How to respond to ‘That's very interesting.’ And what only 11% of salespeople say

The emotions of sales people

Are you familiar with the principle of transactional analysis? If you're a bit of a psychology nerd like me, yes. And welcome dear nerd to my blog :) But if you're not, then you can read about transactional analysis on this post .

When interacting with prospect, sales people should never be implicated emotionally in the conversation. They need to stay cool. This means that a sales rep needs to focus on data. To understand the person they are talking to. And not make up ideas, assumptions as per where the conversation.

But this is rarely the case. Sales people hear their prospects say something and get caught up in their emotions. If it's an objection, they'll try to convince the prospect, creating the exact opposite effect. If it's something positive, they'll let their happy ears get the better of them.

When a prospect says "This is interesting"…

So let's imagine that, at the end of a meeting, the prospect says "That's very interesting", and his colleague adds "We're certainly going to work together, send us a proposal", the sales people have two options:

1. Go back to the office and talk about this opportunity, put it in the CRM with a high probability of success.

2. Ask other questions, probing, sceptical questions…

What the data says

According to Objective Management Group 's analysis, which provides a rigorous and scientific analysis of salespeople and the 21 sales skills that are essential to their success, only 11% of salespeople choose option 2. 89% will follow option 1 and let their happy ears carry them away. It's only human. And if you have a DISC type I profile, for example, you are more naturally inclined to be optimistic than if you have a C profile, which is more sceptical and will look for data.

So now, dear reader, what would you say to a prospect who told you something like that? Don't read on. Think for a moment. It's important if you want this post to be useful to you.

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How can you be more … curious

I'm sure there are much more interesting and appropriate answers but here's one option of how to handle this situation:

1. Thank you for sharing this with me, it makes my day. Help me understand your perspective, when you say most certainly, what do you mean by that?

2. (followed by) Perfect, I understand. That's very useful feedback. I don't want to rely on assumptions / I want to make sure I understand, this is useful for you because?

3. (followed by) How long will it take you to study this proposal, more or less? - answer: one week. Ok, you were telling me that the status quo is not an option for you because of the "personal impact of doing nothing" and that it is important to have the xxx committee validate this proposal. So it's not necessarily a good idea, but what about blocking a slot the following week if we're sure that it's in line with what the committee wants to see?

Of course, it all depends on the context etc... but an approach like this does a number of things:

• Validate the person you're talking to

• Don't be taken in by happy ears

• Really understand the prospect's context by identifying what is "interesting".

• Keep control by organising a review of the proposal

• Avoid having forecasts that are imprecise

• Open the door to a 1-2-1 with committee members if this has not yet been done.

So now, go back to how would you have handled this situation? Did it differ?