Sandler Training: Don’t sell like a dentist
Part of a series of articles looking at Sales and Management Solutions from Midlands-based Sandler Training. Written by Managing Director, Martin Hall.
In Sandler, we have a rule: No pain… No sale. It means that unless you can find an actual pain a prospect is experiencing that you can solve, you shouldn’t sell them anything. Pain is the reason someone does business with you.
If someone has pain, you have to figure out a way to have an interaction to solve it as quickly as possible. If you don’t, it may not hurt enough tomorrow.
One of the best analogies to think about is waking up with a toothache.
If you’ve ever woken up with a really bad toothache, you were probably ready to pay anything to get into the dentist that same day. Then you may have called the dentist, and heard over the phone, “Oh, we can’t get to you for two weeks.” In two weeks, there’s a decent chance it didn’t hurt nearly as bad, and you may not have even bothered going.
Everyone’s world has those types of situations.
A plumbing client of mine recognised that and made a change to his schedule. He tightened things up a bit in order to shorten his sales cycle, and so that he could fit emergencies in last-minute when needed. In a ten-day period that client sold seven boiler repairs, two boiler replacements, and three maintenance contracts. Some plumbers don’t even do that well through the winter months!
In your world, you probably have something like that too, it’s just not about teeth or plumbing. There is tremendous business to be had out there if you’re proactive. Don’t sell like a dentist, but set yourself up so that you can handle extreme pain quickly.
Don’t make the same sales mistake that many dentists make.
