Trust and Respect

MitchM

Obviously dictionary definitions have a use and a value - having taught school many years I know that well. You also come to know the limits of simple definitions in making much sense out of human activity and behavior - add figures-of-speech along with denotative and connotative meanings along with vernaculars - you get lots of variations of a theme. It's a fascinating study.

One of the reasons I like: do you want it or not? with accepting YES or NO is that is a very precise definition. After that the YES has to do with more precision in conditions of satisfaction and the details. Reducing ambiguity to clear expectations is important.

I understand what you mean, SpeedRacer.

MitchM

Skip Anderson

I agree, SpeedRacer. When in doubt, consult a dictionary. It's very difficult to communicate when someone uses "their own" definitions rather than common usage definitions.

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Skip Anderson
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Skip Anderson

"Do you want it or not" is a fine closing question.

But before closing a sale, and earlier in the process, there's a need for dialogue (or conversation) with our prospects, and that question isn't very good at encouraging dialogue. Open-ended questions encourage conversation.

Skip Anderson

MitchM

People come to have their own answers - you can find definitions in different dictionaries to say different things - hey fellows, just make sure the people you know have the same dictionary - you know, everyone needs to read King James or meanings will be lost in various translations. Wow! How is that accomplished anyway?

"But before closing a sale, and earlier in the process, there's a need for dialogue (or conversation) with our prospects, and that question isn't very good at encouraging dialogue. Open-ended questions encourage conversation." - Skip

You might be a master at disparagement, Skip, were you more accurate in reporting that which you wish to disparage. Sadly, all you do is continue to cut & past such limited parts of my posts from larger contexts - what the one schooled in propaganda does - that your disparaging comments mean little. I can respect real discussion and argument but not those attempts.

EVERYTHING of substance I've posted alludes to serious conversation and engagement in the closing process - not simply open ended conversations. Of course I believe if I ask you if you want something and you say NO I take a hike - for now. AND you appear not to agree with that. BUT with the YES comes the discussion, the answers and questions, the commitments - everything you leave out of your cut & pastes, Skip.

Do you cut & past live sales conversations to give back answers you want to give regardless of what the prospective buyer is saying? You sure do that here, Skip?

MitchM

Bald Dog

It's just an overt question even before we meet for an appointment. Are you ready to buy when you find the right solution or are you just scanning the horizon and compare things?

I can meet a serious buyer on the phone, but someone who's just checking things out is still not ready for the appointment.

In traditional sales most questions are for pushing prospects into a dark corner where the salesperson can pounce on them with a truckload of closing techniques.

Questions are only worth asking if we're willing to live with the answer. But most salespeople are not. Hence: Overcoming objections. So, the answers are useless. The agenda is set: Take as much of the prospect's money as humanly possible whatever it takes. Salespeople could just show up and demand money at gunpoint. It's the same thing.

But I may see it the wrong way.

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Calvin

Do you believe that consumers think most salespeople have an agenda like that or other self-serving agenda?

Bald Dog

Coming from engineering I believe in empirical data...

First, see the do not call list. I wouldn't even waste my time on telephone prospecting. But I'm biased. I hate the phone and don't even own one.

Next...

In the mid-90s, researchers asked almost 3,000 decision makers “What is the highest degree to which you trust any of the salespeople you bought from in the previous 24 months?” Only 4% “completely” trusted the salespeople. 9% “substantially or generally” trusted the salesperson. Another 26% “somewhat or slightly” trusted the salesperson. 61% said they trusted the salesperson “rarely or not at all.” And these are people who actually did business with those salespeople. What did the respondents think of the salespeople from whom they decided not to buy?

According to Yankelovich Partners’ Research...

60% of consumers have more negative opinions about marketing than a few years ago
61% of consumers feel that marketing has gone overboard and out of control
65% of consumers feel they are over-bombarded with marketing messages
61% of consumers say spam has changed their opinions about marketing for the worse
36% of consumers enjoy shopping less than years before due to high-pressure selling
53% of consumers say marketing doesn’t help them to become smarter shoppers
59% of consumers say marketing they receive is not relevant to them
64% of consumers question marketer’s real motives
61% of consumers feel marketers treat them disrespectfully
65% of consumers believe marketing should be more tightly regulated
69% of consumers are looking for solutions to block marketing messages out of their lives
33% of consumers say they are willing to endure lower standard of living in a marketing-free society

I know that statistics can be jaded, but they are still better than guesswork. I think it's vital that we pull our heads out of our a.r.s.e.s and look at how the market has changed over the years, and how more sophisticated buyers have become.

Thoughts?

Skip Anderson

BaldDog, thanks for the post. I think the research you share is interesting, and not surprising.

However, I don't believe this thread was about marketing. It's about MitchM's assertion that you will sell more if you disengage (an assertion that I personally disagree with).

Skip

Skip Anderson

Bald, I think your view of "traditional sales" is interesting, but disappointing for me to hear. I assume that by "traditional sales" you mean any selling methodology that is not about "selling only to those who are ready, willing, and able to buy", is that correct?

Why do you define traditional sales as "pushing prospects into a dark corner where the salesperson can pounce on them with a truckload of closing techniques?" Is that really what you believe I teach, or other sales trainers teach, or millions of successful veteran salespeople do every day?

Do you really believe that salespeople "Take as much of the prospect's money as humanly possible whatever it takes. Salespeople could just show up and demand money at gunpoint."???

That's an extraordinarily negatively-skewed view of selling (and inaccurate), in my opinion.

Skip Anderson

Skip Anderson

1. MitchM, you have a tendency to define words in unconventional ways. It happens occassionally in your posts, and eventually you say, "well my definition for such-and-such is _______." When you use your own definitions for words rather than accepted definitions for words, it makes it difficult to communicate, do you agree?

2. I might be a master at disparagement. I don't try to be, certainly. I've spent my entire life bringing out the best in people. I will say that I disagree with most of your posts. I think there is a large readership here at salespractice, and I don't want a young 25 year old just starting out in sales to think that he/she will sell more by disengaging because he/she read your posts. I don't think that's responsible.

3. I don't know why you're so offended that I pick out sections of your posts to comment on. You can feel free to use that technique to comment on my posts at any time - I will not be offended by it.

Skip Anderson