Passion As A Sales Tool
by Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter”

We all know that sales is really all about “closing the sale.” There is not a salesperson alive who does not use a variety of techniques to help them be successful with customers. However, I believe passion is the most underrated and underutilized sales tool in our arsenal, because it is too hard to measure and no one has found an effective way to teach it.

Why don’t more people use passion to their advantage? It’s simple. Passion exists in those who are humble, focused and unlikely to advertise their expertise.

Passion is an effective sales tool because it isn’t artificial and can’t be faked for a long period of time. It is displayed in people who genuinely care and are willing to take the time to serve their customers in whatever manner is necessary. If your mindset is not to compassionately serve people, you can stop reading because the rest of this article is not for you. If you do have a willingness to serve and demonstrate concern, then continue reading.

Passion in sales is evident when the salesperson takes the time to listen to their customer and attempts to really understand what it is they are looking for. It is displayed not only in the questions that are asked, but also in the tone of voice and body language the salesperson uses and the follow-up demonstrated after the sales call.

Salespeople who have passion are able to create long-term profitable relationships with their customers. They also routinely benefit from referrals by their existing clients and, on many occasions, these prospects come to them ready to buy.

It’s ironic to note that the individual characteristics that reveal passion are also the same characteristics that are demonstrated by many top-performing salespeople. However, without passion resulting in a steady supply of new prospects, their status at the top is short-lived.

Before you rush out to practice your body language and tone of voice in an attempt to find passion, let me add the secret ingredient: heart. Passion comes from a genuine belief of wanting to help the customer in both good times and bad. It is at its truest form when things are not going well for either the salesperson or the customer and the salesperson is still willing to serve first and sell second.

Don’t get me wrong: having passion does not mean you’re giving up profit indefinitely. It might mean you are sacrificing a little short-term gain, but when you are committed to having passion for your customers, you will achieve a higher level of long-term profit, not only from the customer you’re serving, but also from the referrals they bring you.

Passion can actually be measured in a couple of ways. Begin by asking yourself this simple question: “When the day is over and my customers are reflecting back on the people with whom they’ve interacted and the activities they’ve done, do they think of me in a positive light that contributed to them having a good day?”

It is important to consider whether your customers truly believe you are helping improve their day or simply contributing to the chaos of it. Another assessment tool is found in analyzing the number of referrals you get. Referrals are an accurate measurement of how your customers view you, even more than repeat business with a current customer. If they honestly believe in you, they recommend you to others. (Keep in mind, however, that if they don’t like you, they’ll still talk about you, just in a negative light).

Passion in sales is underrated. Therefore, your ability to genuinely care about your customers, to show an interest in them, and to serve them will determine your long-term sales success.

Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter, is author of “High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.” He is a consultative selling expert committed to helping individuals and companies identify better prospects and close more profitable sales. To get a free weekly sales tip, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. Read the first chapter of his instant-classic “High-Profit Selling” here.

The problem with presenting and selling solutions is that salespeople do it prematurely without firmly establishing whether a real problem exists enough to provide a prospect a compelling reason to change. The idea of selling problems instead of solutions also would be rendered unnecessary if prospects were always forthcoming, truthful, unguarded and not fearful of salespeople’s hidden agendas.

The strategy of selling problems and their consequences is typically employed most effectively early on in the sales engagement. It works particularly well on the phone to try to secure appointments with hardened and skeptical prospects. It is also effective with initial face-to-face meetings where the prospect easily granted you an appointment without articulating any noted problems. We’ve all been faced with prospects who for no apparent reason take time out of their busy day, grant you an appointment and then they are silent and unwilling to have any kind of meaningful dialogue.

These scenarios are familiar and typically come to a standstill when prospects give salespeople flimsy, wishy-washy noncommittal responses that have no weight to them, such as: “we are always open to new ideas, tell me what you have for me, what’s new, we are very happy but we like to keep our options open, and, if we saw something really exciting we definitely wouldn’t rule it out.” These prospects are the toughest to sell because they at face value have no compelling reason to change.

The strategic flaw most salespeople have at this stage is that instead of probing for potential gaps and problems, they believe they’ve been granted a temporary license to kill. They get out their feature and benefit machine gun, lock and load, and pray and spray, leaving carnage of worthless and wasted information. In other words, they prematurely sell their solution without having the faintest idea what problem they are trying to solve or fix.

Salespeople frequently sell like this because they are under the grand illusion and spell that their value propositions and their information will carry the day and ultimately result in a sale. They need to be aware that unless a prospect has a problem with meaningful consequences, the likelihood of change is slim to nothing. That is why your mandate is not to provide solutions but rather to isolate and identify problems.

The old adage, that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, is relevant to the strategy of using problem prompters. However, making prospects drink is not your priority. What you need to do is to make them thirsty, but at the same time create reasonable doubt, problems and insecurity. Turning a prospect’s complacency into an actionable desire represents the true art of selling. Anything short of this, you are working too hard for your own good.

In order to get problems you must give problems. This means that if your goal is to get prospects to open up and share their problems or doubts, you are going to have to proactively initiate dialogue by posing questions that are designed to elicit emotional responses. The way you achieve this is to craft questions that zero in on not what you sell, but the problems you solve and the corresponding negative consequences they create. By framing questions in hypothetical language, using emotional metaphors, you are hoping to engage your prospect with questions that get to the core of why people change, which is always emotionally and intuitively, instead of logically and intellectually.

The reason you use hypothetical language is because it is less threatening and less direct and the prospect usually feels less compelled to be defensive. Metaphors or phrases are effective to use because they tend to emotionally involve a prospect with language that is more charged with feelings than normal staid intellectual language. Example: “Do you ever have prospects who string your salespeople along, create false hope and constantly lead your people down dead end detours that have them jumping through hoops and wasting their time?” You can probably guess the aforementioned is more effective than saying, “Do you experience prospects who don’t make decisions promptly therefore lengthening your sales cycles?” Careful selection of the right words and proper phrases can be worth a 1,000 pictures.

I look at problem prompter questions as a litmus test. You create a menu or a problem chain of questions and statements that, through a process of elimination, leads your prospect through a series of worst case scenarios that they might be experiencing, have experienced or are worried about experiencing. If they are in denial or actually aren’t having any problems what do we now know? They more than likely aren’t a good prospect for the immediate present and you more than likely will need to de-prioritize them or re-categorize them.

In my training sessions, getting my customers to start formulating these questions can become very difficult, because when I ask them to list out in order all the biggest challenges, problems, irritants and insecurities that their prospects experience or have shared with them, I usually get a roomful of blank stares. Guess why? They are so product-centric that they aren’t accustomed to looking at their prospects’ business from their perspective. Salespeople need to now be category or industry experts on the prevailing problems and frustrations their prospects experience. You can also do this by job functions and title.

However, don’t be naive in thinking that all your prospects are going to be enthusiastically engaged. Be as nurturing, neutral, doubting and disassociated as possible when you deliver these powerful questions. This strategy helps to neutralize resistance and soften the blow of your direct questions. Avoid at all costs coming off as an interrogator or a hard-nosed lawyer who is badgering the witness. Problem prompter questions empower your prospect by engaging them and focusing all our attention on them. If you find yourself in a bind, where you can’t remember your problem prompter questions, just fall back or default to your old features and benefits by just changing one thing. After you have enumerated your features and benefits simply ask them if any of those issues are important to them. And, if they say yes, ask them why. Although not even remotely as effective, it still gives you a chance to get the ball rolling especially if you are new to this concept of selling.

The following are examples of questions and statements that locate and identify problems. They are divided into questions specifically to isolate prospects who may have problems with an existing supplier, prospects who aren’t doing business with anyone yet (competition is the status quo), and questions to uncover problems with an existing supplier but formulated in the positive instead of the negative.

Problem Prompter Questions and Statements with Existing Supplier

The first examples are a series of questions which seek to uncover gaps and problems with an existing supplier. These questions are universal, generic and will fit just about any product or service, in just about any business relating to almost any general problem. Obviously these are concept questions and can be tailored to fit your unique situation.

Problem Prompter Questions and Statements with a Positive Spin with Existing Supplier

The next series of questions and statements are a mirror image of the first series but with a positive spin on the problem. You will sometimes find that prospects won’t admit to problems, but are open to admitting to imperfections. This is a more advanced way of questioning that requires a bit more sophistication and practice. The advantage with this line of questioning is you aren’t probing for problems so much as you are making statements to confirm they don’t have problems and their situation is satisfactory, ideal and representing the best case scenario. Because some of these scenarios aren’t totally realistic, you will have to be very nonchalant, neutral and objective when you present them. Prospects who tell you emphatically they are happy, things are great and they would not consider changing typify these examples. Because of the strong nature of prospects’ convictions and beliefs, these questions and statements will often prove to be unsuccessful in forwarding your agenda and cause, but will be effective in saving you time and resources on not pursuing lost causes.

These positive problem questions or problem prompters hope to sanitize and whitewash their problems so thoroughly that no reasonable prospect can agree to this picture- perfect world you are describing.

The following are examples you can use that really put the rubber to the road and have you placing stark realities right in front of them to chew over and consider.

Problem Prompter Statements for Prospects who are Non-users and not actively in the Marketplace

The final series of problem prompters are for situations where your prospect is not a current user of what you sell and therefore obviously they are not using any supplier. You can’t ask the aforementioned problem prompters because they are 100% geared towards up-seating an existing supplier. Hence, the scenario of problem prompters with non-users requires more creativity and conceptual selling because you have a prospect who is more than likely not in the market, isn’t actively looking for solutions in this area, may not be aware that any problems exist and may not be aware that there is even existing technology out there to help them. However, the beauty of new application opportunities is when approached properly, there is no competition, little comparison and accessibility to price checks is limited. The highest margins are available in selling to prospects who aren’t actively in the market. The bad news is, these prospects take more time to locate and must be sold at a higher level.

The following are questions to uncover problems with the status quo. Keep in mind, like the two earlier examples: there is never any mention of what you can do for your prospect, why you may have a superior offering or what they have to gain by considering changing. The focus now is all on your prospect and their potential problems. What you can do for them at this stage is irrelevant and unimportant. The only thing that is consequential at this stage is having your prospect admitting to a problem and deciding if it is worth addressing. This is where salespeople have to transition from product and solution providers to business strategists and change agents. Once again your mandate is to isolate and define problems, not solve them. Once you’ve done a thorough job of defining the problem, the solution becomes a nonevent.

Probing questions and statements that prompt problems or admission of non-ideal circumstances are a far superior method of selling than the traditional feature and benefit style of selling. What makes it so difficult for salespeople to make this transition is that the sale is no longer about them, their company, and their superior offering. Because most salespeople are egocentric, self-consumed and product-focused, they have a hard time relinquishing this self-centered strategy of providing information and solutions. Once they take a non-selling posture that is objective and non-biased, they will find that they can more quickly identify if prospects have a compelling reason to change.