I’m a child of the 80s, and in the 80s, we basically had two types of acceptable music – hair bands and new wave. I enjoyed both, and one of my favorite hair bands was the Scorpions. The Scorpions was (in my opinion) a great band with some great songs. They were also German. More to the point, they were Germans who understood not a word of English. Hence, when they recorded those great songs like “The Zoo,” they pronounced them phonetically, not with understanding of the words. That was fine – in the studio.
In concert, it was a little different. I saw them live a number of years ago, and, well…the pronunciation broke down. Because they didn’t understand the language, they’d emphasize the wrong words and syllables. Some songs were partially in German. In the audience, we were stuck between rocking out and laughing uproariously. This memory has caused me to coin a term, and it’s one you’ll want to avoid. I call it “Scorpions Syndrome.” That’s where a salesperson knows the words, but not the meaning. Allow me to explain.
I was speaking with a client recently and he told me of a salesperson whom he had trained. He drilled this salesperson relentlessly on the company’s presentation – and she’d do a great job of delivering it. However, she didn’t know or understand the technicalities of what was behind the presentation, nor did she really know how to answer questions. She had “Scorpions Syndrome,” and retraining is the best option.
Here are some ways you can avoid “Scorpions Syndrome,” whether you are a salesperson or a manager.
Learn concepts, not questionnaires: I’m a big fan of having a game plan for a sales call (in fact, my Teleseminar on February 25 is about that very thing – get more info here). A good game plan includes the information you want to GET through the questions you ask, the information you want to GIVE through the presentations you make (which should depend on the answers to your questions), and a COMMITMENT for a next step.
The problem is that too many salespeople rely on rote questionnaires for their game plans – without ever learning the meaning behind the questions, or what to do with the answers they get. You need to make sure that you understand not only what questions are good to ask, but what the reasons are behind the questions and what to do with the answers.
Learn real benefits, not rote presentations: Many years ago, on my college debate team, I was assigned a debate partner that, to put it gently, really didn’t understand what was going on. My coach advised me to ‘can her up’ because she was a decent speaker, and we’d be OK. “Canning her up” meant providing her with evidence to read and the order in which to read it. There was only one problem – after every speech, the opponent got to cross-examine her. Since she didn’t really understand what was going on (and frankly, wasn’t all that teachable), everything she did in her speech fell apart in cross-examination because she couldn’t explain the logic behind the points.
The same thing happens when a salesperson gives a rote, formatted presentation without understanding the real effects that their product or service has on the customer or its environment. The presentation sounds great and convincing – but invariably, the customer has questions that the salesperson can’t answer. The salesperson’s credibility is destroyed, and so is the opportunity.
Learning the concepts and ideas before learning the questions and presentations takes longer, but it’s a good investment of time – for you and for your company. Don’t shortcut. The Scorpions Syndrome is real, and if you don’t learn your company’s “language,” you might get laughed at, too.
