Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales?

A few weeks ago I was onsite at a company that had hired me
to train their sales team on how to stop using traditional selling
and start using the Unlock The Game™ sales approach.

After one coaching session, one member of the sales team came
up to me and said, "Ari, your approach makes complete sense --
but I'm afraid I'll lose sales if I stop being aggressive and start
being passive!"

Whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream, because it means
that the person just doesn't yet understand that removing pressure from
the sales process doesn't mean being passive!

But...I didn't scream. I took a deep breath and then explained that
Unlock The Game™ is the reverse of passive.

Rather, it's an active attempt to create pressure-free
conversations with prospects.

However, to do that we must eliminate behaviors and language that
prospects can perceive as "aggressive."

We all know what these are -- continual e-mail and voicemail "followups"
in which salespeople try to pin down the status of a potential deal --
is one common example.

The problem is that prospects react to aggressive, or perhaps we
should say "overaggressive" sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.

We could say that Unlock The Game™ actually takes the "middle ground"
between passive and aggressive by being authentically unassuming,
yet effective - and that this is the most stress-free and effective way to sell.

What do I mean?

I mean that you have to shift away from assuming
that every prospect is a fit for your solution.

It's sort of like the legal concept of "being innocent until proven guilty."

We can't afford to make any assumptions about "fit" until our
conversation with the prospect indicates that we've mutually
arrived at that conclusion.

The aggressiveness that turns off prospects sets in when you assume,
every time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them.

Your tone of voice and language gives them that message long before
they've even had a chance to agree that they have a problem you might
be able to help them solve.

But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming
anything while also communicating in a low-key, unassuming manner,
you'll discover a whole new effectiveness you could never have imagined.

Can prospects sense when you're assuming too much?

Sure they can -- because most of us have been conditioned to
present or talk about our solution as a way to engage prospects
so they'll reveal their problems to us.

But that logic is completely flawed, because when you launch
into your solution to someone who doesn't trust you yet, all you
do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped "salesperson."

So how do you make this concept of being unassuming but effective a reality?

First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 percent on
generating discussions around prospects' problems, rather than
pitching your solution the second you hear an opening.

Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting
the benefits of your solution into problems that your solution can solve.

Third, after you and your prospects have identified a problem or problems,
you can then engage in a discussion about whether fixing those
problems is a priority.

It's only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit
permission to share your solution with them.

Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back
in the trap of being perceived as "aggressive."