Desire: The Missing Link in Sales Success

I don't understand it. I'd qualified the prospect well, he'd discussed all the challenges and told me that the solution was really in line with his expectations. And now he's dumping me.

I just don't get it. We recruited this sales rep who looked good. But he's not delivering the expected results.

Two apparently very different situations. But two problems with the same root cause. The problem of desire.

The importance of understanding our prospects' desires

There are a number of sales challenges that I work on when implementing sales training programmes. Developing the relationship with our prospects, developing the right attitude to get out of your comfort zone, developing a curiosity about others, our prospects, and seeing them as flesh and blood beings rather than as a possible cheque for commission, setting up routines for developing our expertise, etc, etc....

The heart of sales lies in the fact that our product or service is there to help others. So to help the other person, we absolutely have to understand them in order to suggest the right approach that can help them change their situation, improve the condition they're in and move towards a better situation.

However, as we know, the number one competitor for a sales person is not the alternative solution to a competitor. The number one competitor is that the prospect does nothing. Decides that it's not worth the effort after all. In other words, a sales person's number one competitor is the sub-optimal situation in which the prospect finds himself and in which he prefers to remain. To put it bluntly, a certain... mediocrity.

Even if our prospects have the financial means to solve their challenges, they need to want to change. And that the reasons for this change are understood by the prospect, through questioning. Because all too often, if the prospect hasn't articulated these reasons, they can't realise that they want to change.

The importance of understanding our sales people's desire to change

The desire to change is also very important to understand when someone is in a sales role. Whether it's a candidate for a sales role. Or for an existing salesperson. Why? Because sales is hard. Because selling is hard. There are a lot of rejections. Prospects who say they're interested but disappear. Who say "It's too expensive" (PS: if your prospects tell you this and you're fed up with these situations, or even want to change them, tell us, happy to talk it through).

All too often I see managers telling me: "My sales people aren't hungry enough". Other things I often hear, which are basically another way of saying the same thing, are "They don't pick up the phone", "They're not curious enough", "They don't generate enough business", etc... A whole set of symptoms that come back to the same problem. The lack of desire and the fact of being satisfied with a certain existing comfort.

But sales is a sector where you can earn more money than in other sectors, thanks in particular to commission. Which exist because you have to compensate for these frustrating situations on a daily basis. But loving money for money's sake is not the most important thing. Far from it. You have to have a clear desire to improve your material conditions and those of your loved ones before you can agree to work in this difficult profession. You have to have a vision of where you want to go and a clear determination to do everything to get there. A kind of inner fire that burns constantly to get to that new situation.

So if you have sales people who aren't hungry enough, ask them why they're in sales. And how important improving their material circumstances is to them. Or contact me to see if I can help you develop this desire.

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