Take the Sales Executives “IQ Focus Test”

 Note, before you read any further, cover up your screen below the asterisks. One of the most outstanding business executives that I know and admire uses the following question for every person he interviews. At first I thought it was a silly question. But after years of working together and discussing what it takes to be effective in today’s complex business environment, I realize that his question can be very revealing as to how a knowledge worker processes information.

Please be honest and don’t read ahead (i.e. cover up the bottom of the screen below the asterisks).

In fifteen seconds or less, decide which of the following statements is the most grammatically correct? 

1. “The sum of seven and five IS eleven” or
2. “The sum of seven and five ARE eleven”

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Now that you have your answer, let’s analyze the possibilities.

1. “The sum of seven and five IS eleven.” Wrong
2. “The sum of seven and five ARE eleven.” Really Wrong.

The correct answer is neither. The sum of seven and five is “twelve”. If your answer was wrong, you are not alone as we have found that approximately 90% of interviewees answer this problem incorrectly. The primary reason is that the interviewees accept and do not challenge the premise that is presented to them. The goal for a sales executive is to avoid being an “order taker” and be more of a “solutions discoverer”.

So what is the relevancy? The relevancy is that every day sales executives (and knowledge workers) labor away on the wrong issues, problems, and opportunities due to focusing on pre-conditioned premises. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the “reality you are given” versus “defining a reality for yourself”.

Some examples of the realities sales executives are given:

(a)   Your price is too high.

(b)   We only buy from our current supplier.

(c)   We need to check out your competitors.

So how do you define your “reality”? The answer lies in sharpening ones focus. I define focus as the process of identifying what one “is not” doing, versus what one “is” doing. Thus, if you are winding down the quarter and you need to close the deal, it is beneficial to write down all of the activities that you are going to “avoid”. Your list could address the above examples as follows:

(a)   I will avoid lowering my price by consistently communicating how my product/service increases value to the customer.

(b)   I will avoid letting my customer being comfortable with their current supplier by highlighting the current supplier’s inefficiencies.

(c)   I will avoid allowing the customer to have time to check out my competitors by giving them a reason to purchase now.

From my experience, successful sales executives consistently focus on the “right” things to do and “avoid” the premises that tend to box them into a pre-defined situation.

Thus, the moral to this story is to make your own reality by challenging the premises you are presented and operate as a solutions discoverer.

 

Effective Selling: How do you dig holes to draw water?

If a geologist told you that in order to draw water from a parcel of land, you would have to dig down 10 feet. The obvious best course of action is to dig one, 10 foot hole. The task would not be difficult and once you dug the hole, you would draw water. This is not a trick question and it certainly does not require a complex answer.

But too often, the ineffective sales executive over complicates their situation and strays from the salesmanship basics: building relationships, exploring customer needs, overcoming rejections, etc. The ineffective sales executive loses focus on the corporate strategy. They keep reinventing new things to do versus executing the tasks at hand. To the dismay of the geologist, the ineffective sales executive digs ten, 1 foot holes. Hence, they never draw water!

In our current internet age business environment, it is easy to become distracted. You are juggling an overflowing e-mail inbox, your customers are demanding more and more for less, and you may be experiencing sales management pressure to just “do something”. It is easy to fall prey to the sales management fallacy of believing that hyper-activity will lead to immediate results. Unfortunately “busyness” does not close deals, persistent execution does.

As a sales manager, it is easy for me to spot out the “hole diggers”. They are ones that show up every week on the sales call with some new close strategy or master plan to make a quick sale. This in itself is not the problem. The problem is that they are not persistent in executing all of the other strategies they were pursuing from the previous weeks, i.e. they did not finish digging their holes. This is one recipe for lack of sales execution.

The winning sales executive stays focused. They dig one stroke at a time without looking for a “new” sales tactic to divert their efforts. Thus, on the next occasion when you ponder a change in your selling approach, ask yourself, “Am I starting to dig a new hole?”

Copyright© Rob Day 2008