I was pitching my consulting services to the founder of a company that makes daily planners, and like the good salesman he was, he turned the tables and asked me how I stay organized. After bumbling around for a minute, thinking, Hey, this is MY sales interview! I responded that I use a miscellany of calendars and notepads and pocket phone directories. Shaking his head, he responded, Well that cant last; its too inefficient. Sooner or later youre going to transition into using a planner. Its all-in-one! Well, his little recitation did it, and soon after our little chat I was using one of his firms pricey but useful systems, though I dont recall selling HIM anything! Every masterful salesperson inevitably learns one thing: Inevitability sells! By this, I mean the argument, that Sooner or later, youll own Generals! which that tire company made famous as a slogan, is really at the base of success in selling. Change is inevitable! How do you think zillions of companies made the transition from using file cabinets to using computers to store and retrieve data? Believe me, they did not want to make the change! They felt they HAD to, that it was inevitable; that they couldnt resist the tide any longer. And some savvy salesperson, or perhaps an unrelenting legion of them, made this argument, and like a shoreline that is gradually eroded and washed away, buyers came around and complied with the dictates of INEVITABILITY. Find a way of getting inevitability into your sales message, and if you can, get prospects to acknowledge, aloud in your presence, that theyre going to have to make a change, sooner or later. Once this admission has surfaced, youll find that sooner comes around sooner than you ever thought possible. Plan on it! |
