Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today's Ever-Changing Sales World by Jill Konrath

Author:Jill Konrath
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

Listen to what your colleagues say and note where you can improve what you’re doing. Run the role-play until the material is ingrained in your brain and you’re comfortable with it.

Role-playing isn’t always fun, especially when others are evaluating you. But it’s an investment in yourself that truly does make a difference.

Deliberate practice increases sales effectiveness exponentially.

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REMOVE THE BLINDERS

Sometimes we’re totally oblivious to our own shortcomings. It’s not intentional; we just see things our way while our prospects have a whole different perspective. Fortunately, there are some more ways, besides role-playing, that we can reduce the chances of a disconnect between what we say and what our prospects hear.

Take Katie, for example. She worked for a small business services firm and was just moving into a business development position. An important prospect was coming to the office on Monday morning for a big meeting that Katie had been asked to kick off. After her introduction, her coworkers would provide a program overview. Despite having only ten minutes on the agenda, her role was crucial. She needed to set the right tone as well as convey that her firm had a good grasp of the client’s challenges.

On Sunday night, Katie went to the office to run through her brief presentation in the exact room where they’d be meeting. She wanted to simulate the actual event as accurately as possible, knowing it would increase her confidence. After going through it a few times, she decided to record herself opening the meeting.

When Katie watched the recording, she was appalled. Instead of coming off like a real pro as she’d imagined, her discomfort with the content was obvious. She’d forgotten to include several key points. She used lots of “um” and “uh” fillers. Her transitions to the next slides were sloppy.

In short, she had no idea how the prospect would see her until she took a serious look at herself. By removing her blinders, she uncovered multiple areas for improvement.

Katie kept practicing into the night, and then recorded herself again. Her presentation was better, but still lacked the professionalism she’d hoped to convey. She continued running through the kickoff, again and again, each time reviewing the video to spot where she needed to smooth out her presentation. She didn’t quit until she knew she was ready for prime time.

The next day, Katie aced the kickoff.

As sellers, we often race from call to call or meeting to meeting, getting ready just in the nick of time. Our failure to stop and review what we’re doing from our prospect’s perspective can actually hurt our ability to be successful.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw myself on video. It was painful to watch. During the role-play, I twirled my hair around my fingers numerous times. I kept taking my ring off and putting it back on. Instead of coming off as calm, cool, and collected, I saw my nervous habits betray my true feelings. So I tied my hair back, removed my ring, and tried again.

Getting rid of those distractions helped, but also revealed another major problem.

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