I’m not responsible for my writing today. I’m getting some kind of cold and my wife has me on 23 different decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants, etc. My whole day has been an out-of-body experience.

However, drugged up or not, I feel passionate about today’s topic.

Sales Stupid 101
If you want to completely alienate a customer (or prospect) and guarantee they won’t do business with you, do the following: put them on the defensive.

My wife (you know, the one with all the drugs) is an excellent salesperson. She taught me years ago that when people are backed into a corner they come out fighting. This is not exactly how we want to position our customers.

Ways We Put Customers On The Defensive
There are many ways to put customers on the defensive. I’ll list a few of the most popular below. Please understand that customers have a visceral reaction to being put on the defensive (i.e. they get very angry).

1. Threatening To Escalate. I’ve had Tony Robbins’ salespersons do this to me at two different employers. (Should I have mentioned Tony Robbins by name? Those decongestants!) These guys actually called my boss on both occasions to tell him I was making poor decisions regarding sales training (or whatever it is Tony sells) because I wasn’t purchasing their services.

In both cases, my bosses were unimpressed with Tony’s sales strategy. Do you think I’m inclined to ever recommend or use any of Tony Robbins’ services? Doubtful.

On a side note, would someone contact me and explain his teeth? Too much of a good thing really can be too much of a good thing, Tony.

2. Making The Buyer Feel Stupid. This usually occurs in the form of a question. Here are some examples. “Why wouldn’t you want to update to a better system? Are you telling me you don’t think you can get the budget for this before the end of the year? You actually think our competitor’s product is superior to ours? Who is the real decision maker here?”

3. Questions With An Agenda. I had a sales trainer call me recently trying to get me to buy one of his products. I guess he wanted me to write about it in this sales tips blog. Most of his questions were carefully calculated to back me into a corner. By doing so, he thought I would be forced to buy. What an idiot!

My favorite question of his was, “So what is it about your current system that is working well and meeting all of your requirements?” I guess I was supposed to be confused by his brilliance (he isn’t) and say something like, “Nothing really! I need your system and I need it now!”

During our 30-minute conversation I was even calling him out on this technique and – I’m not making this up – he kept on with his agenda laden questions. He was so scripted he couldn’t help himself.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
Finesse is the art of delicacy, subtlety and skill. As sales professionals, we undoubtedly need to ask customers tough questions and sometimes make them a little uncomfortable to move the sales cycle forward.

If we’re smart and want results, we’ll do it with finesse. Never put a customer in a situation where they feel they’ve been backed into a corner. You’ll always lose.

I need some more decongestants.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. 6 Unintended Consequences You Need To Avoid In Sales
2. Customer Service and the Customer Shootout
3. Upset Customers – Customer Complaints

Tags: aggressive, questions

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