Challenging a New Mindset in Sales

Brought to you by Guest Author, Jennifer Piehl, Sr. Account Executive at ConnectAndSell.

Sales through relationships has long been touted as “the” way to make it in B to B sales. Develop a trust, we’re told, build a rapport, we’re encouraged, and sales will follow. It’s what I have used in my 20+ years in sales, and I have been very successful. But what if you’re selling a product that seems too good to be true?

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The new company I just joined, ConnectAndSell, promises that in one hour a good salesperson will have the number of conversations they would typically achieve in one day. When I heard this, I was skeptical. As a salesperson, who has called 40-60 people in one day, only to have 4-5 actual live conversations and, ConnectAndSell will deliver that in one HOUR?  Amazing, right?! If it works! 

And now you see an interesting challenge emerge. Just how DO you sell a product whose results are seemingly over-stated, to a C-Level decision maker, who you’ve just reached, and with whom you have no relationship?

Dale Carnegie once sold us salespeople on the phrase, “If I could show you a way to _______, would you want to hear about it?” It seemed like pretty good advice 20 years ago; however, who uses that approach anymore? We’ve all learned it, yet it seems old and outdated now doesn’t it? It’s clear that as sales people we need to evolve.

With a product like ConnectAndSell that does deliver what it promises, and whose results seem too good to believe, it’s clear a new approach is needed, or our prospects could vaporize like smoke.  Twenty years ago, Dale Carnegie presented us with the cutting edge sales methodology. My customers loved it – so did I. Now we must create a NEW mindset that empowers our customers to open their minds, enables them to accept the possibilities that can exist. Even before they know they’ve done it. How? Challenge-based empowerment.

  • We need to challenge them.  If they are entrepreneurs and business leaders, they already think differently. In today’s world, if they aren’t different, they aren’t making it. Let’s invite them to accept a new reality, one where sales numbers can improve, while the headcount in their new hires can go down, results will increase exponentially.  All companies say their product works, but what can we do to show them results? Prove to them by showing them results your product will bring them. Show them that you have done the very things you are promising them. Proof is more than promises.
  • Challenge them to accept a new sales process whose only limitations are their own internal systems. In our case, the only limitation they have is their call lists. (we can help with those, too.) Invite them to imagine how their company would look in a sales world where 10,000 live conversations can be had, where one company grew from $3 million to $12 million without adding to a sales force.
  • Show them success.  Know their business and how your product will make their sales improve. Show them that we aren’t making promises; we are promising to deliver beyond their wildest expectations. Getting them to say “you can’t do that,” opens the door for us to show that, yes indeed we can (and just did).

Ultimately, businesses still follow a bottom line which basically boils down to “what’s in this for us/ROI” model.  And, as we all know, a bottom line does run, and grow, a business.  Well, if I could show you, and your team, a way to have 8 sales conversations in an hour, vs 1-2 DAYS, would you want to know about it? 

Uh-oh. Maybe Dale Carnegie was pretty smart, after all!