Grandmaster Hanzo was on his way to a Sri Petaling restaurant to redeem his Groupon voucher. Since he was going there the first time, he used a GPS to help him find the way. As he was reaching the restaurant, the GPS indicated to exit the highway which shows Old Klang Road. But, his experience said that the Sri Petaling exit is at the next highway exit.
So, relying on his experience, he went on straight and decided not to follow GPS. Just as he has remembered correctly, the Sri Petaling exit was indeed the next exit and so he followed that route. The GPS immediately rerouted and Grandmaster Hanzo realized that he has to drive an additional 11km to reach that restaurant now! That wrong exit caused him an additional 11km.
The GPS was right.
In another incident, Grandmaster Hanzo and his brother were supposed to meet at a Puchong restaurant so Grandmaster told his brother to use the GPS to get there. The brother said he thinks he knows how to get there so he doesn’t need a GPS. In the end, his brother got lost and reached there much later than Grandmaster Hanzo.
Lesson Learnt Here
Guidelines are available
In both incidences, Grandmaster Hanzo and his brother did not want to follow the GPS although it already gave a clear direction to their destination. In sales, sometimes sales people do not want to follow guidelines and rely on their own experience. Sometimes it may work and sometimes it won’t.
Using the wrong methods may take you longer to close that sale just like that 11km reroute. But the worse thing that can happen is you won’t get that sale at all. Your own instinct may work for you or go against you. If an experienced person has given you a proven technique, use it.
New area so old experience may not work
There are lots of experienced salespeople, you could be one of them. But sales is evolving and using the selling method 10 years ago may not work in today’s market. Past experiences may help, but sometimes it is just not enough. You need to be unique, to be able to tackle new objections from buyers who are comparing you with other competitors and finally close that sale.
Past sales experience may not give you that sale
Most sales people make the mistake of using the same sales technique for every customer they meet. It is not effective. If you understand the buyer better and know how to adapt to their character and behavior, then you are one step closer to close that deal. Some buyers love looking at data, some prefer visual or some are just impatient and want a summary of your products. So you need to adapt, use new psychology, and re-strategize according to the situation.
Summary
In short, the lesson here is CHANGE! Be ever-evolving in sales and adapt to the situation. Don’t fall into the trap of being content with your experience and be over confident with past sales. Continue to learn and strive to be the best.
Sales Ninja MASTER is designed to help sales people understand the current market behavior. It provides the whole sales cycle for salespeople which includes how to understand their buyers, how to tackle those merciless objections from buyers, negotiate a win-win deal and close the sale.
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