Here’s Why Selling Has Never Been About Face-to-Face
For the past year, I’ve heard a steady stream of complaints from clients and others about how they’re not able to get face to face with their prospects anymore. While the light at the end of the COVID tunnel does appear to be growing larger and brighter, a return to normal is not the solution you should be looking (or waiting) for.
I want you to think really hard about what you’d like to accomplish in those in-person meetings, and whether or not your physical presence is really required for success. (continued below)
🖥 JOIN ME FOR FREE, LIVE TRAINING: MARCH 10, 2021
“When You Can’t Get Face to Face” Register
What can you say in person that you can’t say over the phone?
This is the obvious first question I ask of everybody who complains about not being able to get in front of their prospects. Their stunned silence is not exactly reassuring.
The myth of in-person selling related to the subterfuge created by nice dinners, golf courses, and corporate expense accounts has been exposed. Those arenas create nice opportunities to have important discussions, but stop pretending that the words “USDA Prime” on a menu are a requisite part of doing business.
If your prospect was really going to buy from you just because of the dinner you had with them, then by that logic, as soon as your competitor took them to a nicer restaurant (or more exclusive golf course, etc), you’d lose that business. Are you really reducing your sales process to an arms race of corporate spending? Please…
“Stop whining and start selling.”
That’s what I’ve been saying since last spring. It’s certainly found more deaf ears than attentive ones, and I’m concerned that a bulk of you are still tempted to wait things out. You’ve survived this long, right? The collective sigh of relief about “things returning to normal soon” actually troubles me.
The opportunities are still there to sharpen your message. Remember what I wrote about last week regarding Zoom fatigue. If the meeting is worth taking, you’ll get them. Think hard about why your clients would take that meeting with you, even before you can close a deal at the 19th hole.
Let me put it this way, if a client is willing to meet with you regardless of the medium, how successful will you be once you have that powerful face to face option back in your arsenal? How much of an advantage will you have over your competition when you prove to yourself that you can actually sell, and that you don’t need gimmicks to book deals?
Work on your prospecting cadence
Have you relied on your physical presence and availability to schedule meetings? Has your business been limping along for the last 11 months as you’ve kept in touch with your long-standing clients and complained with them about COVID restrictions? Or have you been sharpening your messaging, making phone calls, sending emails, starting a regular newsletter about insights related to your differentiators?
I want you to think for a second about how all of those tactics can supplement, even in good times, a strong physical prospecting cadence. The best way to scale your message is to use multiple channels to get it out there. Wouldn’t your physical presence in the waiting room of an office be more effective if it was preceded by a few phone calls and even some direct mail?
There are only so many miles you can drive in a day or stops you can make, so are you replicating that message in the background through those other channels so that your impact can be in more places than one, especially since you can’t?
Perhaps that’s not the way you’ve done business before, but if we’ve learned anything over the past twelve months it’s that standards have changed. While people certainly have preferences (as they should), they’re willing to accept a lot of different alternatives because we all still have jobs to do.
What I hope you have learned is that we’ve been shown ways to be effective over the past year despite our dogmas. The templates are out there, and if you’re humble enough to take a look at them, you can be more successful than you ever thought you could be.
Have you been exposed?
COVID has exposed a lot of salespeople as being ill-equipped for the gig. The old adage of, “it’s all about relationships” unfortunately refers more to good times after hours than it does value provided during business hours, and I think that’s a shame.
I’m not saying that I haven’t enjoyed working with my clients, or even that we don’t have some legendary stories to tell about some of the fun we’ve had together. That comes with the territory, and is actually a sign that you’re doing a great job.
What I’m saying is that if you think that’s the reason you’re doing a good job, you’re confused. Selling has always been about the problems you solve and the success you create, and the problem is not, “Who’s picking the tab tonight?”
I’ve worked with my fair share of clients who have been led to believe that entertainment is the way to grow their business. Incidentally, in COVID times and even before, the struggle was similar.
I had this conversation just the other day
“Jeff, they know us. They come to our events and they have a great time, so I know they like us. They’ve done work with us in the past, and they know we do good work, so they trust us… I just don’t understand why they’re not doing more business with us.”
I replied, “That all sounds great, but what have you asked for?”
Once again, another stark realization that entertainment can create the environment for sales, but the seller still needs to sell.
I’m challenging you right now to think about how you sell, not just how you create an environment to do so. I want you to think about how you can transfer those sales skills into as many selling environments as possible. You’ll be more effective now, and exponentially more effective when things return to something approximate to normal. And the next time there’s an economic downturn that knocks you on your heels, you’ll still be able to stay on your feet.
Join our conversation in the Rethink The Way You Sell Community.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
Join the Community
Related Posts
