It's All About Gaining Agreement

It seems that every day we are inundated with messages. The messages vary from the world landscape, the world economy in general, the financial and credit crisis in America to the political arena. As I read the newspaper and watch the “talking heads” spew information about what everyone else should be doing, I have been thinking of how much better we could understand the potential solutions, if we all understood the root cause of the problems facing us.

Isn’t that what sales is all about? Sales is about reaching agreements. Some of those agreements are small – such as agreeing to a meeting, while others are quite large, for example signing a contract. But the foundation of the sales profession is gaining agreement on a series of decisions between a buyer and a seller.

Regardless of what you are selling, it will be difficult to sell any solution if that solution does not fit the context of your prospect’s situation. In other words, solutions only have merit with a prospect if there is first agreement on either the problems which need to be solved or the root cause of an overarching issue.

I remember one of the first sales stories I heard many, many years ago. It was about Joe – the elevator salesman. Joe’s territory happened to be in the northeast and he was struggling to make his quota selling elevators. He had a robust, fat pipeline, and lots of activity, yet nothing seemed to be closing. Joe asked for his manager’s assistance. They reviewed his presentation, objection handling skills, and product knowledge. All seemed to be in order. So the manager then offered to accompany Joe on a day of sales calls.

Joe arranged the day and off they went. After three sales calls, the manager turned to Joe and asked the question: “Do you see a pattern here?” Perplexed, Joe answered “No – what do you mean?” The reply from Joe’s manager, “Every building that we have had an appointment in so far has only one story! It’s no wonder that no one is buying.”

Joe's failing to get agreement on the need to get from floor to floor without taking the stairs is important. The best solution in the world will not be relevant if there is not first agreement on the solutions.

As sales professionals, on of the first key skills we need to develop is the skill to uncover the prospect's perspective on problems and the potential solutions. Often the problems that our prospects are facing are easily recognized. But sometimes we need to really dig into their world to understand their perspective before we share with them our view.

In order to gain agreement with prospects – our job is to figure out what they know and think. Once that is understood, we can determine if that prospect’s view of the situation needs to be expanded or changed. Gaining agreement begins with this understanding.

So before you make your next sales call this week, ask your self – what do I want the prospect to agree with me on? Do I want agreement for another meeting, or with another executive in that organization? Do I want agreement that my solution is the best alternative or that the investment required to do business with me is justified? Where ever you are in your sales process – focus on small agreements first, as they will lead to big agreements!