Jill Konrath

Sales Safari Series

When you write an email to your prospects and customers, you expect it'll be delivered nicely into their inbox. But with today's ruthless spam filters, that may not be happening.

In South Africa, national parks have a "shoot to kill" order for anyone caught poaching a rhinoceros. Last year, nearly 10% of the black rhinos in the world were killed for their horns.

When you're out on a safari, zebras are everywhere. They're grazing with the giraffes, kibitzing with the kudus and wandering with the warthogs. And, because they're so "Africa," they were one of the highlights of my trip.

On the second day of our safari, our guide posed this question when we saw a herd: "So why do zebras have stripes?"

In the movie Jerry Maguire, when Tom Cruise is in the midst of his proposal to Dorothy, she stops him with, "You had me at hello." Every seller dreams of hearing those exact same words when they approach corporate decision makers.

Unfortunately, the opposite usually occurs.  Instead of capturing their prospect's attention, most sellers create resistance with their opening remarks and blow the opportunity.

Today's question was asked by a frustrated seller who kept running into the same sales objection in his initial sales meeting. Perhaps you've encountered this same one with your prospects. 

A Salesperson Asks

Jill, I'm having trouble when I get in to see decision makers. When they ask me what I do, I tell them as best I can. Then they invariable say, "We already work with another company for that." How should I respond?

Sales Safari Series

We didn't watch the sleeping rhinos for too long before we decided to move on. Little did we know what awaited us just around the bend.

Nothing can prepare you for being right in the midst of herd of giraffes. As these tall, gangly, beautiful animals nibbled the leaves off the top of the trees, we snapped photo after photo.

But the giraffes weren't alone. Over the course of our 3-day safari, we saw them with wildebeest, kudo, impala, tsessebe, zebra, springbok and more.

They stay together because, when you're hunted daily by the big cats, jackals and hyenas, there's security in numbers. Plus, each of the herd animals bring a special talent to the group.

It's a weekend afternoon and I'm working on a post for my blog. I'd wanted to get it done during the week, but you know how things go. Before I knew it, I stumbled onto this YouTube video by Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation.

When pursuing big companies, most sellers want to ensure that decision makers know all about the full range of products, services or solutions that they provide. Proudly, they brag:

• "We offer a full breadth of services."
• "We provide our customers with 1-stop shopping." 
• "We can handle all your _____ needs."

These killer phrases are detrimental to their sales objective and actually create massive roadblocks for them. But they don't want to believe me.

Chuck Carey, CEO of Compendian, wrote this Salesperson's Credo. He keeps it on the wall by his desk to remind him of what's important. He sure has the right attitude. That's why I thought you might want a copy as well.