Selling in a Time of Corona – S2E10 – The US Election – An Amazing Sales Story

Creative intro ( Trump/Biden stump speeches )

Donald Trump:        This election is a choice between a Biden depression or a Trump super boom. We're going to be booming. We’re gonna have the greatest year.

Joe Biden:                  In 2 days we can put an end to a presidency that has divided nation. In 2 days we can put an end to a presidency that has failed

Mike Pence:              For the freedom that heroes through the generations have fought to defend, we need to decide right here and right now that Joe Biden will never be president of the United States. We're going to re-elect President Donald Trump for four more years.

Joe Biden:                 The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself. And that's exactly what Donald Trump's trying to do. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Let's show him who we are.

Donald Trump:        If Biden and Harris get in the economy will collapse and our country will go into at least a free fall, but probably a depression. They want to raise your taxes. They want to take away your Second Amendment. They want to do lots of things that I don't think you can stand for.

Barack Obama:        3 days until the most important election of our lifetimes this Tuesday, everything is on the line.

Donald Trump:        The whole world and our nation is going to be waiting and waiting and waiting to hear who won. So, you're going to be watching on November 3rd. It's I think it's highly likely you're not going to have a decision because Pennsylvania is very big. This is a terrible thing that they've done to our country.

Kamala Harris:       So many powerful people. Are trying to make it so difficult for us to vote, they know when we vote, things change, they know when we vote, we win.

Donald Trump:       And I think it's terrible when we can't know the results of an election the night of the election in a modern-day age of computer. I think it's a terrible thing. And I happen to think it was a terrible decision for our country made by the Supreme Court. Now, I don't know if that's going to be change because we're going to go in the night of - as soon as that election is over, we're going in with our lawyers.

Joe Biden:                 I don't care how hard Donald Trump tries. There's nothing, nothing that's going to stop the people of this nation from voting and voting overwhelmingly. And when America votes, America will be heard. And when America’s heard,  I believe the message is going to be clear. It's time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home.

Elliot Epstein:         So, someone at a bat, apparently, and the world turned upside down. Hi, I'm Elliot Epstein, and I spent the last 20 years of my life coaching, consulting, training and speaking about all facets of sales development, pitching, presentations, negotiation, the C Suite sales calls and all of the various components in the sale cycle in between. And now we find ourselves in a world that's very foreign.

Welcome to Selling in a Time of Corona.

There are none so blind as those that will not see.

Stay with me on this journey through the craziness of this election because you might just see the best sales ideas of 2020 since masks with football club logos were created. Here's what we know for sure in an ocean of misinformation, biases and prejudices. And no, I'm not buying into the claims of fraud and illegality. Joe Biden won around 75 million votes, the highest in U.S. history. Donald Trump won around 70 million votes, the second highest in U.S. history.

But if you listen to either side, there is utter revulsion and incredulity that the other side had that many supporters.

As fascinating as they are, this is not the podcast to discuss in depth the stories of Georgia, Arizona, African-American voting, suburban or regional biases. This is about why it is so difficult for either side to see how anyone could buy the other guy's product and why. If you can get your head around this, you will have an advantage bigger than Trump's ego heading into 2021.

Let's look at each side and correlate it back to your world of major account management, new business acquisition and retention of key clients. Firstly, we know that the likely end result is an exact replica of 2016 just flipped, Trump won key states by small margins and Biden won key states by a little more, but still small margins. So, each side focused on their core messages to very different audiences, the people who are most likely to listen to them.

Trump didn't do a lot of campaigning in his Democratic stronghold birthplace New York, because it will be a waste of time trying to convert them.

Equally. Biden wasn't focused on South Carolina or Wyoming. But have you ever tried to bid for a tender or a contract where, you know, the client virtually has a photo of your competition's account manager on their screensaver? I've seen it. “Come on, let's give it a go. What do we have to lose except lots of time, money and the will to live?”

Most companies have a qualification tool, but many are either primitively self-serving or convoluted. And they don't ask five key questions.

1. Do they need us in the eyes of the client? Would they value what we do more than an incumbent or known competitors?

 

2. Are they easy or difficult to sell to, or are they more guarded than the Queen in The Crown and bigger pains in the ass than raw chillies on a haemorrhoid?

 

3. Forget budgets or what they tell you their budgets are, will they spend the money that you typically charge for what you do?

 

4. Do we have any relationship with senior decision makers or is the closest we've got the I.T. manager's sister who walks your uncle's dog on Wednesdays?

 

5. Are they ready to vote? I mean, buy now or is this a long-term strategy?

 

Back to the US - each party knew where to focus and get the vote out, nearly 150 million votes can't be wrong. Then there's the account manager, the lead salesperson, the business development guru, you.

In 2016, there is no doubt Hillary cost votes, I'm not judging it or agreeing with it, it's just a fact that not enough voters in key states wanted her as President.

Again in 2020, there are a lot of people voting Trump out, not Biden in. So, the person who leads the bid is even more critical than ever before. Please choose wisely. If you actually combine the traits of Hillary and Donald, you get clear messages, these ones:

• Don't lie to me.
• Don't lecture me.
• Don't talk down to me.
• Don't insult who I am or what I believe.
• Don't behave in a way that doesn't relate to me.

The nuance, communication skills of relating to others as they would wish you to are the most critical skills you need for future success. What I still say today is people who don't have what is known as cognitive empathy, the ability to park judgment and see not only how the other party thinks, but how they feel.

Instead of denigrating it because you don't want to hear obstacles to your sales process, listen. I still hear these four things.

Don't worry, the other mob can't do what we do with our solution ( but how does the client feel about you, your solution or your so-called empirical facts? )

That guy’s an idiot, he doesn't understand how this all hangs together, wait till we show him in the demo.

I don't care what they said, we're going to recommend the whole solution - It's the only way we'll get our budget this year.

And the last one:

I sensed the client didn't like our approach, no matter, we’ll double down and present it again, or we'll show it to her boss. That'll work.

I've said for years in training programs, in keynote talks, in my book, it's not about you. And despite 70 million votes, the Donald just proved that enough voters didn't want it to be about him and his approach anymore.

So how do you make this happen?

How about trying this?

Look in the mirror on your phone and decide your next meeting has nothing to do with you, your product or your key messages, nothing. It's all about what they think is important and what they think is relatable. Park your ego.

A sales guy once asked me how to do that. I suggest that he marries someone who puts him down all the time, or he could just remember that cognitive empathy trumps ego every day. Rampant ego feels good luck, you have a sense of control, it's actually for losers.

Finally, why is it so hard for politics and sales to move beyond tribalism? Beyond your Kool Aid bias, your moral absolutism.

Because as Malcolm Gladwell discusses in his book, “Talking to Strangers”, we humans are pretty bad at detecting the other's true behaviour. Nobody picked up Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. Nobody detected a Cuban spy rising through the ranks for years at the US Defence Intelligence Agency, and no doubt there's someone in your company that didn't detect that the client was never going to buy from you and was deeply in love with the incumbent.

That's why the “It's not about you” theme is the magic dust. If most people are not detecting the other's motives properly, and you are - well, the world is your oyster, freshly shucked with a squeeze of lemon and a glass of champagne.

And if you want to know what I think Trump should do now, I'll let the great political pundit Gloria Gaynor describe it.

“

….. I just walked in to find you here

with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock,

I should have made you leave your key

If I'd known for just one second you'd be back to bother me

Go on now, go, walk out the door

Just turn around now

'Cause you're not welcome anymore….

”

Stay safe. Stay positive.

Remember, your ears are safe. I recorded this podcast in a protected booth supervised by the electoral commission.

Take care of yourselves, till next time.