Please Don’t Judge Me (or your customers!)

The Case for Impartiality in Both the Supreme Court and Your Sales Presentation

The appointment of a new judge to the Supreme Court of the United States is seldom a simple affair, often involving a collision of perspective between opposing political forces. Through the process of confirmation hearings, the inquisitors (Senate Judiciary Committee members) seek to validate amid other concerns, that the appointee will bring uncompromised impartiality to the decisions they render while sitting on the highest court in the land. (Trust me. If it was your case brought before the Supreme Court, the issue of impartiality would be of greatest concern to you too.)

Okay. So what does impartiality have to do with professional selling?

One of the most insidious forms of bigotry in professional selling is economic discrimination. Economic discrimination occurs when a salesperson makes an unfounded personal judgment about how much they think or feel a customer can afford, and then they alter their sales presentation to offer lower-end more moderately priced options.

When it happens (and unfortunately it happens all too often in many sales organizations), “unfounded personal judgment” forms in the mind of the salesperson before any interaction with the customer has taken place. Inappropriate opinions regarding the financial means of the customer are made by interpreting mostly visual things, like, the clothing they are wearing or the car they are driving—or at its unthinkable worst, their gender, age, or ethnicity.

Economic discrimination is widely known as prejudging a customer.

Not only is prejudging morally reprehensible, it is also an extremely costly practice for both the salesperson and the company. The salesperson who prejudges the financial capability of prospects suffers the negative results of lower overall sales averages and reduced earnings over the course of their career. From the company’s perspective, the negative impact of prejudging customers is exponentially multiplied by the number of salespeople engaging in this practice—to which the true costs in lost revenue may never be fully realized.

(Prejudging left unchecked in the organization will cause sales to be lost altogether. As customers figure out what’s going on, they walk out and seek the services of a competitor—someone who is willing to treat them in a more dignified manner. Not to mention the damage this will ultimately do to the reputation of the business!)

Prejudging a customer is not to be confused with tailoring the presentation!

There are times when changing your presentation is appropriate. There is little in common between the negative practice of prejudging a customer and “tailoring” the presentation to fit the established needs and wants of the customer. One takes place without the customer’s knowledge or input, while the other is done under their specific direction.

You ensure the highest ethical standard through top-down selling.

The only way to meet the highest ethical standard objective, and eliminate even the unconscious possibility of prejudging a customer, is to make every presentation using a “top down” selling model. Always introduce your very best products and services first, irrespective of price, to ensure that every customer is provided an impartial opportunity to make their selection. It is simply the right thing to do.

Closing argument:

Whether you have a case sitting before the nine Supreme Court Justices, or one of your customers is sitting through your next sales presentation, the value of uncompromised impartiality should be given equal weight. Wouldn’t you agree?

Six “Don’t Knock ‘Em Till You Try ‘Em!” Rules for Appointment Setting Success

Unless your customers typically walk into your office, plop down in front of your desk, and request a presentation (ahem … right, that happens all the time), it is safe to say that very few sales are made without first securing an appointment. So, regardless of the potency of your killer presentation, your incredibly artful closing techniques, or your innate ability to instantly warm up with a client, your ultimate long-term selling success hangs on the simple effectiveness of your appointment-setting skills.

Let’s take a quick look at six basic rules for appointment-setting success.

The First Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Knock, do not call. Why? It is much easier for a prospect to reject a salesperson over the phone than it is in person. And there’s another great reason to knock on their door instead of calling. When you meet a potential client in person, you begin to formulate a relationship. Instead of lumping you into the category of “just another salesperson soliciting over the phone” the client gets the opportunity to actually see that you are really a nice person (you are, aren’t you?) who is interested in helping them (and you do want to help them, don’t you?). Essentially, you are giving the client an opportunity to begin to like you— the key component to the development of a relationship built on trust. (Want to know just how important this “begin to like you” thing is? Dig out the Likeability Factor article from the blog archives or hit the link right here!)

Statistically, the probability of you successfully setting an appointment by knocking on the door and meeting the prospect is dramatically higher than attempting to do so over the phone. It’s just that simple.

The Second Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Save your presentation for the presentation. When you approach the door, you have but one objective— to set the appointment. And to accomplish this, you must limit the conversation at the door to only that which you need to effectively set the appointment and nothing more.

Before a prospect sets an appointment with you, or even after they do, be aware that they may attempt to draw you into making a “pop-up mini-presentation” by showing interest and asking a few questions about your product, services, or company. When this happens, you must respectfully acknowledge the importance of their questions and assure them that you will provide answers and a wealth of additional invaluable information at the time of their appointment. Do not take the “interested question” bait! If you allow them to draw you into providing “more at the door”, they may wrongly determine that they don’t need your product or services before they have all the facts they would need to make an intelligent decision—wrong for the client, wrong for the company, and wrong for your bank account too!

The Third Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Always set a firm appointment. And when that’s not possible, set a tentative or drop by appointment. But first, go for the home run. There is nothing better than returning to your prospect’s home, at a specific preset time, with them expecting you. (Well, okay, almost nothing better. In lieu of setting a future appointment, I’ll let you off the hook if you knock on the door and end up leaving with a check and a signed agreement in hand—but just this once.) Setting a solid appointment means that the prospect will organize their schedule to allow you time to deliver the information so that they may fully consider the benefits of your offer. They will be prepared to listen without interruption. A firm appointment always yields the highest probability for closing the sale. However, in the event that a firm appointment becomes too difficult to secure, then by all means set up a tentative appointment. Or in the alternative, if necessary, attain “tacit consent” approval to drop by one evening “when you’re in the neighborhood and you see their lights on”.

As a point of reference, let’s acknowledge that many sales are indeed made using the “tentative” or “tacit consent” appointment-setting approach. There is nothing inherently wrong with working this way, provided you are willing to master the art of working your way into the home under potentially less than ideal selling conditions. For some, this may be effective. For others, working harder up front to set a firm appointment will ultimately prove to be more productive.

Lastly, when you approach the door, be prepared to quickly shift the focus from setting an appointment to making a presentation in the event that the prospect is readily available. If you can comfortably gain an invitation to make an immediate presentation, by all means, do so. However, use caution here. Once you are inside the home, quickly assess the situation and make sure that you will have all necessary parties present and that they are otherwise undistracted before beginning the presentation. For instance, it is both a disservice to the prospect and a waste of your time to make a presentation to the husband without his wife present (regardless of how loudly he thumps his chest telling you that he wears the pants in the family and makes all the decisions—because he doesn’t), or to attempt presenting while several young children are commanding more of your prospect’s attention than you are. In this event, it is better to back out of the situation and work on setting up an appointment when both decision-makers are home or the babysitter is on duty.

The Fourth Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Always remember to post-close the appointment. Make sure that before you leave the door, you confirm the details of the appointment you just set thirty seconds ago. Yes, repeat everything once again. This will help to ingrain the time and date in your prospect’s mind and demonstrates that you are a professional who carefully governs your schedule. While you’re at it, make sure to jot the time and date down on the back of your business card and hand it to them. (Hopefully, you just had a “no duh” moment after reading this suggestion.) Post-closing sends the message that this appointment is important and is a “not to be missed or rescheduled” event.

The Fifth Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Never call to confirm an appointment. Calling to “confirm” an appointment is an open invitation for the prospect to change their mind and reschedule or cancel. A professional salesperson is in the business of making sales, not collecting orders. As such, you need to be prepared to accept a few “no shows” and “door kills” as the price you will pay for greater sales success. It simply comes with the territory.

When you do get stood up (and you will), approach the situation with positive expectancy. Assume that your prospect innocently forgot about the appointment or that something akin to an emergency came up. Leave your card with an “I’m really sorry that I missed you” type message written on it and promise to contact them to reset the appointment. (Just in case it crossed your mind, don’t even think about calling them on the phone ... go back and knock on their door again—and again if need be.)

The Sixth Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Mail a timely appointment reminder confirmation card. While you should never call to confirm an appointment, given there is enough time before the appointment to mail your prospect a friendly reminder card, do it. A simple “This is to confirm our appointment for (time, date, place) —looking forward to seeing you and delivering some invaluable information!” type reminder will do wonders to ensure that they are waiting for you “with bated breath, and whispring humblenesse” upon your arrival. (Alas poor reader… Working in the proceeding Shakespearean idiom was done entirely for the author’s amusement.) Not only does this approach say “I am a professional” (and as such I expect you will be there when I come), it will also give a prospect who has legitimately forgotten about the appointment, a timely friendly reminder that you’re on your way.

And, The Final Rule for Appointment-Setting Success

Always remember the First Rule: Knock, do not call!

Well there you have it, six basic rules for appointment-setting success.

And remember, “Don’t knock ‘em till you try ‘em!”