Keep Your Head Where Your Feet Are

“Must be present to win.”

A colleague of mine used to say that all the time. He was referring to the fact that if you’re not regularly in front of your customers, they’ll start looking into your competition.

While that’s largely true, I have a different take. I believe you do your best selling when you’re acting in the moment when you’re mindful of your current situation.

You’ve probably been trained to memorize your scripts, practice your talk tracks, and rehearse them until they become second nature. I think that’s BS. I don’t think it works that well, and you certainly can’t do your best work if you’re not even using your words.

Of course, you need to be fluent in the problems you solve and the way you solve them, but rote memorization is not going to help you. Practicing until you can put your pitch on autopilot actually reduces how effective that pitch is.

First, any time you take yourself out of the moment with your customer, you break the connection you’ve built between you. It’s subtle, but even if you can’t feel it, they definitely can. 

Secondly, how good are you at predicting how a conversation is going to go? Scripting all of your talking points (especially into a slide deck) is a ridiculous concept. Would you build any other relationship this way?

How do you know how your prospect is going to react? What happens when they take you out of your script? If you’re not able to think on your feet, you’re sunk.

I work with a lot of sellers who are doing all the “right” things, but they’re not getting results, and they’re frustrated. It’s because they’re thinking about what they “should” do instead of just reacting in the way they know how.

The fix is pretty simple. Get your head out of the clouds. Leave the talk tracks and the slide deck alone. How are you supposed to think on your feet if your head isn’t anywhere near where your feet are? 

Connect with your customer. Look them in the eye when you talk to them. Ask good questions and listen intently to the answers. You know where you want the conversation to go, and you can guide it without dictating each step.

This may sound scary to you. The safety net of what everybody else does is appealing, but if you do what everybody else does, you’re the definition of mediocrity.

You didn’t come here to be mediocre.

Stay in the moment. Good selling is a dance. Find your flow. Trust yourself, your steps, and your ability to think on your feet.

You’ll never sell better than when you Sell Like You.

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