I was with a couple colleagues at a conference recently and we were on our way back from dinner in a taxi cab to the hotel. We were reminiscing about past sales jobs. One of them shared with me that in the last few months of any job he had, his closing percentages always seemed to go up. When he knew he was leaving the territory, for some reason, it had a positive impact on how effective he was at closing business.
The taxi driver pulled into the hotel and dropped off my colleagues. As we were pulling away the taxi driver commented on our conversation. He told me that he used to sell timeshares and hated it! He admitted he was awful at selling but the month prior to him quitting he closed three timeshare deals. He said at that point he just didn’t care anymore and BOOM… three closed deals!
I asked him what was different about his approach in his last month? He said he just didn’t care if he got the deal. He was just happy to be moving on to something else (evidently driving cabs). He told me during that last month he found himself challenging prospects by saying things like, “I don’t know if a timeshare is right for you…it’s probably too expensive” or “why do you want a timeshare when you can get great deals online at nice vacation destinations?” The bottom line is that he just didn’t care anymore.
Have you ever experienced this phenomenon?
Here are some reasons why selling is easier when you don’t care:
- You’re not emotionally involved in the sale. Emotions are like fog. They don’t allow you to see clearly. Just as fog is a major cause of car accidents, emotions are the cause of sales calls that turn into train wrecks!
- You start being honest. You start looking at things from the prospects point of view and asking better disqualifying questions. Who cares? What do you have to lose? You’re leaving!
- You don’t care about the outcome because you don’t need the sale. Self-indulgence annoys people. Prospects can sense when you need a sale.
- Prospects are baffled by the fact that you’re not trying to convince them on why they should buy your product/service. The simple rule is “people like to buy but they hate to be sold”.
So the next time you go on a sales call, tell yourself this is your last month with your company. The truth is…..you really don’t have anything to lose.
- Jim Mattei
Executive Workshop Join us for this two hour interactive workshop. You will discover strategies to effectively manage your salespeople past the barriers that have been holding them back and onto the success they want and the success your business deserves. Learn More >>
