Salesperson and Prospect: Differing Perspectives

Steven and Tammy’s Story

Steven and Tammy wanted to have a new patio built in their back yard. They had looked at patio stone and brick products for several years, and finally decided this was the summer they were going to look into getting it done professionally. With Steven’s new health problems now in the picture, doing the project themselves was out of the question. If they were going to do it, they were going to have to hire someone to do it.

They had discussed the project enough that they both had a vague idea of what they were looking for, but both Steven and Tammy recognized that they needed someone to give them some guidance on the design and product selection for their patio. The first thing on Monday morning, Tammy did an internet search to find landscaping companies in her area that could come to their home and provide some information.

Tammy called eight landscaping companies that morning. She scheduled four in-home consultations with landscape consultants in the next two weeks. She was excited to take the project

to the next stage, but had some apprehension, too, since this would significantly tax their family budget if they actually had the work done.

Roger’s Story

One of the consultants called to Tammy and Steven’s home was Roger. His appointment with the prospects lasted forty-five minutes, and he left the home without a contract signed by the prospects.

Roger called his sales manager on the way from the appointment to tell him that he hadn’t sold the job.

“I think they will go ahead with it, but they just needed to talk about it a bit,” Roger announced to his manager. He estimated there was a ninety percent chance the prospects would eventually place a job order for the project.

Two weeks had passed and Roger had heard nothing from Tammy. He decided to phone her and check in with her. Tammy told Roger that she and Steven had selected another company to do the work.

Roger was frustrated. He felt he was that close [can’t you just picture his forefinger and thumb ¼” apart] to getting this one. But what happened? Why did Roger fail to close this sale?

The Law of “Incongruency of Expectations”

Roger failed to understand the Law of Incongruency of Expectations.

During most initial sales interactions, and for virtually all sales interactions of the one-call close variety, there is an incongruency of expectations of the prospect and the salesperson. The prospect usually has the “shopping around” mindset. They are “getting ideas.” They’re “looking into things.” They’re “getting information.” And, most of all, they’re “getting a price quote.”

Yet, the salesperson’s perspective is that he is on the call to make a sale.

There are two parties in the sales interaction with two different perspectives: one is investigative and one is closure.

Two Highways

Think of these two different perspectives as two parallel highways.

The prospect is traveling on one highway and the salesperson is traveling on the other. Both the prospect and the salesperson are moving forward on their own highway (and even in the same direction), but the space between the two roadways signifies the incongruence of the two parties’ expectations. No matter how far either party travels on their highway, they will never come together. In fact, the longer the prospect travels on his road, the more difficult it is for him to switch routes – this is due to the law of sales momentum.

With this in mind, the goal of the salesperson in a one-call close scenario, and really any selling scenario, is to get the prospect on the salesperson’s highway immediately! Once there, the prospect is likely to stay on the salesperson’s highway. And the farther down the road the prospect travels, the more difficult it is for him to switch routes.

The Sales Solution

The very nature of the prospect’s highway is explorative: It is open-ended, flexible, undetermined, and gray. It is difficult, if not impossible, to complete a sales to a prospect who is in this nebulous state.

The salesperson must take action quickly to counteract this strong force of indecision within the prospect. And the antidote is simply this: Get the prospect to start making decisions, even miniscule ones. The more decisions that the prospect makes, the more solidly the prospect is positioned on the salesperson’s “highway” toward the sale.

You could begin by having the prospect select which chair he wants to sit in at the table. Ask him before you sit down or direct him to a chair. Ask, “Craig, which chair would you like to sit in?” As you start the discussion, ask the prospect another simple and easy-to-answer question, such as, “Do you want to start by talking about the widget or the wadget?”

Later, as you identify the prospect’s needs and desires, write them down. Make sure the prospect sees you writing them down. Each of these items constitutes a decision. Review the needs list with the prospect before moving into the presentation phase of the sales interaction. Ask the prospect for confirmation of accuracy of your list. Don’t continue until you receive confirmation.  Go one step further and ask the prospect to rank the needs in order of importance.

Baby Steps

Each one of these actions is a baby step toward your highway of writing an order. It is the cumulative effect of many small baby steps being made that propels the relationship forward on the proper highway.

Let’s imagine that you’re selling storage sheds. As you begin your needs and desires investigation, you ask your prospect what size of shed they have in mind. “You know, we’re not really sure,” they say. “We haven’t thought that much about it.”

Do not go further until this decision is made by the prospect. Going forward, or making the decision for the prospect, permits the prospect to be on their highway that leads to a price quote. But getting a decision keeps them on your highway to the sale. Before the prospect can make this decision, a ten or twenty or thirty minute discussion may be required. In extreme scenarios, the prospect may have some other stakeholder he needs to check with before answering your question. That’s perfectly acceptable. Allow the prospect to get the question answered. But there’s no need to present color choices, styles, height options, siding materials, hardware, and other options, not to mention beautiful CAD drawings of a new shed until the prospect can definitively decide what size they need and want their storage shed to be.

If the prospect asks you to price out the shed in two sizes, let’s say 8’ x 10’ and 10’x14’, agree to do so, but quickly follow-up with this very important question:

“If you had to decide right now about the size of the storage shed that would be best suited to your needs, would you select the 8’ x 10’ or the 10’ x 14’?”

Once you get this answer, this becomes the focus of the remainder of your sales call. You can always price the other product later, but you are going to act on the prospect’s decision, and that will help the prospect act later instead of having to “think about it” (“thinking about it” is the mantra of the quote seeker).

Working For You or Against You

The law of incongruity of expectations can work for you or against you, because it is neither good nor bad, it just is. You simply have to understand it so you can deal with it in an effective manner. Yet thousands of salespeople head out into the marketplace every day without an understanding of this important law.

If you want to sell more, get your prospects on the right highway early in the sales interaction. Keep them on your highway – it goes to where you want your prospect to be.

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