The New Rules of [Sales] Engagement
When you pitch your product, your company — at this point, I think the general consensus is that no one wants to hear that you’re the “Uber of x,” or the “Google of y,” or the “Airbnb of z.” If you start your pitch with this, I’m going to spend the next few minutes trying to think about how your company is related to Uber, or Google, or whatever you say you’re the whatever of, instead of actively listening and learning more about your product or service. So just don’t do it.
Instead, try this.
Since you’re a sales rockstar, a master of your industry, an endearing parent of your startup baby, you’re going to have done some previous research about me prior to pitching your product to me. You’re going to have already found out that I live and work in San Francisco, and you’re going to prepare facts for me about that, and I will in turn, actively listen and retain key facts about your product or service, because they are relevant and they are powerful.
Scenario:
You: “Hey Diego, how’s it going today?”
Me: “Good bud, how are you?”
You: “I’m doing great. Can’t complain about the weather here in [insert wherever you’re based]. Hey Diego, where are you out of?”
Me: “San Francisco actually. In the booming tech neighborhood, South of Market (SoMa).”
You: “That’s so awesome. Did you know we’ve actually placed 100,000 people at full-time positions right in San Francisco in the past year?”
Me: “Wow. I did not know that. That’s so awesome. How did you get to that level?!”
You proceed to tell me how you guys are masters of the competitive staffing industry, or whatever industry you’re in, by replacing the staffing industry specific facts and figures above with relevant information about San Francisco. If your company has no experience in San Francisco, you can ask me another question after that, that you already know the answer to from your pre-meeting due diligent research, and then hit me with the facts you’ve curated, relating to my answer.
This is how you engage someone you’re pitching your product or service to, not by relating your company to another, totally different company, in a different industry, forcing me to try to form relationships in my mind that don’t exist. Hit me with some facts. Why are you the best? If we start with these facts and statements, making them easily relatable to our prospects, we have started a real conversation. We’re in the game.
Keep in mind…
The goal here is not to recite facts and figures during the entire meeting, or to give me a monologue. The goal is to extract information from me using this powerful, initial introduction as your basis. What are my pain points? What are my goals. In order to master the sales process, you need to measure how much you’re talking, vs how much I (your prospect) is talking. Sales is listening. After all, you’re trying to solve my problem. Right? Ask me questions. Dig deeper, and keep me talking, while you keep listening, actively listening.
It’s all about the data.
Next time you have an opportunity to sell to a prospect, record the conversation. Then, after the meeting, listen to it again, and note the times you are talking, and the times your prospect is talking. Measure this. Who spoke more? Who listened more? Sell more, talk less!
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