Business Consulting on ILLUMINATION: Sales!

10 Deadly Assumptions We make as Sales Professionals.

When it comes to sales — Assumptions can be deadly.

And the ultimate deadly assumption in sales is … we assume.

To get sales, it is an imperative that we do our best to help clients and prospects facilitate relevant buying decisions.

Therefore, we have to understand them and what they want.

It is always easy to say that we have to understand our clients. That is the Higher-Order Principle. It can be very difficult to do in practice. Thus, many sales professionals resort to making assumptions about their clients in order to proceed with the sale cycle.

The only thing is … When we start making assumptions about an individual or company, we already lost.

In order to prevent the same mistakes from reoccurring, we have to learn from the lessons delivered by The School of Hard Knocks.

The rest of the article presents the lessons from my sales experience and my takeaways which I revisit from time to time for a mental refresher.

I present my list of top deadly assumptions that prevent sales professionals from reaching their highest potential in sales … and what we can do about them.

Deadly Assumption # 1: Assume We Know What They Want.

This is the most common one.

Some sales professionals wear the hat of a client account manager. Thus, there is a tendency to assume that they know what the clients want as they are frequently taking the pulse rate in the client's office.

If we assume that we already know what they want or where they are in the current sales cycle, we will then start asking misleading questions and providing irrelevant information that may not be consistent with the client’s intent to buy.

To the customer, we are definitely ‘selling’ and not facilitating their buying decisions.

We have stay grounded and stay close to our clients. Challenge the assumptions we make about our clients by having thoughtful discussions or even pantry conversations. Look out for and ask questions about their reality and carefully examine what could have changed since the last interaction.

Deadly Assumption # 2: Assume They Know What They Want.

This is a mirror image of the above and it can trigger a rapid evaporation of potential sales revenue.

Many clients I meet don’t know what they want. They understand the high-level requirement from their executive management. For instance, the pressing need to go digital. So middle level management take that organisation mandate and regurgitate to their business partners.

It often left me scratching my head.

For instance.

To become a digitally relevant is an end-goal, not the journey to take.

As the cliché goes, there are many paths to Rome. Some paths are meandering, some paths are shorter. Certainly not all paths lead to Rome either. Specifics matter.

We cannot assume that the client knows what digitisation really means, otherwise they wouldn’t approach us to begin with.

We have to ask thoughtful questions to help shape their high-level requirements into detail asks.

1. “Is it about automating the back-office administrative tasks?”
2. “Is it about a friction-less real-time, on-demand invoicing?”
3. “Is it about the ease of search for client data?”

Once the clients know what problems they want to solve then it translates to the process of discussion through guided questioning that reveals what they want.

Then we will have an idea of the solutions they may find beneficial.

Deadly Assumption # 3: Assume They are not Interested.

This is an interesting one.

If we assume that our clients aren’t interested, then we will never shower them the attention that they deserve. A neglected client is an unhappy one. Have we ever gone for retail therapy just to experience zero acknowledgment? How likely are we to buy in this situation?

Your answer is as good as mine.

More importantly, why would the client be speaking to us if they are not interested in the first place?

That is like placing the cart in front of the donkey.

Deadly Assumption # 4: Assume They Know How We Operate.

Most clients, when they start talking to us, have some idea (probably a very vague one) about how we operate based on their previous collaborations with business partners. They will have a light understanding, not an in-depth one.

We work in our business every day, so the processes and how we actually do things are like breathing and eating. We forget that our language could be Greek to others.

In that sense, it becomes important to communicate concisely and succinctly. This is especially important for prospects and new clients. We have to help our new client understand how the normal sales and delivery process works. If it takes time to understand a person, then it takes time to understand a professional and the operations of another company.

Deadly Assumption # 5: Assume They Don’t Want Us to Call.

This is untrue.

Sometimes the most fruitful conversations I had were from unscheduled calls.

Calls to invite clients for coffee when I pass by their office. Calls received from clients when they have issues at work and how I could potentially help solve them. Calls coming from clients pertaining to their interest in the new product that our company is rolling out months down the road.

We have to stay in connection with our clients, and calls are necessary.

If we want to understand what our clients think or feel about us, our company and our products / services — We have to call.

It is our job to call the client. It can feel awkward sometimes, especially when we have just visited their office last week. To make it less awkward, always make sure that we have the green light from the client to make the next contact. That way we know they are expecting our calls.

A 5-minute call trumps a 500-word long email.

Anytime.

Deadly Assumption # 6: Assume That the Sale is Solely Determined by Price.

Nope.

Big mistake.

Price points may be good to get us through the door, but it doesn’t guarantee relationship longevity and repeat purchases.

Repeat customers are repeat customers because they are happy customers. Not because we are sellers of basement price items. An iPhone cost thousands of dollars yet millions of people would queue overnight just to buy them. It demonstrates that price point is just one of the many considerations, not THE consideration.

• Have we ever paid more for something we could get cheaper? — Yes, of course.
• Is our product and services the cheapest in your marketplace? — Maybe. Could be.
• Do we have existing clients buying premium products and subscribing to the Platinum-grade service offer when there are cheaper options available? — Yes, of course.
• DO we have clients who buy our products and services knowing full well that they could pay less with a competitor of ours? — Yes, of course.

It is never always about price.

Deadly Assumption # 7: Assume that Our Competition has Superior Products.

This assumption may be true.

At the same time, we do have superior products and services that we can offer as well.

Unique products and services are hard to come by and most product / service comparative advantages are minimal at best. All we have to do is to take a walk down the aisle in the grocery store and we will understand why so. All mineral water brands sell … mineral water. Pepsi and Coke sell sugared carbonated water in black. 7-UP and Sprite sell transparent sugared carbonated water.

The differentiation is brand.

While the clients may lead us to believe that our competitors have superior offerings, but only so they can strike a better deal?

It has happened multiple times over the course of my career.

We have to ask questions about ourselves.

• What is our source of comparative advantage?
• Why DO clients actually buy from us?
• Why are our present customers buying from us and extending their contracts?

We’ll soon realise that the competition ISN’T all around with better products and services, and it isn’t always about the competition.

We have to give ourselves higher credit.

Deadly Assumption # 8: Assume that Our Real Weapon is Slashing Offer Price / Offering Higher Discounts.

This is arguably the most dangerous mindset to have.

We cannot always be on the defense when it comes to the final negotiation. We have to learn to be proud of our product and service offerings. If we go into the meeting not believing in our offering, then we have already agreed to cut the price or offer higher discounts even before the client opens their mouth to ask — it’s just a question of how much.

If a lower contract value translates into lower sales commission in percentage terms, then there is no incentive to slash prices and offer discounts at the get-go.

Unless, it leads to an up-sell, cross-sell or long-sell.

Deadly Assumption # 9: Assume that a Standing Ovation Translates to Sales.

I have performed many sales presentations in my career.

I have orchestrated some as well.

Multiple concurrent late nights went into polishing that pitch deck and presentation delivery. This is to ensure that the machine hums along perfectly during client presentation day. The client could be adequately entertained, laughed at all our timed jokes, and give us a standing ovation when we are done.

That doesn’t mean we will get the deal.

It just means that we are brilliant presenters.

Therefore, relentless follow-up is still required.

Do not forget that.

Deadly Assumption # 10: Assume that Customers Always Need Advice.

Giving unwarranted advice could repel clients from us.

We have to read the situation and know when to back off.

Sometimes, we give advice out of goodwill. I do that very often when I was a young consultant, thinking that clients will be appreciative of free advice. Boy am I wrong. The reverse happened. They didn’t want to talk to me the next time and they would progress from only having brief conversations to completely ignoring me. From then on, I learnt. Sales is a profession that is predicated upon frequent communication and strong rapport.

How could I sell or pitch when no one wants to hear me?

Thus, I will only advice when clients need the client.

At least in that sense, they will listen when I speak.

When it comes to sales — unverified assumptions can be deadly.

I may have presented 10 and I am sure there are more.

Checking on our clients, clarifying their ask and verifying their spoken thought processes is the way to go in order of sales professional to attend to the right issues and opportunities.

Only when we do that then we get to realise sales revenue.

Take note — Sometimes, more isn’t more.

This is especially when it comes to the number of unverified assumptions made daily.

This is especially so when clarification could be just one (or many a few) phone call away.

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About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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