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The 4 Dangerous Sales Myths Unmasked

Unmasked Myths

There are a plethora of sales myths providing advice on how to fight sales reluctance, distractions, apathy and fear. Unfortunately most of this advice is worthless. These myths are nothing more than  half-baked claims  and false promises. They won’t help you find leads, set appointments, convert prospects  nor close deals.

These sales myths stubbornly get repeated over and over. So let’s put these rumors to rest and sleep soundly tonight knowing the truth.  

So it begs the question,  what really works in sales? What’s the secret ingredient?   

Let’s pull back the curtain and and unmask these four sales myths and create possibility. 

Myth #1- 10X Rule

One myth pervasive across the internet is the notion of exerting extreme effort. If you’re making 10 cold calls a day, make 100. If you’re sending out 50 automated emails, send 500. 10x it!

The 10X Rule is like looking for a lost watch, but you never find time. Extreme effort will not turn a bad idea into a successful business. Suppose your  company sells garlic infused vanilla ice cream. It’s somebody’s ideas of a hot new trend. Neither children nor discerning adults could stomach such a wretched combination. Pity the poor seller. They visiting distributor after distributor expending extreme effort with no luck. It’s a no win situation.

It takes hard work getting a new business off the ground. But working harder by itself is not enough. If a product brings little to no value to the market will never be successful.  Value matters. 

Extreme effort is best expended over short bursts of time rather than as a 24/7/365 lifestyle. Working 18-hour days is not sustainable over the long term. Your health will suffer, as will your mental focus. Success is like a marathon with periodic short-term sprints at key moments. It is physically impossible to sprint for the entire race.

Myth #2 – Work Smarter Not Harder

Opposite the 10X Rule is the myth of work smarter not harder. It dismisses the importance placed on hard work and values the quest for focuses on thinking “out of the box”. Instead it preaches to never be satisfied with the conventional ways of doing things and keep looking for that better mousetrap. Our brain consists of two parts, ‘left’ and ‘right’. In the left side, nothing is  right. In the right side, there’s nothing left. This search never ends.

Working smart may be essential, but it’s only half the equation. No successful entrepreneur or sales professional will tell you that intellect is  a substitute for applying maximum effort during every waking hour of the day. To reach the top of your field, you must take advantage of technology and work efficiently. But you must also be the first one in the office and the last one to turn off the lights. It takes grit to dig out success.

Smarter work affords us more time. But saved time doesn’t mean anything unless we put it to good use. Success doesn’t arrive by solely focusing to simply work smarter. The most successful people work smart, but they also work exceptionally hard.

With that said, hard work and smart work alone are not sufficient for business success. It takes ingenuity, vision, risk calculation, and luck.  Both hard work and smarts are essential. It’s time to stop treating them as if they were mutually exclusive.

Myth #3 – It’s a Numbers Game

One particularly persistent  lie is the myth that sales is a numbers game. It’s the  idea that you need to get 95 no’s for 5 yes’s. If you just make enough calls, eventually you’ll strike gold.

Wrong!

The “numbers game” myth is used by those who believe in luck and chance to close sales. It falsely believes if you flip a coin enough times you will get more heads. This myth lives in the realm of telemarketers, carnival barkers and digital marketers. But why would anyone want to deal with hundreds or even thousands of prospects who may not even want what you have to offer?

A teacher asked a student on day if they’re good at math. “Yes and No” answer the student. “What do you mean?”, responded the teacher. “Well….”, said the student. “Yes, I’m no good at math!”.

This is myth is bad math. Selling is not a numbers game,  it’s a value game.

The “numbers game” myth decreases your chance of success. It makes selling more complicated and harder than necessary. It actually prevents people from looking at what they can do to get better.

Great sales is about relationships and providing value. It’s  not numbers. Better to focus on the most valuable prospects. Then target your selling efforts on people who have an interest and can make a buying decision.  All prospects are not created equal.  It’s only when you focus on selling to great prospects, that you will see great numbers. A referral is worth 20 cold leads. There’s a numbers game for you. 

Myth #4 – ABC

In the 1992  film Glengarry Glen Ross, a sales whiz named  Blake (as played by Alec Baldwin) is sent by Mitch and Murray, the owners of Premier Properties. His mission is to motivate the sales team. Blake unleashes a torrent of verbal abuse on the salesmen. He announces that only the top two will get access to the more promising Glengarry leads. The remaining team members will be fired.

During his training Blake teaches a motivational phrase used to describe a sales strategy, ABC – Always Be Closing . The phrase serves as a reminder. Every action a salesperson takes should have the intention of moving the sale towards the close. Push push push.

This is the opposite of understanding the wants, needs and discovering if you can add value to their business. An egregious sin of many sellers is closing to quickly. Never assume you know best until you’ve fully discovered the pain and desires of your prospect

 

 

Wake Up to Tip the Scales in Your Favor

These myths are actually lies. Let’s wake up to the fact that:

1.  NOT everyone is your ideal client.

2. Prospects don’t care about you.

3. Prospects don’t think about you.

4. Prospects have a set of challenges that scare them half to death.

5. You may not  be solving their greatest challenge.

You can’t add value to all prospects lives.  Not only that,  in some cases, you  might actually make their lives worse if they became clients. They have have other challenges at their doorstep and adding yet another change, might be fatal. Dangerous myths create dangerous times. 

What DOES work is to focus on building a value proposition, discovering truly qualified clients, serving their needs and desires, and building relationships that generate ongoing sales and referrals.

We need to wake up! We need to call out these sales myths for the lies they are.  If we wake up to the truth and what’s  really going on during a sale,  we can tip the scales in our favor. Knowledge is power.

Discover more at my weekly podcast SalesBabble.com

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Sales Is Life

Every so often I’ll meet a seasoned sales guy who will muse that the toughest sale they ever made was when they sold their wife. I can’t help but think,
“Isn’t slavery illegal? Oh you mean when you asked her to marry you? Ohhhhhhhhh”.
 
You would think a topic of marriage would be a mutual conversation, a meeting of the minds or a negotiation. I can see that. But it’s hard for me to see a marriage proposal as a sales call. That doesn’t make sense. Yet I hear it repeated all the time.
 
This is how some people see life. For them, everything in life is a sale. Everything in life is a deal. Life is one big competition with buyers and sellers, winners and losers. It’s the savvy sellers that win the prize and the rest are hot prospects.
 
But if you’ve picked up anything in this blog or podcast,  I don’t see things that way. I don’t see selling as a way to get ahead.

Life’s Lessons

I see sales as an extension of life. What works for life, works for sales, not the other way around. Consider your life experiences. Let’s ask the questions:
 
  • What does life say about building intimate relationships, love, friendship and empathy?
  • What does life tell about partnering and teams?
  • What does life tell us about sharing the load and helping?
  • What does life tell us about lending a hand?
Reflect on all the good you have in your life. The energy you’ve invested and how others have invested in you. Recall the times where you’ve laughed and cracked up with friends. Reflect on the times where you’ve been close to family. Recall when times were tough and together you and those you care for overcame adversity. These powerful events can spark possibility in your professional life.
 
Consider the possibility that what works for life, works for sales. Sales is life.

Here to Help

Despite our culture’s myths, I see sales as a helping profession. Sellers are like people who work in hospitals, child care, or dog rescuers. Consider the police officers, firefighters and social workers of the world. All of these people are in the helping industry. This is where we belong. Sales professionals are closer to teachers and wait staff then a bureaucrat or mob boss.
 
Extraordinary sellers ask open-ended questions, listen intently and then propose solutions that can help their customers. Yes, they are advocates for their companies and organizations. But they never push product that doesn’t add value. They are in for the long game. It’s never about a quick win.
 
I’m married to a teacher. For her, the profession of teaching is a calling. This is how I see sales. It’s a sacred honor. I’m called to help my clients. I’m called to help vendors. I’m called to influence and make the world a better place. This calling has enriched my life immeasurably. 
 
For me, it’s second nature to enter every conversation with the attitude ,
“I’m here to help. How can I help you?”
This is how I approach life and this is how I approach sales.
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Try It On – Transformative Change

Far too often we find our greatest competitors are inertia, apathy and the status quo. It’s frustrating promoting new ideas, products and services. But you can be successful. Consider the story about the lady in search of the perfect dress.

One afternoon she walks into a dress shop after spotting a gorgeous strapless dress in the shop window. She has an upcoming social event and the dress is exactly what she’s been looking to wear. With exuberance she marches up to the first store clerk and states,

“I’d like to try on that dress in the window.”

The helpful store clerk replies without a beat,

“Absolutely Ma’am, but you might be more comfortable doing it in the changing room.”

As we get older we experience one negative event after another. We barely notice that over time we become quick to dismiss new ideas and start wearing the T-shirt,

 “Been there, done that, it doesn’t work”. 

Sadly, this stops us from seeing possibility that is actually probable. This is true of our customers too. They fear change and the unknown.

The world is bountiful with ideas for you to consider. Try them on and see if they fit. Go to the mirror and picture yourself embracing these ideas. If you like them, take them home. If not, put the ideas back on the rack.

Challenge yourself and gently challenge your prospects to do the same. Just like you, they’re human too. If the ideas don’t fit, it’s OK. At least they gave it a go.

In any regards, you might advise them that they might be more comfortable using the changing room. That’s where change happens.

Discover more at pathelmers.com as we sift through the sales babble.

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Leverage your Engineers When Selling

You can’t be in the technology business and grow new clients without sales engineers. Let me explain why.

Look no further than the next check out aisle and you’ll see everyone tapping on their phones and you’ll experience how technology has fundamentally changed our world. However most businesses are wary of introducing new technologies. Like losing weight or exercise, everyone says they want the hottest thing, but rarely do they suffer the hassle of learning something new. Yet new technology gets adopted all the time. How does this happen?

For many the science behind these gadgets is magic. But for a blessed few, they understand emerging technologies like the back of their hand. Who are they?

• Engineers.
• Technologists.
• Software Developers.
• Electrical Engineers.
• Specialists and Craftsmen/women.
• Tradesmen(women)

What have they got, that most people lack? They know how things work!

Trying out new technology is easy for them. You probably know people who are still stuck with a flip phone and VCR recorder. They’re the ones who are always calling up to see if you can fix their PC. “Got a minute?” The techies are the ones we go to, all the time.

The promotion of new technologies is mostly the responsibility of marketing and sales professionals. But by leveraging the knowledge and wisdom of engineers, sellers are able to create compelling and convincing stories that persuade.

Yet it’s important to note that sellers couldn’t do this if it were not for the sharp techies who ask the question: “What if…..”

Master sellers can generate leads, make appointments and host a sales call. But they can’t easily translate the language of the technologies features, into the language of customer benefits, AND in a trustworthy manner. Prospective clients trust engineers. They are considered the salt of the earth.

This is where engineers are needed to close that gap.

Now most engineers think sales is the farthest thing from their personality. They are sadly misinformed! And it’s understandable. Sales has a bad rap. A recent article by Robert Terson titled “You Should Be Damn Proud to Be Called a Salesperson” does a fine job of debunking these erroneous salesman myths.

Engineers, programmers, designers, techs and IT professionals can learn a selling style that fits their personality and works. The business world desperately needs these professionals. They are what Seth Godin calls “Linchpins”. They can provide a terrific contribution in selling, integral to the selling team.

What can we do to better leverage these professionals?

  • Teach them the language of business results; cost savings, profits, eliminating process and frustration.
  • Teach them to ask probing questions, then LISTEN.
  • Teach them to tell real life stories how the technology has been used.
  • Teach them to allow all objections to come out on the table and not get defensive.
  • Not be afraid to hire them. It’s not a cost it’s an investment.
  • Teach them when to speak and when to be quiet.

The transition from engineer to sales engineer is not for everyone. But it’s our responsibility to do all we can to make them become productive team members. They are needed to bridge the gap between realization and utilization. We can’t do it alone!

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Forget Digital Marketing, Try Cold Calling

Dale Carnegie says that the only way you can win an argument is to avoid it. But I’m going to throw caution to the wind and make a bold statement. To paraphrase Mark Twain “Reports on the death of cold calling are greatly exaggerated.”

You’ve probably seen ads online that make statements like this:

Stop wasting valuable time and effort seeking more cold calling tips

Over 80% of decision makers absolutely will not buy from a cold call

Cold calling destroys your status as a business equal

Cold calling is dead!

What are these ads trying to say? Cold calling is hard and digital marketing provides a simple and viable alternative. It begs the question, why take precious time calling people who are just going to hang up on you? Why not let the magic of marketing find highly qualified, ready-to-buy-now leads that land directly in your lap. This sounds infinitely easier doesn’t it? If only it worked.

I’ve done a lot of digital marketing this year I can say with personal experience, it’s not easy. So let me share eight struggles people commonly find when embracing phone-call free marketing methods:.

  1. It’s expensive. You often get charged even if a lead doesn’t click or connect.
  2. Beautifully crafted emails are often deleted by spam filters, never to be seen. Common open rates are 17% as of 2011 *
  3. Brilliant copy-writing efforts in banner ads only have a .1% at click through rates as of 2010*
  4. Facebook is constantly changing it’s algorithm and it’s hard to nail down when ads will show up in the news-feed.
  5. AdWords are no better. Cost per click has dropped year over year down 15% as of 2012*
  6. Twitter is a noisy media and it’s hard to rise above the chatter
  7. Not to mention all the other usual suspects: Tumbler, Instagram, and Pinterest
  8. Lastly there is direct mail and it’s so 19th century

People put a lot of energy into these channels and they’re able to get returns. But it requires a significant amount of time and energy to become an expert in these media. For the novice and those unfamiliar, it is difficult learning how to manage an ad campaign.

So if you don’t have a marketing department and if you have more time than money, using the phone to grow your business could make a lot of sense. You already have a phone, don’t you?

The Upside of Cold Calling

What are the pros of cold calling:

  1. It only costs you time. Most people already have a phone with unlimited calling rates.
  2. You have a higher probability of getting through to your prospective client. If they don’t answer you can leave a voice-mail that they WILL listen to it..
  3. Sometimes they do answer and you have a golden opportunity to personally make your pitch.

Now you may be thinking that people don’t answer the phone and you would be right. But again most everybody has a voice-mail. And if you leave a well scripted voice-mail that’s relevant to their lives, you will be able to connect to them. This is the point of all marketing, to connect.

You want to get your message in front of prospective clients, don’t you? But if an email goes to spam, or if a link never gets clicked, or if your banner is awash by an ocean of display ads, your client will never see your message. But when it comes to a phone call, there is a distinct possibility they may answer and even higher probability they’ll listen to your little voice-mail advertisement. It makes you smile to think about it.

Digital marketing makes lot of sense in many instances. And having an extra market channel to connect with your prospects is always a good thing. But you if you’re tight on a budget but you’ve paid your phone bill, you might want to consider leveraging that little device. You may be surprised by what business it can generate.

* All number published in Jab Jab Right Hook – Gary Vaynerchuk 2013