Getting the most from a sales call

The other day I was in a one of those instant Oil change service stations.  My car simply needed an oil change, but the service guy chose to ignore me.  He rattled off the list of things my car needed (after careful diagnostics of course) and as I went to say “no thank you” he quickly shifted gears and told me about how I could save a bunch of money with the discount specials they were running.   I told him I can’t afford to save anymore money and to tell you the truth I am not sure he even understood what I just said.  In fact, after a lengthy “instant” oil change he said “call this number and tell us how we are doing…..you could win $5,000. “  Unfortunately this type of sales behavior is not limited to rapid oil change places.  It also is takes place in B2B professional sales.

As a sales person myself I completely understand the pressures and accountability that come with the job.  Pressures like keeping a full pipeline, meeting weekly, monthly or quarterly numbers and creating cross-sell / up-sell opportunities have taken their toll on the prospect/client.  Things like having a valuable conversation between two people, taking the time to get to know each other and establishing trust have been pushed aside.  Its become so bad that when I call on a prospect and genuinely say “sounds like you guys are doing great in that area….probably not a strong need right at the moment for our services” they think it’s a sales setup question.   Having a good genuine business conversation to determine value has become just plain difficult. We sales guys have created this monster and reinforce it with our behaviors driven by a need to fulfill the sales goals back at the office.  Conversations suffer and so does further sales potential.

Instead…take a step back, remember that there is another business person in front of you with their own goals and objectives.  Listen to them, ask questions, share your thoughts and perspectives and enjoy the conversation.  You may learn a lot about the person, the business and where there is mutual opportunity.  In a fast paced business world this is hard to do, but find a way to forget about the sales challenges back at the office and take the time to enjoy the conversation…it may just lead you to a more profitable and long-term sales relationship.

Community Business Lessons

Last night I attended a County Planning Commission Meeting around a proposed moratorium to review the impact of a proposed Sand Mine operation in the local community.I found the discussion quite interesting and it illuminated a few business lessons that I would like to share.

First, if you don’t know what a moratorium is it is a period of time in which there is a suspension of a
specific activity until future events warrant a removal of the suspension or issues regarding the activity have been resolved.  In this case the residents of the community were pushing for a moratorium on the proposed Sand Mine operation.

One the first groups to speak was the group of residents who applied for the moratorium. They had several expert testimonials on different topics from the impact of the Sand Mine on the community’s health to potential traffic and tourism problems.  A lot of different issues were covered.  Despite the application group’s tremendous detail there was so much information it was hard to decipher what was important to them.

Following the applicant’s presentation the meeting was opened up to public for comment and feedback.  Ironically, one of the first residents to speak at the podium was a resident in direct opposition moratorium.  In his opinion past moratorium have been applied for and their outcome was unsuccessful so why do this again.  In this person’s mind there is no reason to believe another moratorium would be valuable. The rest of the residents spoke in favor of the moratorium and were in great disagreement with the opposing resident.
The County Planning Commission debated for a couple of hours with more resident input, but ultimately decided to not make any decision on the moratorium.  The decision that night was to reconvene in a month so they had time to filter through all the information.

The Business Lessons:

The first business I connected the dots on was related to the resident’s moratorium application
presentation.  I couldn’t help but think if the applicants had prioritized the highest impact concerns the County
Planning Commission may not have decided to delay this process.  The lack of focus created more delays.  Concerns were even raised about the scope and scale of the moratorium application and all associated cost (i.e. The
impression left is that it was a beast to manage).

The second business lesson I identified was on the moratorium plans.  For example…one part of the plan says that as part of the moratorium there is a research study to be done on the potential health effects of local residents in close proximity to the sand mine.  However nothing was discussed about the decisions that would be made if things played out this way or that way.  It could be a tremendous waste of time, money and resources because no matter the outcome the decision could be the same.  This would support the opposition that this is not just another moratorium that doesn’t work.

The third business lesson I picked up on was from the only opposition voice in the room.  While I believe the opposition raised a great point (we have done this before and it never works – definition of insanity) the real issue was not with the moratorium but the process in which moratoriums are executed, measured and
managed.

Lastly and most importantly one business lesson rose to the top for me.  Sometimes the most
obvious things are missed because there is too much focus.  This missed item could be the most valuable
of all and the key component of the moratorium. This was missed by the residents, the opposition and The County Planning Commission.   Everyone was so focused on the short-term issue of the Sand Mine company wanting 150 acres and its proximity to residents/ natural resources and the moratorium research that a very important point was completely missed.

No one asked about the Sand Mine companies long-term plans.  What does the Sand Mine company have
in its long-range plans for this area or neighboring areas?  What is the Sand Mine company’s
objective?  What specific rules and regulations would the Sand Mine company have to comply with and who would enforce those rules?  The short-sighted perspective may prove to be very detrimental to the community’s objective.