If you are in sales you have to remember the infamous 80/20 rule you were taught in Sales 101 class. There are many versions of this rule, but I am talking about the specific 80/20 rule that says….”The prospect is talking 80% of the time and the sales person only 20%.” This sounds great on paper, but what happens when your prospect is an introvert? What if 80% of what the prospect is saying during your conversation is about the game last night?
While there are many so-called “rules” to sales what’s really important is that the conversation for both the prospect and sales person is mutually valuable. Many of these rules were developed as guidelines and not etched in stone. Born in a time when the sales organizations were awakening to the fact that pushing products and services was not as fruitful as aligning those products and services with a prospect’s needs. We now live in a time where everyone is incredibly busy and if there is no value in the conversation then a sale will not occur…plain and simple.
The dialog between a prospect and a sales person today is typically more 50/50 with both parties asking questions and sharing information. The dialog simply flows without worry about who is banking more time talking. I have been witness to many highly effective sales people who spoke a lot, but what they had to say was valuable to the prospect and thus the sale moved to the next step in the sales process. Think value not time.
This blog does not suggest that a sales person should dominate a conversation even if he/she believes there is incredible value. Common sense should always prevail, but what this blog is suggesting is that the conversation should flow between individuals. I think its time we put the sales ”rules” away and look at them as guidelines. At the end of the day each prospect you meet will be different and no one steadfast rule can apply to all. We should know at this point in time what a good business conversation looks like. That is how our sales calls should be conducted.
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