Losing the battle but winning the war

In today’s edition, we explore why so many people who need to sell can’t stop their immediate desire to be right in sales situations. Even when that impulsive urge can very often cause them to lose or put the deal at risk.
Let’s get to it.

Hello Reader,

Very often in sales, you have to lose the battle to win the war.

Let me share a story which explains what I mean and why this concept is so critical in selling.

A few weeks ago, I met with a potential client. He is a business owner who owns a telecoms business, and he wanted to grow his revenue and not be the only person in his company who brings in business. He was frustrated.

We had an initial conversation, and, on that call, he outlined to me how he had achieved success so far and he talked about the lifestyle that running his company had given him. He was a success for sure. The expensive watch and nice car showed that he could sell, and his frustration was that no one he employed could do what he does.

No one seemed to have the drive and energy to win business as he did. He was conveniently forgetting that very few people can be the ‘force of nature’ in a sales deal that allows founders to achieve sales wins that others can’t.

When I asked him about who his target audience was and what made him and his business unique, he told me that he focused on any business with 10-500 people that was based in the UK. He could make a difference for any of these companies and make them savings on their telecom costs.

I listened to him talk, and after asking a few other questions about the current customers he has and whether he was open to narrowing down his niche, it became clear that he wasn’t for budging.

‘We can work with anyone, and I don’t want to limit ourselves. Why would we when we can help so many different types of businesses’? He was adamant that this approach had brought him a lot of success, and he just wanted someone to sell for him in the same way as he did.

I smiled and said nothing, but inside my mind was thinking, ‘there is a reason why you can’t find someone to sell for you. It’s because you are wrong not to have a clear target customer’

I resisted the urge though. And thought for a few seconds.

How could I win the war? Rather than just worrying about winning a battle.

The younger James would probably have not done that.

Younger James would probably have said ‘the reason you can’t get someone to sell for you is because your approach to generating new sales is wrong. You need to solve a specific problem for a specific audience and for you to scale, the salesperson you bring in, will need to have a tighter niche to focus on to start with.'

Older, more experienced James knew something though.

Telling this potential prospect that he was wrong would have ended the discussion and potential of business there and then. This successful man would have taken ‘mini offence’ to being told that he didn’t know what he was doing, and although the conversation would have carried on for a while longer, in his head, he would have thought ‘stuff this guy, I am not listening to him’.

So, older James worked on a different approach.

One which didn’t butt heads.

One which didn’t cause friction.

But on an approach which could stimulate thought.

Older James said, ‘I totally get that approach, and I can understand why you think that way. It makes sense as it’s what has worked for you for a while. Focusing on one group can be seen to be limiting for sure. Just out of interest though, I know of a Telecoms company very similar to yourselves who decided to target their new salespeople on specific market areas, and the results were crazy for them and their sales team. Would it help to maybe share their story so that at least it gives you a few different ideas to think about?’ It probably wouldn’t be right for you guys but you never know…"

The prospect looked and then smiled. He wasn’t offended; he was intrigued.

‘Oh really? Who are they and what did they do? How did they make it work?’

We carried the conversation on for a while after, and 15 minutes, we finished the meeting and agreed on a plan of action, which the business owner became excited about. I had sown the seed that his old approach was one that needed freshening up, and he even started to convince himself on the call that ‘focusing on one target group was a way to move forward’

I had lost an initial battle but was well on the way to winning the war.

All too often, those who sell have a desire to be right.

When someone challenges their view or ideas, pride stops them from keeping quiet.

Emotion takes over, and words such as ‘Not sure about that’ or ‘that is not how I/we approach it’ or ‘we think that approach won’t work and we advise on a different way of doing things’ are shared.

And all too often, in those few seconds (especially when the words spoken are uttered in a condescending or belittling tone, which is all too often the case), the deal is gone.

They can’t help themselves. The desire to be right or to show their knowledge is too great. They win the battle. But ultimately end up losing the war.

Sales is about give and take.

It’s about understanding that someone will have a different view from you.

It’s about being curious about where that view has come from.

It’s about accepting that people have different views and that the only way to change this is to share new information and knowledge, which can MAYBE create a different thought process in the mind of the other person.

Disclaimer – It MAY not work. But as sure as hell, the method of telling them that they are wrong will not get you the result you desire. It will create barriers and make the sale much harder. If not even end the conversation there and then.

Think I am wrong? Go and tell your husband, wife, or partner who thinks they are right that they are incorrect and that your way is better. See how you get on and let me know. 😊

We get sales results by knowing how people operate. By knowing that in order to change a person’s perspective, we need to show them a different way rather than telling them they need to be different.

We need to be tactical. We need to lose battles (which can sometimes even hurt our pride) in order to get the ultimate result we want. To win the war, we sometimes have to lose a battle.

So, the next time you are faced with a sales conversation where the other side has a different view, take a moment to think about it.

Do you want to be right and lose the deal, or are you willing to accept a small defeat in order to win a bigger end result?

My advice is to control your emotions, control that internal desire to say what you think and do what is needed to get the other person to think differently.

You may lose initially, but if you continue to share insights and value and ask questions which provoke curiosity, you are more likely to win the ultimate war and get the deal done.

Do you agree with me, though? Are you prepared to do that? Or would you rather stay true to what you know and be right. Even if that means you lose the relationship and opportunity to do business?

Let me know your thoughts. Reply back to me. Let me prove this theory directly with you 😊

Thanks for reading and being open to taking these different ideas on board.

I value you and respect your opinions even if they are different to mine 😉

See you next Saturday.

Until then, stay safe, keep taking action and remember ‘Eat or be Eaten’

James