I noticed something from all of the in-class sales conversations: the importance, as a salesperson, of keeping your cool and how that can impact the sales process.
Of all of the important things to do/not to do as a salesperson, keeping a level head is probably one of the most important. As soon as the “sales prospect” could rattle the confidence of almost any of the “salespeople,” it was an extremely uphill battle from that point on.
I suspect this has to do with a larger issue: being on the offensive versus being on the defensive. When the “salespeople”‘s confidence would get rattled, they almost always got themselves into deeper water because in trying to climb out of the hole, they would make baseless claims, clutching desperately at the sides. The “sales prospect” would sense this, and would then have the upper hand, easily taking control of the conversation.
Additionally, this would become a catch-22 for the “salesperson,” because the more they would try to rescue themselves, the deeper they would dig.
One solution to this is to not be rattled in the first place. As a salesperson, it’s important to know your product inside out. It’s also crucial not to do things that could get you in a hole – for example, making a claim about your product that can’t be backed up. Once a you get caught doing something like that, it’s extremely difficult to recover. So… don’t make baseless claims, and be honest! Then your prospects will have nothing to “catch” you in.
If something does happen, the best thing to do is to “reset” the conversation, trying to get back on top and asking questions and controlling the conversation again. When the prospect asks you a question, flip that back over by asking them a question and see how they respond. It’s all about putting the ball back in their court to respond instead of letting them control the conversation.
Essentially, as a salesperson, it’s important to keep a level head and to recover quickly when you don’t.
BoweryJE22
Keeping a cool head in a sales conversation is absolutely essential. It might not seem like it from the outside, but selling can have quite the adrenaline dump. If a salesperson gets caught up in the adrenaline and gets anxious or overambitious, they can lose focus and end up losing the sale altogether. When keeping a cool head, a salesperson can understand better questions asked and also know what questions to ask in return. Cool heads certainly always prevail.
I agree Michael I think you made a very good observation here and I think that if everyone that is going into sales makes this connection they will be much better off.