You sometimes find yourself meeting with the key person in the area you need. For example, the head IT specialist when you’re selling IP telephony, or the chief engineer when you’re selling a ventilation system, or the HR manager when you’re selling an employee evaluation system. And you feel like the person is just not connecting with you at all. You seem to be speaking their values and in their language, and they appear to understand everything. However, their reaction resembles juggling objections in places where they shouldn’t even arise; they hesitate, avoid eye contact, and respond with something like, “Well, I don’t know…” What is this? This is a typical “no-go.”
A person who is not in their right place or someone who is simply “assigned” to a manager to perform secretarial tasks based on the decisions made by that manager. Moreover, their own initiative is not welcomed, and even if it were, they fear it like the plague, because they would be tasked with executing that initiative, which they are simply not capable of. My latest example is the head of the procurement department. Just imagine what that’s like. In practice, it’s a secretary who only does what sifts through price lists in search of the cheapest equipment chosen by their boss. The work is hardly demanding. The company doesn’t deal with procurement every day. And admitting to a negotiation partner that you have no role in the decision-making process is uncomfortable, as it would hurt your ego. So, they try to negotiate in what they think is their boss’s style, even though their boss doesn’t consider them a person and sends them away at every opportunity, using them as a punching bag.
What happened? Of course, there was a mistake during the lead generation and meeting scheduling process. You’re not talking to the right person, and not only that, but their recommendation of your company to their boss could be taken negatively, like “What does this idiot know?” What needs to be done? Stop selling. Right away. Shift the conversation to a personal level, engage them in a “small talk” that actually revolves around their company, their family, their values, and lead them to admit that, yes, they don’t make decisions. Take their side, rationalize the situation so they feel good about it, and then just ask for their boss’s mobile number. Of course, without mentioning them.
In that particular case, everything was actually quite amusing. He volunteered to call the boss himself and find out if he had time (man, what a disaster, he actually had the courage to do it), but fortunately, the boss kept rejecting the call. Our interlocutor explained that the boss had a German delegation today and would definitely call back as soon as he was free. He never called back. Eventually, he gave us the phone number, we chatted a bit, and said our goodbyes. Once I stepped out of the office, I dialed the number he had given me, and we had a conversation:
— Ivan Ivanovich, good afternoon!
— Hello!
“Can you talk?”
— Yes, of course.
— Roman Petrov, Tryam-Kryam Ukraine (I was working for the client, so I introduced myself in their name.We met at the exhibition, remember?He doesn’t remember, as even I wasn’t aware of which exhibition is being referred to.).
— Ah! Hello!
— Remember, we agreed to meet when we arrived in Kyiv. We’re here now.
— Oh, well, come on over, I should be free!
— That’s great, we’re just on Pechersk and will be there in 5 minutes. Is that convenient for you?
— Convenient, of course. Do you know the address?
“Of course, you told us about it!”
We had a productive meeting with the problem solver. No, we didn’t “close” anything, but we discussed the issues at hand and came up with specific next steps. The fact that Ivan Ivanovich dropped the call when speaking with the “head of the procurement department,” but agreed to meet with us, is further confirmation that the diagnosis of “troublemaker” was accurate.
Summary: If you see that the sale isn’t going well and the person isn’t saying a firm “no,” understand that you’re dealing with a “softie,” and your goal now is to “sell” them on giving you the boss’s mobile number.