From Selling Power’s latest sales manager newsletter – Does Your Needs Development Need Development?

One of the important early steps in the sales process is uncovering a prospect’s needs. Unfortunately, most reps take that step literally and ask a prospect about his problems and challenges, then check off that step and move on to the next one.

And later in the article:

Freese just worked with a group of reps from a major, global software company who said they were trained to develop needs by asking, “And what else is important to you?” until the prospect ran out of answers. And then they figured they had all the needs.

These approaches don’t help you, don’t help the customer and, most critically, do only a superficial job of uncovering needs.

These approaches stand out in a horrific manner – they appear to be just what they are, “moves” or “tools.” Most people have experienced a clumsy salesperson with pathetically preplanned moves masquerading as helpful questions. An acoustic guitar in the hands of Eric Clapton is a wonderful instrument. That same guitar in the hands of my 7 year-old son is, well, not wonderful.

“Uncovering prospect’s needs” is qualifying – the foundation of all successful selling. Questions still need to be asked and detailed information gathered to determine how strong of a prospect the salesperson is pursuing. The author provides a suggestion:

To set yourself apart and to delve into the deeper layers of customer needs, you must bring something of value to the conversation, says Freese.

True, but sometimes it is simply a matter of knowing how to have an open, straight-forward conversation. I think the author hits on the real issue in that salespeople simply check off their questions without having a clear understanding of the prospect’s purposely-superficial answer.

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First off, I have an interest in the Boeing vs. Airbus rivalry. Boeing used to be a customer of mine in a previous role and I have seen their amazing production facility in Everett, WA. The building is unbelievable huge. Anyway, I caught up to this Foxnews.com article – Airbus CEO Dropped Trousers to Seal US Airways Airplane Order. Here is the money excerpt (emphasis mine):

Pierson, who ran Airbus from 1985 to 1998, was at US Airways’ headquarters for what he thought would be a short meeting to tie up a 400-plane deal, the anecdote runs.

At the last minute, US Airways’ then-chairman Stephen Wolf started arguing for a 5 percent discount on the selling price.

“Pierson began slowly lowering his trousers and saying ‘I have nothing more to give.’ He then allowed the trousers to fall around his ankles,” says Newhouse in his book.

Wolf replied: “Pull up your pants. I don’t need any more money,” and the deal was signed, according to the book. The author says he got the story from Pierson himself, and it was confirmed by another person present.

You would have to be the CEO to attempt this sales technique.

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Inc.com offers this article – When Is It Safe To Hire? The focus of the article is a software manufacturer’s assistance to their rep companies in hiring salespeople. Basically, the manufacturer will provide $10,000 to the rep company to assist them in hiring salespeople. The money can be used for assessing, training, supplementing salary, etc. Apparently this approach is relatively common in the software industry.

The article discusses the pitfalls of hiring salespeople in the context of small business owners ($1-2 million revenue). This ground is well travelled by us. I am convinced that in companies this size, sales hires are a make-or-break proposition. And when I say “break” I mean risking the business “break.”

That thought leads to this excerpt:

Brant Wadsworth, the owner of Digitek, a Phoenix-based software reseller with $2 million in revenue, is typical of the CEOs Sage wanted to reach. “I had hired salespeople before, but the process to get them up to speed was difficult, and they didn’t work out,” he says. “The hardest thing about finding good salespeople is that they’re all professional actors. Every salesperson is giving you their best pitch when you’re interviewing.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. They are all professional actors which is why relying solely on your gut instinct to make the sales hire is a losing proposition. And proof comes later in the article:

He dutifully put candidates through personality testing, but when a low score seemed to discredit his favorite prospect, he decided to go with his gut.

Mohan thought the person he hired, though inexperienced, had great potential. But soon after she came to work, Mohan realized he’d screwed up. As the personality tests had suggested, the candidate’s natural exuberance did not make up for a lack of aggressiveness and experience. “Some of the weaknesses we identified in the screening process turned out to be the problem,” Mohan admits. After several unhappy months, the salesperson left.

I give Mr. Mohan credit for being so open about a bad hire. He was only using personality tests which is better than nothing, but certainly not enough to consistently hire strong salespeople. Nonetheless, his experience is a persuasive statement about the need to assess sales candidates before hiring them.

Lastly, it is difficult, but trust the assessments. This approach is like a pilot who has his or her instrument rating. When it is pitch black in the night, they are trained to trust their instruments even when they mind is telling them the plane is diving towards the ground. When hiring salespeople, the desire is to follow your gut in the face of assessment results. Don’t do it – trust the instruments.

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