Good advice for baseball hitters turns out to be good advice for salespeople, too.
Well, it’s another summer. That means another baseball season. And of course, that means more agony for those of us who are long-suffering Royals fans. These days, I can’t even type “Royals fan” without automatically putting “long-suffering” in front of it. Not to go into detail, but the team went up….then down again…and now back up. The team’s recent upsurge has coincided with the appointment of Hall of Fame Royal George Brett as hitting coach. One thing he said early on, when interviewed about the team’s anemic offense, struck me.
“We’ve got to start having quality at-bats,” he said. “That means going to the plate with an idea and focusing on the fundamentals and the result you want.” Well, the team is still struggling with that, but I agree with him. In fact, I think one of the biggest things that holds salespeople back is the lack of a quality at-bat. I’d suggest that most salespeople have one of those maybe once in every 5-10 sales calls. Let me explain what I mean.
A “quality at-bat” in the sales world – using George’s definition and mine – begins with “having an idea and focusing on the fundamentals.” In selling, here are the attributes of a quality at-bat:
Having a planned result in mind for you: What do you want to achieve with this call? Hint: A “PR” call where we’re going to sit down and talk about sports isn’t a planned result. Ask yourself this: How do I plan to deepen the relationship or advance a sales process when I’m in front of this customer? If you can’t come up with an answer, you’d better get one before you open the door.
Have a planned result in mind for the customer: In today’s selling world, it’s not enough to have results in mind for ourselves; we have to have a way for the customer to gain through the call. You can do this by imparting knowledge, by asking good questions, by bringing something to the table that the customer wasn’t aware of, but that can generate a positive result for the customer.
Be prepared enough to be able to change the above plans as necessary: One of the biggest attributes for a hitter is the ability to make adjustments on the fly to get the result you want. Maybe you prepared for a fastball pitcher, and he’s primarily throwing you curves and change-ups. If you’re still focused on the fastball, you’re going to fail. It’s the same in selling. We can create the best plans in the world, but if you don’t have the mental acuity to shift and change on the fly as the sales call and the customer requires, you’re going to fail – and you’ll lose business (and your future at-bats) to someone who can.
Have a quality conversation: The one thing that is irreplaceable by the Internet is the sales conversation – the ability for the customer to have, in real time, a two-way discussion about his/her needs with someone who is expert in their business and in their products and services, and who can use that knowledge to benefit the customer. Don’t ever short-change this. This also means that we have to cast aside old techniques that are designed to maneuver the customer into ‘ordering NOW’ and instead focus what the customer is actually saying, react to that, and generate a positive result for both parties.
Be mentally charged: This one is going to be controversial. Numerous experts will tell you that you should NEVER, and I mean NEVER, eat lunch alone on a working day. I do, quite frequently. I always have. It’s not because I don’t enjoy eating lunch with clients; I do. But, one thing I’ve discovered about myself is that I need a “mental recharge” period at some point during the day, and lunch is very convenient for that. By a “mental recharge,” I mean a time during the day where I can relax, disconnect a bit from selling (or whatever I’m doing), and re-focus myself. My sales calls and meetings are better afterwards. It doesn’t have to be lunch, and it doesn’t have to be long. Several years ago, I managed an inside sales department. I discovered, early on, that my top salesperson used to come into my office and complain about something (usually a bad customer call) for about 15-20 minutes every day. I was concerned about her “negativity” until I realized that she would come in, vent, and then go out and kick tail for the rest of the day. She was awesome until the vent, and awesome after. And if that was my investment in helping her succeed, that was a good investment. That was her “recharge.” Find yours, and take one ‘recharge’ break a day.
Every time you go up “to bat” and you don’t have a quality at-bat, you’ve wasted your time and the customer’s. If you focus on generating quality (and it’s not that much harder), your results will thank you.
