Stagnate Client relationship? 10 questions to get the conversation moving.
“I feel like I’m getting nowhere!” you say to your leader in exasperation.
“We get on great. They always seem interested in what I have to say. I just can’t seem to tick this over into a sale. It’s not like I’m asking for the world.
All I’m asking is for them to choose me, just once!”
What makes you think you aren’t asking the world?
My questions for you;
When did you last have your thinking challenged?
How did you respond?
What would it take to change your mind?
Changing our mind is a big deal. For some, a frightening prospect.
Fundamental beliefs grown & gathered from life experiences have helped form our current positions, tattooing themselves on our mind.
“This is what I’ve always believed,” “this what my parents thought, it must be best,” “this is what so-&-so does so I will too.”
Shop shut. Non-negotiable. Don’t ask me again.
Asking someone to change their mind is asking them to step away from what feels safe. A position they hold based on their past experiences & fundamental beliefs.
Recently, my parenting mind was challenged in a way that knocked me sideways. A fundamental belief I’d had since childhood & believed was best for our kiddo suddenly wasn’t.
Our kiddo wanted to change high schools & move from private school to the local public college.
My mind went berserk. I found myself like a tiny child being pulled by the universe in a direction I was desperate to resist. An internal tug-o-war formed inside me. The universe tried to coax me along. For a fleeting moment, I would let myself believe what it was saying. Then a second later my mind would yank me back to my old tattooed beliefs, “You went to private school Peta. Private school costs more. The education must be better. It is what is best.”
But our kiddo had thought it through. He knew what wasn’t working & let us know. He stepped up & owned the process. While I felt like a whining child who wasn’t getting her way.
The more I resisted, the more I suffered. But it was happening. We were having the conversation, exploring the path & our child’s sparkle, suddenly became brighter.
Here I was holding on tightly to a belief that was draining the colour from our kiddo’s world.
What I believed, wasn’t working. So, I loosened my grip & let go. I changed my mind. In an instant, the mental anguish that had been preoccupying my mind disappeared. After months of mental wrestling, our whole world changed as new doors of opportunity were flung wide open.
Opportunity, I had until now been denying us of.
As sales professionals, it is up to us to consider what we are asking when we ask a customer, client, partner, member or patient to change their mind. It is a significant undertaking.
Only they will fully understand their stakes. Stakes we don’t have right to judge.
For now, they don’t see what we see. The picture we have painted isn’t compelling enough. It doesn’t outweigh the risk of change.
Our way forward? Curious exploration & deep understanding.
Consider one of your stagnant, stuck-in-the-mud conversations & see if you can answer all of the following questions about your client;
What is their long term (10 year) vision?
What is their 2021 priority?
How do they measure success?
Where are you leading them?
How do they describe the narrative that led to their current (buying) position?
How do they describe what is important to them?
How do they make decisions?
How do they like to have their expectations managed?
What are you asking your client to risk by changing their mind?
How do they like to be described in the market & what about this aligns with you?
While many of us define sales success through the outcome, I’ve always been of the mindset that success should be defined by the process. The process of growth - building trusted client relationships & investing in being masters of what we do.
Regardless of how “stuck” a relationship appears, there is always something we can do. Whether it be learning more, refining our delivery or investing in being, “the best second best". It takes discipline, focus & persistence to keep our motivation alive until timing & luck align.
Keep investing in your conversations to grow your business.
Peta x
Performance Coach, commercial growth Consultant &
Author of My Beautiful Mess, Living through burnout & redefining me. Read an excerpt here