Tell Prospects They Are Wrong And You Will Sell More IT and Professional Services

by Paul DiModica

Over the holidays, I got an email request from a subscriber asking me "how do you handle selling against Global 1000 companies" and it reminded me of a deal I sold when I was a key account sales manager for a $20M VC-funded technology company.  I was working on a deal to sell a large theme park in the Northeast. This theme park also had 2 hotels, a convention center and a sports arena. The buying management team wanted to have a standardized system across all of the businesses and facilities, even though each business profit center operated differently on the front end.

This deal was worth $4.6 million in software and professional services.  I was competing against two large Global 1000 companies, each of which had printing bills larger than my company's annual revenues.

I found this prospect by cold calling the general manager of the park. When I was on the phone, I was told that they were in the latter stages of making a decision, so I just stated very straight forwardly, "whatever you buy, you are going to own for the next 10 years – so it's to your benefit to see what we have to offer to make sure that the short list players you have already selected are the right fit and you don't make a mistake." And they said, "come in and let's see what you have."

So there I was, in a half-filled stadium conference room with 50 managers, each with different needs -- retail store managers, fast-food supervisors, hotel GMs, theme park gate operators, table service restaurant managers, the corporate CFO, and the general manager of the theme park as well as dozens of lower level users.

As I made my way through the Value Forward IT demo/briefing method which we call the 3 Box Monty, one of the managers sitting in the room raised his hand and asked me a question. (There's always someone who wants to impress their boss by playing let's push the vendor game.) "This all sounds great" he said "but why should we buy from you -- you and your competitors are all the same." More than likely, you have told the buyers several times how you are different, but some of them just don't listen or get it. You have two choices: 1) Respond with a standard response on why you are different again; or 2) Stop the questioner on the spot and tell them directly, "you know -- you're wrong."

And that's what I did. I phrased it politely . . . but directly and said: "I can appreciate that you may believe we are all the same, but in fact . . . you are wrong". "My firm and I are multiple profit center management specialists for the theme park industry and the other companies you are chatting with are single profit center generalists."

This declaration caused the questioner to pay attention as well as everyone else in the room. Why? Because most salespeople go into auto-selling mode when prospects' questions are posed -- they sound the same causing the listener to lose focus and not retain what is being said.
To be different -- sound different.

Most sales methods talk about "relationship selling" and servicing the prospect with whatever they say they need, but that's not how you close deals. That's old school -- your grandmother's selling methods. The way you close IT deals today in a slow economy is by being a strategic advisor. Don't treat prospects and customers the same -- they are not the same. If you are truly a strategic advisor, then as a salesperson, you have a responsibility to tell prospects that they are wrong regardless of the title you are selling to . . . when they are wrong. If you won't -- who will?
Not your competitors!

True professional advisors, like doctors, lawyers, accountants and financial planners, tell you what you need to hear . . . even if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

Does your doctor tell you to lose weight when you are one hundred pounds over your recommended weight/height ratio? Of course. What they say is, stopping eating pizza and drinking beer, exercise more and weigh yourself every day. You may not send your doctor a holiday card, but it is what you need to hear.

We are in the 3rd year of a worldwide recession. Prospects don't need relationships or friendships from warm fuzzy salespeople who want to meet over lunch to chat with the prospect about his or her needs (sometimes prospects don't know what their needs are).

To sell more IT and professional services, you must correct the misinformation, lack of listening, non-understanding and competitive rumors that your prospects have about what you sell. Stop trying to be your prospects' friend and start helping your IT prospects buy more based on them seeing you as an advisor . . . who tells them what they need to know to help them succeed.

Advise . . . don't sell . . . even when it makes the prospect feel uncomfortable. In this economy, prospects buy from people they trust. Trust is built on helping the buyer.

So, what happened to the theme park deal?

The client bought from me 45 days later at 75% above the Global 1000 competitors' price point.
Try it -- tell prospects they are wrong -- and then tell them what they need to hear -- it works.

Paul R. DiModica
CEO, Value Forward Group
(770) 632-7647
www.valueforward.com

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