupon form or just looking it over while waiting for their meal. Billboards, radio, t.v just can compete with a advertising medium which holds a reader captive, relaxed and in a great frame of mind. Everyone I have talked to says calling businesses up is a waste of time but i can accomplish more by hitting more business than i can going business to business, plus with gas prices these days..WOW. I have put together the following scrpit for calling and I would appreciate any feedback please (good or bad)... Hi, my name is Daniel with (my business name). I got your number from the (local chamber). We are calling on behalf of the pizzahut. (NAME), the manager has an exciting new promotion going designed by us to increase local area spending. We are looking for local sponsors to advertise their business on the table tops at the restaurant for the next 3-4 months. Becoming a sponsor is a great way to show your community support and promote your business. If your interested, I will be in the area (FRIDAY). I would like to stop by and show you an example. What time works for you? maybe that is just to long. Maybe i just want to sound like a real person, a friend over the phone rather than a CAR SALESMAN so how bout this... We are calling on behalf of the local pizza hut. Crystal, the manager has an exciting new promotion designed to increase local area spending. It seems to be a poplular place to eat so we're looking for local sponsors to advertise their business on the table tops at the restaurant for the next 3 months or so. Will be in the area friday showing examples all day long to those already interested. What time works for you? Hmm, i just dont know. I would like to hit the gound running with this. They say SELL THE SIZZLE, NOT THE STEAK. Do i want to say that we got their name as a referral from, hmm, i think it was the local chamber (chamber of commerce). That might help loosin them up or maybe not. Maybe i am thinking on this way to much. PLEASE HELP! Our local newspaper charges 45 bucks a day for a black/white 2x2 ad. Needless to say radio and tv along with billboards are much more. Problem with billboards, most use a pretty graphic which then gets all the attention, you never get to look at the number or business name during your drive by and a few minutes later, out of site, out of mind. These are 350-400 to create the vinyl ad, then 400-700 dollars a month depending on location. Is it really worth the expense unless you can afford putting an ad up on 10-20 billboards? We charge $210 for 3 months / $70 monthly / $16 weekly / $2 daily. I would say we have the most economical marketing product on the market today!" or another option is $250 for 3 months which includes any radio promotions which we would plug them as a sponsor. Another option would be rather than run them for 3 months at a time. Run our placemats for (1) month at a time for $210 monthly but combine the ads in 3 different restaurant locations (same franchise of coarse). All within 30 minutes of each other. Or just do the 1st one and upsell the others for options. Wanting some feedback and opinions on it. Thanks, Daniel


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Listen to Your Inner Melody

Promoting your company and self with verve

Making the Most of Your Trade Show Experience

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.