Ditch the Deck

“Will your husband be joining us?” asks the salesman as I lead him to the kitchen table. “In a bit,” I say. [He assumes I have a husband. Does he think I can’t handle this on my own?]
“Great,” he puts down his case, sits, opens his laptop. He addresses us both when my husband walks in. [He probably wants all the decision makers in the room, but a better question would have been, “Is there anyone you expect to join us for this conversation?”]

“So, you want to replace your oil furnace with a heat pump. Let me show you what we’ll do for you,” he turns his laptop so we both can see his first slide about the company. [Better to first ask what led us to consider this option, why we’ve reached out to his company for an estimate, what questions we have off the top, if we have a time frame in mind. At least he isn’t asking about our budget – or if we have a trade-in!]

After a number of slides, he says, “I can go to part 2 now.” “No, that’s okay,” I grasp the opportunity to derail the show and talk specifically about our situation, the product, costs. He’s goes for a commitment. I see the ABC method in action (Always Be Closing). I say, “We’ll think about all this. We’re interviewing some other companies.” “What have their estimates been?” he asks. “Oh,” I say, “it’s all over the board, and I have a few more appointments scheduled.” [A better question would have been, “What have you learned?”]

“Just a minute, I’m going to make a call,” he says, picking up his phone. My husband and I make eye contact and grimace. Now what? A voice says, “Hello,” and our guy says “Hi, I have Mr. and Mrs. … with me. They want to get a heat pump for their home.” He tells the voice what we’ve gone over so far. The voice begins asking us the same closing questions our guy has asked. We continue to make noncommittal wrap-up comments. A few minutes later the voice signs off and my husband walks our guy to the door.

I stand in the kitchen sighing and laughing, waiting for the finale. My husband walks in and we both raise our arms and yell, “No!” “Wow, that was like buying a car!” he says. “Yes,” I say, “He called in his sales manager to help him close!”

Notes to salespeople: Don’t lead with a sales deck (it’s boring and technology does fail). Focus on individual customer needs. Ask open-ended questions. Listen for what’s important to them. Share key elements but go where they want to go. They like to buy what works for them but not be sold to. Know that your company is not right for everyone. And if your manager insists that it is - and that relying upon a pitch/deck and the ABC method will grow the customer base - maybe you aren’t with the right company.

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