Are You Committing Sales Malpractice?

Joe Marr, Sandler Training Center - Ann Arbor

www.sandlerannarbor.com

734-821-4830

 

Imagine that you wake up one morning with a dull, throbbing pain in your arm. It's more annoying than debilitating, probably nothing serious. You lifted some heavy boxes a few days ago and it's probably just a strained muscle.

Weeks pass, and the pain hasn't become worse, but it hasn't gone away, as you hoped it would. So you call and schedule an appointment with a doctor.

"How are we feeling today," the doctor asks. You tell her about the pain and about lifting the heavy boxes a few days ago and explain that sometimes it throbs, and sometimes it doesn't. "I see" she says and then asks, "Have you tried an ice-pack or a heating pad?" "Yup, it didn't help."  You reply.

Next, the doctor asks, "Is it keeping you from your daily routine or causing sleepless nights?" (Now you're thinking, "When is she going to examine my arm and tell me why it hurts?") You share that it doesn't keep you awake at night, but it bothers you when you're working on the computer.

"What if you had to live with it the rest of your life?" (You're thinking: "Okay, I'm out of here.") But before you answer she asks, "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Frustrated you plead, "Doc, cut to the chase, can you help me?"

"I'll write you a prescription for the pain. Take care of my bill with my receptionist and I'll call in the prescription."  Stunned, you ask, "Don't you want to examine my arm first?"  You continue, "I don't want to be taking drugs if I don't need ‘em."

"Don't worry." the doctor replies. "Now that I know your problem and why you believe it exists; I know how you've treated it; that it didn't work; how it's affecting you; and that you want to do something about it, so I know all I need to know to prescribe a treatment and I don't have to examine your arm. If you think it was from lifting heavy boxes, you're probably right. The prescription will take care of your problem. Trust me I'm a professional."

If this really happened you probably should look for a new doctor who will take the time to completely diagnose the problem and treat the underlying cause, but you might in frustration just take the pills and hope that the pain goes away.

What does malpractice have to do with sales?

Instead of a doctor's bag, we have a particular product or service. Instead of a patient with a throbbing forearm, we have prospects with different pains. Their pain may come from the lack our product or service. But their belief may be that there is no solution for their pain, perhaps they are not aware of our product, and even if they are, they may not be aware that it can resolve or help them avoid their pains. And instead of drugs, our "prescription" is our product, when we find a pain our product can prevent or resolve.

Have you ever listened to a prospect tell about a problem and its causes? And after you asked them a few more questions to determine the extent of their problem, presented your prescription, they started "arm-wrestling" over money issues, leading to them asking for references or a demo, or some more time to "mull it over"?

If this situation sounds like a sales situation you've experienced, then you are as guilty as a doctor prescribing before fully diagnosing the problem, you're guilty of malpractice.

How do we avoid committing sales malpractice?

We need to get to the underlying reasons for prospects problems. David Sandler once said: The problem the prospect brings you is never the real problem.  Unless you know why a prospect believes they need something, you don't really know if, or how you can help, and, more importantly, the prospect doesn't know either.

Our mission on a sales call should be to help prospects discover the reasons for their problems and whether or not our product or service can resolve their problems. Like a doctor who diagnoses from a patient's symptoms the underlying illness to be treated, you must diagnose your prospect's symptoms to determine the underlying problem to be addressed (or not) by your product or service. You must first "take an X-ray" of the problem, identify the cause, show it to the prospect, make sure they see it, and then recommend a treatment, if you have one.

 

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs the Sandler Training Center – Ann Arbor.  To reach him call: (734) 821-4830 or visit his website at: www.sandlerannarbor.com

© 2010 Marr Professional Development Corporation