Before sitting down today to pen this month's column, I did something I do multiple times a day. I made a sales presentation. It's funny. I often spend a good bit of time pondering what will appear in this space each month. Sometimes a topic comes to me through training or reading on a subject. And sometimes I do something so stupid that I have to write about it a.) for therapy and b.) to keep you from doing the same thing.
As I talked to a group of agents this morning I caught myself mid-sentence, realizing that I was committing a cardinal sin of selling: Assuming that I was so good—with all the right answers and experience—that everyone within earshot would immediately buy in simply because, well, I'm just that good. In short, I was employing the “Have you seen me?” approach.
You've used it, too. It started when you first got into the business. You went home from the interview and your family inquired about how it went.
“Great,” you said. “I think it's the right move for me.”
“How much does it pay?” they asked.
“Stay with me,” you said. “It's a commission thing, but if you saw the guy who interviewed me… I'm telling you. If he make a living doing this, we'll be millionaires in six months!”
“How you figure?” they asked.
You smiled broadly and confidently replied, “Have you seen me?”
And so it began. You learned the business and grew your client list by believing—deep down—that of course they would buy from you. Only an idiot would go with the competition, right? And when they went with the competition you said, “Well, you can't fix stupid.”
Don't get me wrong. I think you have to carry a certain confidence to thrive in our business. You have to believe that you've done your homework, you know your stuff and deserve their business more than the other guy does. You have to.
But you and I have to be careful. Every presentation should be about solving problems and helping our prospects determine for themselves why they should buy from us, not merely telling them that they should.
No matter your skills as a communicator or how fancy your PowerPoint transitions, your prospects will ultimately buy on the substance of your message. And your message is not your products and services. It's that you listen, are responsive and actively pursue solutions to their problems. As long as you're doing that, you can be the second coming of Tommy Boy and you'll make a million.
And the guy with the fancy PowerPoint slides? He probably puts a guarantee on his box.
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