Loading ...The Pendulum (August 2008)
Is it time to look at a new approach to selling?
By Mark McCombs
Ever get a call from a salesperson, and you can tell that they are a little too eager to sell you something? Many sales trainers will tell you that you need to come across as positive and upbeat in order to make the sale. However, if you’re like me, you get uncomfortable and turned off by this traditional sales approach, and just want to get off the phone.
I once heard Donald Trump say, “In selling, you must never appear desperate. As soon as you look desperate, it’s over.” This idea of not needing the sale to sell more effectively is worth exploring.
Time will tell
David Sandler, the late sales trainer, illustrated this new perspective by using a visual of a pendulum that swings from the 9 o’clock position on a clock face to the 3 o’clock position. At 3 o’clock, you have a prospect that has no indication that he’d ever buy from you. At 9 o’clock, you have a prospect that is so eager to do business with you that he has pen in hand, ready to buy your lunch and sign the contract. Most prospects are typically somewhere in the middle. (The pendulum technique comes via Sandler, and is being used by the Sandler Sales Institute, www.sandler.com, and its training centers worldwide.)
If you were using the traditional sales approach, you’d meet a prospect who’s at 6 o’clock (in the middle, lukewarm) and engage the prospect from a 9 o’clock (buy) position, telling him how great your company is, what state-of-the-art equipment your company has, your on-time percentages, and most importantly, how much you’d love to have his business. However, human nature indicates that this drives the prospect who’s in the middle at 6 o’clock, further toward the 3 o’clock (not buying) position. If you were to stop and think about it, you don’t like to be “sold to,” though most everyone likes to buy. For me, I have a, uh, shoe problem – I like nice shoes. However, when I’m walking through the corridor of the mall, I get uncomfortable when I step foot into a shoe store, as that’s when I have someone trying to sell me something. I like to buy, but I hate to be sold to.
So what do you do if “selling” doesn’t work? You don’t sell. That’s no typo … you don’t sell, at least as far as traditional selling goes.
Moving the prospect to the selling side
Here’s where the visual learning style that most of us have comes in. You must visualize yourself as being a little bit on the negative (3 o’clock) side of the prospects, wherever they are, until you know they’re on board. In fact, you can imagine yourself behind, on the 3 o’clock side of a prospect, with your questions and demeanor allowing the prospect to move himself to the 9 o’clock (buy) position on the pendulum.
So when you meet with a prospect who’s lukewarm (6 o’clock), you might begin the conversation with “ I don’t know if what we do fits what you need or not – we’re not a fit for everyone – can you tell me about the printing you use?”, in an attempt to get them talking, take the pressure off the conversation, and establish that you’re not there to just sell to them (which you’re not if they’re not a fit for your capabilities, right?).
Not selling to them, in the traditional way, builds rapport and makes the prospect more likely to mention any unhappiness he has with his current vendor, such as a recent problem with a printing job from your competition. However, when this happens, there can be a tendency to jump on this and exclaim how that wouldn’t happen with your company, how great you are, your quality measures, on-time percentages, etc. This approach occasionally works, but not often. Using the pendulum example, you’d tread cautiously, perhaps asking “why do you see that as a problem?”, “do you think it’s costing any time, money, or stress?” This gets the prospect to identify his pain, and you’re not doing it for them! You’re acting as a bystander, someone they can complain to. If you were instead to jump in with how big of a problem that probably was, how terrible it was, etc., they would likely minimize it and the sale would be dead. They don’t need you telling them of their problems, but you can help them discover the problems for themselves. I know it sounds awkward, and it will be at first, but you’ll find that it’s eventually much less awkward than applying the hard-sell.
A tough nut to crack
Or suppose your prospect mentions that he’s happy with his current vendor. Again, your tendency might be to counter this with statements of how happy they’d be with your company vs. the incumbent printing company. How do you think this works? My experience before using the pendulum would indicate not well.
The pendulum technique would have you asking something such as “it sounds like no matter what, even if I could offer improvement over what you’re getting now – and I’m not sure I could until I know more about your situation – that you’d never consider another vendor…”. What do you think their response is likely to be to this, compared to what the traditional salesperson does? Remember that there’s a reason that they’re even talking/meeting with you, a salesperson, and most of the time it’s because they are interested in any possible improvement available. You should view their seeking of improvement as an indicator that they’re not totally satisfied with their current vendor situation, and explore that to the fullest extent.
A truly satisfied prospect is a tough nut to crack, even for those who have been selling for a while. However, it might be surprising to learn how many prospects “remember” problems they’ve had recently with their current vendor situation, even though five minutes ago they were telling you how great everything was, when you approach them from the negative side of the pendulum with good questions.
If you have any shot at gaining a customer who says he’s happy with the incumbent, it’s going to be through helping him discover some pain, and using the pendulum will help you do this. The great thing about this method is that it can free you from having some list of canned questions to ask, wondering which one to use where. If you can visualize this pendulum and yourself on it, to the negative side of the prospect, you’ll never be viewed as trying to “close” them, and you’ll make more sales with less pressure.
Mark McCombs works for the Covington Group in Kansas City, Mo., specializing in short-run, bound publications. A 12-year veteran of the industry, McCombs started as a photographer for a catalog production company in Chicago, but also did pre-press and customer service before moving into sales.
