Articles
Getting ahead in the head game
How mental images shape ales performance
by John GrahamAs normal people, many of the pictures we have in our heads get us into
trouble. This includes salespeople. No matter who we are, we seem to get
ideas, thoughts and images in our minds that, before you know it, become
so real that we act on them.
An employee is convinced that the boss has it in for her. “He’s always
telling me what I do wrong so I’ll get mad and quit.”
She’s convinced that her “idea” is accurate and nothing
anyone can say or do can change it. In fact, she accumulates “examples”
of what he’s doing to make her workday miserable. It all reinforces
the “thought” that her employer wants to get rid of her.
There are other examples. Even though we may be “overweight”
by any standard, the picture we have in our heads of how we look may be
different from the way others see us. As far as we’re concerned,
we’re just about right for our height or age. Studies show that we
tend to see ourselves as about 15 years younger than our actual age. Advertisers
use this to their advantage.
Salespeople aren’t any different. We get ideas in our heads that become
reality to us. Nothing can shake our beliefs. For example, some salespeople believe
that customers value them for certain reasons. Most frequently, these are related
to a salesperson’s relationship with the customer.
“Without the relationship I have with that customer, there would
be no more sales.” More often than not when this salesperson changes
territories or no longer serves those particular customers, the sales figures
continue unabated––and even increase.
As it turns out, customers often welcome a change. “I didn’t
want to say anything but things weren’t really going that well,”
a client told the president of a firm. “We’ve always liked
doing business with your company, so we’re glad to see a new account
executive. We’re looking forward to getting some new ideas.”
The images in our minds shape our thinking, often to the detriment of our success.
Here are a few common examples:
“That customer is only interested in price. That’s all. Forget about
anything else.”
“We’ll never get that account. I tried for years. His brother-in-law
has it.”
“They think they know all the answers….nothing grabs them.”
“We don’t want that customer. It’s nothing more than a nothing
account…I wouldn’t bother with it.”
We’ve heard them all. We get pictures in our heads as salespeople that
become the basis for how we think and operate. And oftentimes, it results in
misunderstanding customers, prospects and supervisors––and leads
to career problems.
In sales, separating the picture in our heads from the real world reality is
essential. Fortunately, there’s a way to change it. It starts with thinking
critically about our accounts. If we don’t keep asking ourselves the
right questions about our customers, we fall into the dangerous trap of believing
that the thoughts in our heads are the reality. Here are a few questions for
starters:
• Why did we get the customer’s business in the first
place? While we might like to attribute winning the account to
exemplary salesmanship, such a “picture” may obscure other
factors that could come back to hurt us.
After losing an account, how many times have salespeople said, “I thought
everything was going great.”
Isn’t it possible that the customer needed what we were selling? Or perhaps
something went wrong with the original supplier. And it could have been a referral,
of course.
Although we like to think that we made the difference in getting an account,
that picture may blind us to understanding what motivated a particular customer
to begin doing business with us.
More often than not, the customer’s reason for making a buying decision
may not be obvious. It’s worthwhile to ask the question, “Why did
you decide to do business with us?” It can happen shortly after getting
the account or years later. But possessing this knowledge gives us a clue to
what a customer thinks and expects.
•
What’s the customer’s value to your company? Just
because customers make purchases is only one component in determining their
value. Salespeople are always gratified when they get an order. And it’s
not surprising that submitting orders reinforces how salespeople see themselves.
The profitability of those sales is one measure of a customer’s value––and
a significant one to be sure. Salespeople are known to justify holding on to
what is essentially an unprofitable account for seemingly noble reasons.
“We all know this is a high visibility company––it adds
to our prestige to have it.”
How has it helped? How has it helped attract new business? More often than not
the answers are inadequate. The facts fail to support the picture we have in
our heads.
• What’s the customer’s maintenance level? You
can evaluate accounts from a different perspective. While low maintenance
and high profit are a combination that we all want, how many times do we
settle for high maintenance and low profit? Salespeople explain
it to their managers, “If we can just get in the door, I know we’ll
get more business quickly. It’s there. If I work with them, we’ll
do well.” Although this can happen, how many times is our thinking
governed by the picture we have in our heads?
The worst part is that it takes high maintenance to keep the account, time that’s
drained away from servicing more profitable accounts and cultivating new business.
We’ve all been there. “I can’t believe they pulled the rug
right out from under me. All the time I spent with them and all the tech help
we provided without charge. Now they up and move to someone else.”
If you should have a high maintenance customer that is also high profit, spending
additional time or providing extra service makes sense. If not, stop thinking
that you can work a miracle, even though you may want to try.
• What does the customer value most in the relationship and
what’s it worth? Do we really know what’s important
to our customers? Or are we just guessing? Do we ever really spend time
thinking about it?
Some customers may appreciate on time delivery or the ease of doing business
with us. Or it may be that a particular salesperson is the source of helpful
information, a reliable resource. Or a salesperson’s expertise in solving
problems can be of significant value to customers.
If we can pinpoint with accuracy exactly what value we bring to the relationship,
we then know how to act. At the same time, value is subject to change. What was
important initially, or at a particular point, may change. Unless we are sensitive
to what’s happening with a customer, we might discover that the account
is no longer ours. Customer circumstances and needs change.
The key is figuring out how much pain a customer might feel if the relationship
is broken. What will the customer lose by changing to another supplier? How can
we be sure that we’re correct in our assessment?
• Where are we going with the customer? Taking care
of customers can be demanding and time-consuming. Just taking care of what’s
happening at the moment may leave little time to think about future business.
As workloads increase and support services disappear, the demands pile
up fast. In these circumstances, doing a good job is often deemed taking
care of the account. You’re always there when needed and if there’s
a problem, you take care of it.
Even with all that’s going on, you have a warm and fuzzy picture in your
head. You’re getting the job done––taking care of your accounts.
This is where many salespeople find themselves today. Under pressure, but performing.
Yet, this may be the prescription for losing the business. As salespeople we’re
always looking for what’s “new” and “improved”
to take to current customers and attract new ones. This should be a clue
as to what’s going on inside our customers’ heads, as well.
Why do companies change vendors? Dissatisfaction with service? Of course. But
the primary reason may be a failure to lead. A company purchased LCD projectors
from one vendor for years. When it came time to upgrade the equipment, the buyer
decided to go elsewhere. In the past, the price had always been right and the
service was excellent. In fact, there were no complaints. There was, however,
a failure to keep the customer informed of new types of equipment. It was a failure
to lead that lost the account.
Ironically, it’s rarely the facts that get us in trouble as salespeople.
It’s the images in our heads that cause the problem. More often than not,
they overrule the facts. We all need a reality check from time to time. If we
continually ask the right questions, the chances are we will get ahead quite
well in sales, perhaps the ultimate head game.
John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. He is the author of The New Magnet Marketing and Break the Rules Selling, writes for a variety of business publications, and speaks on business, marketing and sales issues. Contact him at 40 Oval Road, Quincy, MA 02170; 617-328-0069; jgraham@grahamcomm.com.