The Sales Archaeologist

Congress, the Senate, the President and a bunch of other people in Washington are currently stuck – they can’t seem to reach agreement. Everyone wants what they want and nobody is willing to compromise. Sounds a lot like a sales problem?

Often when sales people expect to close an opportunity and the prospect isn’t ready this same thing happens – gridlock.

When we have a disagreement about money and cost that isn’t really understood by both sides. When we have a lack of unity regarding what is important and compelling. When nobody is really taking time to find out if people are listening or if people care what they are saying – do they even have any Speed on Bases with their listeners?

Not just a U.S. problem either. Around the world we see the same symptoms -people in Greece, Malaysia, Syria, Egypt and a bunch of other countries are protesting and marching to get their point across. Is it working? Do they understand their audience? Will the message resonate? Will the intended hearers care or be moved to action?

Wherever we look we see people speaking without really understanding.

We see people trying to get their message across without really understanding if people will listen or care.

We see people that spend a lot of time talking and very little listening or trying to understand.

And this is the world we grow up in. These are patterns of communications we observe our entire lives. Is it any wonder that most of the selling population struggle with being able to consultatively communicate and sell? Is it an accident that most sales people talk too soon, too much and too quickly?

The flip side of this is a positive - people are simply starving for someone to listen and understand them! If as a selling professional you are able to do that you have just separated yourself and differentiated yourself from all competitors! So make sure on your next sales call to do this – don’t talk until you understand them. Don’t offer solutions until you know they have the problem? Make sure they know you are listening. By doing this you can avoid gridlock.