The Sales Archaeologist

I am currently reading an interesting book about change and getting people to change. One of the interesting points that might be truly applicable to selling is the concept of shrinking the change into small pieces. Quite often when a sales person is in front of a prospect part if not all of what they are offering involves change – new vendor, new product, different way of doing something and so on. Sometimes that change can be overwhelming regardless of any compelling reasons that might make it worthwhile. Think about it on a personal level the hassle that comes along with changing cable television providers, cell phone service or auto insurance; perhaps all three present you with an opportunity to save some money but they also hit you with an inconvenience or a consumption of time – stay home for a day to meet the technician and return the old cable box to the current provider for e.g. You might wonder is it worth saving a few dollars a month to go through that?

Like it or not if you are a sales professional your prospects are probably thinking that same thing about your “solution”. Even if they are in “pain” they are also weighing that out against the hassle of change. Perhaps this is why prospects get to that point in the cycle and then stop and disappear. You need to have a clear understanding of what is blocking their way and how you can make it easy. E.g. what if the cable company offered to return my old equipment for me and would guarantee my a specific installation time that worked for me? What would happen to the resistance I feel?

In history great leaders have understood the impact of this resistance to change and have sometimes had the luxury of forcing change to happen because – they are the boss! In sales you do not have the luxury of forcing anyone to buy from you. You need to slowly and piece by piece remove the obstacles that your prospect is facing – “suppose I took care of that for you, would that help?”