We Win When We Talk About Them
April 17, 2008
I never thought I would pick up sales tips from James Carville, but sure enough it has happened. Over the past weekend I was watching one of the Sunday morning political shows, and Carville, joined by his wife Mary Matalin, was discussing the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Specifically he discussed one of the tenets of running a great campaign he learned from former President Clinton, who love him or hate him, was a great campaigner. The idea he put forth was so simple but so correct. “If we are talking about them, we are winning.” “If we are talking about us, we are losing.” Now, the idea behind his comment is perhaps a little different in the context of a political campaign as opposed to a sales call, but how incredibly insightful is that. The best sales calls often involve very little “selling.” If the person across the table from you is talking, and you are discussing them – not you – you are winning. I have experienced sales calls where you trot out every feature, function, advantage, benefit, company history, past clients, and on and on, only to walk away saying to myself, “I just don’t think we will win that one.” By the same token, many of the best calls I have ever made, involve asking questions, and then listening to someone else talk about themselves. Yes I can tell people LUCRUM is Cincinnati’s best provider of Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, (all of which I believe) until I am blue in the face, but if I don’t understand them first, I am losing.
I observed this first hand today while on a sales call with two of my colleagues. We had a great meeting that lasted well over an hour, very little of which was spent discussing LUCRUM. In doing so, we identified numerous business problems LUCRUM can solve through our understanding of technology. More importantly we took the first steps toward building a new relationship with them based on understanding of their unique business needs. No pushy sales pitch. No dog and pony show. Just having a real and meaningful conversation about them When we are talking about them… we win.
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Dave,
Great point! Listening is a skill that some sales people can have difficulty mastering. I know that it has taken me many years to really truly get this.
Recently I attended a boot camp given by some of the top CIO’s in the Healthcare vertical. It was an opportunity for a few lucky service firms to get the CIO’s perspective of their partners and vendors.
After two days the message was clear – sales people shut up and listen!!
John Glaser, the CIO of Partners Healthcare, told me that some of his most successful partnerships were with those people that came to their first meeting with him, asked truly relevant questions and literally left at the end of the hour without a word about their own company.
He, without a doubt, would make the time to meet with these people again because they had shown the courtesy and good judgment to understand his challenges and goals FIRST before touting their own product or company services.
That was really an eye opener for me. I hope that I will take that advice with me on every call I make at Lucrum. It can make, as you say, the difference between winning and losing the opportunity to do business with an account.
Oliver Wendall Holmes said it best, “It is the province of knowledge to speak, it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”