Digital media and technology sellers -- and, for that matter, most people who sell anything -- make it harder on themselves than it needs to be. We weigh ourselves down with elaborate demonstrations, mountains of statistics and detailed battle plans for how we'll emerge victorious from the next sales call. We then plug all this into a PowerPoint -- "the deck" -- and rest our hopes and dreams on our ability to blow them away with a truly awesome presentation.
But unfortunately sales is not performance art. And a great many promising sales opportunities never come to fruition because of the bad assumptions we make in preparing for them. Too much of our advance work ends up having little effect, and some even works against us.
The Drift is proudly underwritten by Evidon. Evidon reveals the invisible web. Its technology gives brands, publishers, networks and other businesses around the world unique insight into the digital ecosystem - including unparalleled intelligence on the marketing technologies that underpin the commercial web - and the power to control their impact on business. www.evidon.com/gtr.
Here's an alternative. Focus instead on fostering one simple quality within your sales team: curiosity. While almost no one can "present a customer into buying," virtually everyone can improve sales outcomes through genuine curiosity. And to be perfectly clear, I'm not suggesting they act curious; I want them to actually be curious. Those who truly want to know and understand more about their client's businesses and challenges are the ones who end up succeeding. Their natural curiosity makes their customers feel respected and interesting. It breaks down the artificial role barriers between buyer and seller. It opens doors and it opens minds.
