Selling: The Power Of Confidence (1982)

[Music] oh [Music] well what do you think white count red count platelets hemoglobin hematocrite and you get it all in half the time of any other mom on the market yeah but at twice the cost initially that's true but with the volume that you do here what you'll save in time will more than make up the difference how do we know you won't come out with another model in a couple of months that'll make this one obol I'd love it but we won't we can have your people trained and ready to go by next Monday twice the accuracy rate half the time [Music] a career in selling offers distinct even enviable advantages over most other kinds of work among them greater freedom of movement a higher degree of self-regulation clearer more concrete measures of results and most notably a far wider and richer range and variety of Human Relationships autonomy Mobility diversity excitement stimulation challenge greater autonomy however means greater dependence on our own resources and that which challenges we sometimes perceive as a threat as professional salespeople most of us get a lot of training in how to deal with our customers but we get little or no training at what is clearly the starting place Place how to deal with ourselves it isn't always the customers resistance we need to overcome sometimes it's our own for instance our resistance to making the first call our well-known inclination to put it off in favor of calls on customers we already know hi Bob hi Betty o please Dr French it's Bob Doyle thanks I'll wait how'd it go they [Music] bought congratulations thanks Nathan uh Bob Doyle yeah listen I'm going to be out your way this afternoon around 3:00 I thought I'd drop by if you're not too busy oh great great I'll see you then how's it going with Clawson well I haven't been able to reach him yet you know if you'd like I could take him and you could have sapine at mon Olive no no I'll don't get him I just uh been a little busy okay [Applause] hello this is Bob Doyle with techline medical supplies I'd like to make an appointment to see Dr Clawson about our new s+2 blood analyzer I was thinking maybe sometime next week or the the week after if he's not too busy tomorrow 10:15 no no no that's that's fine that's F terrific tomorrow at at 10:15 thank you I don't know maybe I ought to think about getting into some other line of work selling a dictionary definition the influencing of others to buy the giving up delivering or exchanging of goods or services for money or its equivalent The Parting with for a price thanks selling makes the world go around it always has but many customers have ambivalent feelings towards salespeople and many salespeople for the same basic reason sometimes have ambivalent feelings about selling we need to examine those feelings and understand them otherwise it's almost certain that they will undermine our Effectiveness in all sorts of ways to their great disadvantage many salespeople share a widespread misconception about the relationship between customer and salesperson specifically that the customer has all the power the salesperson none for too many salespeople the customer is always right comes to mean the salesperson is always wrong the effective salesperson knows better anytime we're in a position to satisfy someone else's needs and wants we are by definition in a position of power of course the customer has power too at the beginning the power to see and hear us out or not at the end the power to buy from us or not in any relationship the more we have at stake the greater the other person's power over us the salesperson of course wants the sale as a rule though customers have the higher stakes and are taking the greater risk to buy or not to buy either may turn out to be a mistake can I trust her in other words is she using her power in my interest or only in her own okay okay I'm convinced good you won't be sorry in a couple of weeks you'll wonder how you live without this you're probably right an honest and productive sales call is not a power struggle rather it's a negotiation between two people both of whom have power in today's world of increasingly complex products and services the customer becomes increasingly dependent on the salesperson's expertise the salesperson functions less and less in the traditional mode more and more as a specialist a consultant a professional Problem Solver in terms of power this means a quality in fact it's not unusual for the salesperson to have the greater power for too many salese though the old notion of powerlessness still hangs on in the back of the Mind the first call an appointment with a stranger in his or her territory arranged at his or her convenience if we feel that as salespeople we're essentially powerless we're compromised from the start in effect we cast ourselves as Intruders who have no real right to be there well get it over with if we feel that the customer has all the power the salesperson none inevitably our strategic options narrow down to [Music] two no no I can't do that [Music] got it right here doctor everything you need all you got to do is plug this baby in push the magic button and bingo All Your Troubles Down the Drain forever I can't do that either cringing and surval or pushy and aggressive the tired old stereotypes of selling intelligence rules out either but if we see ourselves as the inherently powerless approaching the inherently powerful that seems to be the choice yes sir all right you can go in now [Music] good morning Dr claw oh good morning good morning come in thank you have a seat thanks well I'm I'm sorry I kept you waiting out there would you like some coffee [Music] sure from [Music] how's it going with Clawson fine how many times have you seen him I don't know four or five why just curious have you asked him for the order oh not yet he's he's kind of hard to pin down what do you mean hm well it just seems like all your customers are kind of hard to pin down what are you trying to tell me Bob you're a nice guy and you're a Salesman but your nice guy doesn't quite trust your salesman he's afraid of him I know I used to have the same problem what do you mean your nice guy is afraid that if he lets your salesman take the floor that your salesman will wreck the friendship that you've got going with your customer so your nice guy tries to keep your salesman out of things as much and as long as he can and that's why you get so far behind gosh that's why you put off making that first call when you finally run out of excuses and you do make the call that's why there's so much talking and so little real selling the longer you put off giving your salesman the floor the harder it is to let him have it well by that time you've built up some kind of friendship and it feels like selling would violate it maybe even kill it so when you really have to ask for the order when you have to let your salesman take over you can hardly bring yourself to do it at all and then when you finally get through all that and you still don't get the order that's why you get depressed well don't you I used to but I don't anymore now I take a look at it and if I make a mistake I learn from it but by usually all it means is that what my customer needed and what I had to sell just didn't match up so you can't win them all right say that again listen you know you Bob you can just tell me to shut up and mind my own business and I will no I uh I appreciate it uh I think all that training that you get in listening and probing and the rest of the selling skills yeah it doesn't count for much if your salesman is always kept waiting in the wings you're saying I I I shouldn't be friends with my customers no no not at all if a customer happens to become a friend great but Bob let's face it how many friends do you really have time for speaking of which I've got to run you know Bob you've got all the basic stuff you need to be a lot more successful as a Salesman than you are you have a talent for making friends use it to get your salesman and your nice guy together and get rid of that tiny voice in the back of your mind that keeps telling that there's something basically wrong with selling there isn't oh Bob have I gone too far no you you uh I appreciate it you don't look like it I do I I really I really do thanks you're welcome it's just too expensive I tell you it offers every feature that you need in your operation white count red count hemoglobin platelets all in a single 45 second operation that just about eliminates the possibility of human error because it's totally automated no other system comes close Bob it's just too much money I'd have to tear my whole budget apart and start from scratch I don't deny it but but look ahead look what you get twice the accuracy rate that means half the number of retakes and here half the time that means five technicians doing the work that now requires seven you project that ahead over just one year and you've covered your investment it's paid for you're just not going to let me off the hook are you no and I thought you were my friend I am have we got a deal would you go over the service contract with me just one more time sure we're all salespeople really every time we speak it's to sell something a product a service an Insight an observation an idea or an image of ourselves that we want somebody else to accept I mean whatever we try to communicate in a very real sense we're trying to sell for instance right now I'm trying to sell you something as it happens concept of selling basically it's this the chances of really succeeding at selling are pretty dim if somewhere inside you being a salesperson in and of itself is a problem if you have that problem and you track it to its source you'll probably find that you have unwittingly adopted an old concept of selling that if it ever had any validity certainly has done today the idea that in inherently your customers have all the power and you have none consciously or not your customers know better as your selling moves them closer and closer to a difficult decision you are exerting power and they are responding to it you need to be aware of your power in order to make the most effective use of it in helping them make up their minds that's it hi hi how's it going with Clawson oh fine he bought good two units didn't I tell you he's opening up a new lab in Jackson Heights congratulations thanks ha haa [Applause] la I