How thinking destroys sales opportunities

Strategy is extremely important when preparing for a meeting that could provide huge opportunities for your business. Part of the preparation involves thoroughly understanding what is important to the client.

During a recent client coaching session, a client of mine was going after a piece of business that could virtually double the size of the client's company. I asked the lead representative for my client a simple question, "What is the primary motivation for the customer to spend money on this solution?” The client response: “I think they want to lower their costs and improve efficiency."

Don't think. It's bad for the team.

In the movie "Bull Durham," Kevin Costner plays a veteran catcher in the minor leagues who is mentoring a new top-draft-pick pitcher. At one point, Costner’s character says ,“Don’t think... It’s bad for the team.” In this case, he is telling the pitcher (aptly nicknamed Nuke) that he should not think when pitching. He should just throw.

The problem in my client's case is not that he is thinking. After all, this is business, not baseball. Thinking in business is a good thing. However, you should never “think” when it comes to what motivates the customer. You need to “know.” Thinking is not sufficient.

Ask the tough questions.

A great sage once said, “The easy way is the hard way, and the hard way is the easy way.” I’d love to take credit for it, but I know I heard it from someone else once. In terms of selling complex products or services, this means that taking shortcuts and the easy way out often entails a long, painful sales process. Asking the tough questions up front might make people uncomfortable, but it gives you valuable insight into opportunities.

A few examples.

The key to each example is to ask the question and then say nothing. Just let the client persuade you one way or the other. You are simply trying to uncover their truth -- which might differ from the truth you want to hear.

Will they spend the money?

If you are trying to gain insight into whether or not the client’s issue will rise to the point of getting money to more forward, you could use a common approach: To hope and pray. Or you could ask a question like “Sometimes projects like this end up stalling because the issue is not significant enough to get adequate funding. Is this project facing a challenge like that?” Either the client will or will not persuade you their issue is significant.

Who else needs to be involved?

The best way to get insight into how a decision will be made is to discover how similar decisions were made in the past. If you ask yourself who is the decision maker, you will always get the same answer: “I am.” You’ll get this answer regardless of the truth. Instead, ask “When you made decisions like this in the past, who else got involved?” This will be less threatening, and is more likely to produce an honest response.

Where did the client go wrong?

My client is a great guy. His flaw was that he did not take the time to ask his client questions to know how they were motivated to make a purchase. Once he said “I think,” it was clear my client was missing key information. My client contacted his client and asked the question about projects stalling. His client launched into a 20 minute explanation of why the project was so important. Most of the information was news to him. They ended up landing the account and are now working hard to identify the next big opportunity.

It's your turn. What key information have you ever been caught “thinking” instead of “knowing?” What was the result?

Ian Altman is CEO at Grow My Revenue.

Related links: Industries:

​5 skills and strategies to earn more sales

Entrepreneurs should always search for ways to build more business and increase sales. Here are five skills and strategies that can help you to generate more sales.

12 excuses for why you aren't selling

There are millions of excuses why your salespeople say they can't sell today. Here's an entire calendar of funny yet inexcusable sales roadblocks.

5 reasons to launch a niche product online

For entrepreneurs with a niche product or budding business, e-commerce is a great way to test the viability of your product before launching through traditional distribution channels.