Are You Committing Sales Malpractice?
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, ìHave you tried an ice-pack or a heating pad?î ìYup, it didnít help.î you reply.
Next, the doctor asks, ìIs it keeping you from your daily routine or causing sleepless nights?î (Now youíre thinking ìwhen is she going to examine my arm and tell me why it hurts?î) You share that it doesnít keep you awake at night, but it bothers you when youíre working on the computer.
ìWhat if you had to live with it the rest of your life?î (Youíre thinking: ìOkay, Iím out of hereî.) But before you answer she asks, ìIs there anything else you want to tell me?î Frustrated you plead, ìDoc, cut to the chase, can you help me?î
ìIíll write you a prescription for the pain. Take care of my bill with my receptionist and Iíll call in the prescription.î Stunned, you ask, ìDonít you want to examine my arm first?î You continue, ìI donít want to be taking drugs if I donít need ëemî.
ìDonít worry.î the doctor replies. ìNow that I know your problem and why you believe it exists; I know how youíve treated it; that it didnít work; how itís 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 donít have to examine your arm. If you think it was from lifting heavy boxes, youíre probably right. The prescription will take care of your problem. Trust meÖIím a professional.î
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 doctorís 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 ìprescriptionî 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 ìarm-wrestlingî over money issues, leading to them asking for references or a demo, or some more time to ìmull it overî?
If this situation sounds like a sales situation youíve experienced, then you are as guilty as a doctor prescribing before fully diagnosing the problem, youíre guilty of malpractice.
How do we avoid committing sales malpractice?
We need to get to the underlying reasons for prospectsí problems. David Sandler once said: ìThe problem the prospect brings you is never the real problem.î Unless you know why a prospect believes they need something, you donít really know if, or how you can help, and, more importantly, the prospect doesnít 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 patientís symptoms the underlying illness to be treated, you must diagnose your prospectís symptoms to determine the underlying problem to be addressed (or not) by your product or service. You must first ìtake an X-rayî 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.
© Copyright 2004. Marr Professional Development Corporation