Have you ever gone painting? Or seen a really beautiful photo? How often do you think, “Hmm, that’s missing something?” or, “This is a little much for me…”
Recently in class we discussed Sandler Rule 18: Don’t paint seagulls in your prospects picture. Professor Sweet gave a great story from the Mattson book about a little girl in her art class. At the end of it all, the girl was upset because the teacher painted something (A seagull) that the girl did not see there. The simple moral of the story was, when you are trying to move someone to do something, whether that’s teaching a little girl to love artistic theory, a small business owner to use your web development services, or help people understand the truth of the gospel, you cannot force people to see things from your perspective.
We all view things though different lenses. we went over how people view costs and budgeting in class, and there was so many varying views on just this one topic, for a variety of reasons. When you sit down (or present standing) to move someone, empathy is one of the best tools you have. If you can’t see what lenses the people you are selling to have on, then you are going to assume (dangerous word) things about how they view life. This is why many salespeople seem pushy, or too excited, or anything that ticks you off. It’s because of the way they project.
When projecting, you are trying to get others to understand your point of view. However, this often does not go well, when you are doing all the talking. Sales is a discovery process, not a show and tell. When you are trying to project your view, trying asking some questions. Help the other party find the truth, don’t strongarm them.
SchrieberBE23 
FrenchJA21 
andersonsa22
This is a valuable statement. As we discussed In class when selling often you have to be able to put your IDEAS on the table with the best explanation possible for the customer to understand and maybe take into consideration your idea.
Really liked your point about sales being a discovery process, not show and tell. That story about the seagull was a great reminder to listen more and not project our own ideas onto others. Empathy goes a long way.
That is very true that you cannot force people to see things from your perspective. There is SO much to consider when selling (all aspects of selling) and the empathy part of it is so important.
Projecting is a dangerous game to play in almost any situation, but especially in sales relationships. It is so valuable to see things from different perspectives in order to succeed in understanding what your client’s needs are.