Win the sale, lose the business

This is the first in a series of three posts about common sales mistakes amongst independent consultancies.

‘Sales’ can feel like a dirty word. It might conjure up images of knackered salespeople in machine-washable suits retrieving samples from the boot of their mass-market estate cars. Or being sweet-talked by an avatar for all that is attractive about youth into buying something you didn’t want, won’t ever need, and will now have to explain at home.

The world of professional development groans under the weight of all the training courses and books about sales. Doubtless there are more to come. In essence their offerings are identical in objective if not content: they seek to help the salesperson improve their leverage over the prospective client. 

As customers, we are all too familiar with someone deploying a range of psychological and emotional tools in an attempt to exert leverage over us. This is why such mental images have become commonplace.

I am not going to argue that one set of sales tools is better than another in terms of overcoming customer cynicism. But I am going to suggest that the question of leverage points to a vital question for independent consultants.

When we’re in sales mode, if we are in the business of exerting leverage over others, how should we go about it?

A short story

Many years ago, I endured this jaw-dropper of an exchange with the CEO of a business that I had recently joined: 

Him: Morning. How’s it going with [new client x]?

Me: Okay, I think. We need to bed things in properly but there’s useful work to be done there.

Him: Can we talk to them about [service y]?

Me: Hmm. Maybe. But I’m not sure that it’s particularly well suited to their…

Him [interrupting]: Phil, what I’m saying is that we just need to get [service y] sold before the client realises how shit we are.

‘Speak for yourself’, I thought, and started looking for another job. 

Snatching failure from the jaws of success

That CEO was not an ambulance-chaser or an idiot (although, granted, his self-esteem did need a bit of work). But he was someone who for a range of reasons felt trapped in a perceived need to make the next sale, perhaps regardless of the cost.

He went over my head and sold the service in question — by exerting emotional and intellectual leverage over a naïve client who had taken a leap of faith and was in the first flush of belief in the potential of their new consulting relationship.

Six months later, we were fired by the now bruised client, who was facing the political exposure of having bought expensive services that added zero value. Funnily enough, that client did in fact come to believe that we were ‘shit’. (If nothing else, this offers proof for that CEO that our minds will always seek to create the circumstances we fear, because that’s the direction in which our energy flows.)

Use the force, Luke…

You might argue that the above story is rather an edge case. And you wouldn’t be wrong: it stands out in the annals of my career, and the specific nature of my work tends to bring me up close with poor behaviour almost daily.

But the story points to an important truth: losing sight of what will benefit the client in favour of your own agenda actually runs counter to your agenda in the medium to long term.

This is for two reasons. Firstly, like all human beings, clients are hardwired to intuit the intent behind words and actions. If they perceive that you do not have their best interests at heart — and, make no mistake, where you do not, they will — this compromises trust, which is the sine qua non of any consulting relationship.

Secondly, on a more prosaic level, if you sell something to clients that they don’t need, they will not benefit from it. This stops the value exchange being equitable. That will disincline those on the thin end to stay in the relationship. In any marketplace where new business is hard to win, this is the literal definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face.

…on second thoughts, don’t

Whatever certain sales books might tell you, being able to persuade somebody to part with their money for something they don’t need is not good salesmanship. Such behaviour runs counter to what anyone who understands human nature will tell you is the golden rule: we must treat others as we wish to be treated. Not doing this is unethical, counterproductive, and self-defeating.

So, if you want to really screw up your longer term business prospects, read those sales training books, go on those courses — then misuse the leverage that they teach. The world can take its time in rewarding those who do the right thing by others, but it will not hesitate to punish those who do not.

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What to take from this article

Unethical selling is the first of our three common sales mistakes. It hurts your clients, it hurts you, and it hurts our industry. The advice: don’t do it. Not now, not ever. No excuses.

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