Are you strong enough to look deep into your own sales attitudes and behaviours?

Underneath the BMW/Audi, the tailored suit and the $200 haircut lies the dormant sales serial killer, potent enough to kill deals without leaving a trace of DNA.

No CSI team, deal post mortem or client de-brief could uncover the real murderer of highly profitable, high value wins.

The killer is called Attribution Bias…let’s call him/her AB…..it’s kind of catchy.

AB loves to take credit for a win and believes wholeheartedly that if it wasn’t for him/her this bloody company would have ended up in the toilet a long time ago.

In fact, why there isn’t a statue of them at reception is a complete mystery.

Equally AB loves to blame everybody else when a deal goes sour and again, if it wasn’t for them they wouldn’t have been that close in the first place.

You could at least say thank you for all your efforts – it’s not their fault the deal was lost.

AB essentially is biased in that too much credit is claimed for success and not enough responsibility is taken for failure.

Here are some examples of AB behaviour:

‘ The client’s a dickhead – he doesn’t even understand the technology’

‘ I’m on my own here – the pre-sales resources are never there when you need them’

‘ Why can’t the global office understand that we can’t charge that rate here’

‘ It’s only my relationship with this client that keeps this account alive’

‘ It’s unbelievable how long it takes to get a proposal done around here’

‘ My boss is a dickhead’

‘ The CRM is stuffed’

‘ Nobody could sell that bundle of solutions into government/corporate/SMB without discounting’

‘ My channel partner is a dickhead’

‘ I always sell this way – if the client doesn’t get it, I move on’

‘ I need to take the client through my presentation/methodology, because I’ve seen it work before’

‘ I was the Global Top Sales Achiever in 2009’ This place doesn’t get it.

‘ My clients love me…that’s why we win’

‘ The marketing guy is a dickhead’

These biases often prevent people from seeing things at their purest.

The reality is often different to your perception.

Some clients will buy from you and your company and some won’t for all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons we’ve covered in the Salient Blog before, but needing approval and validation from clients or shifting blame are not the best building blocks to long term success.

AB loses deals because opportunities are killed off as soon as the bias kicks in.

If you stop judging clients and the people around you and simply listen with empathy, observing the situation at hand from all angles, you are much better placed to uncover new opportunities, remove blocks, dissolve frustration and find new strategies to win business.

As paradoxical as it may seem , putting yourself at the centre of the deal is attributing far too much bias to the reality that is taking place around you.

Step back, see things for what they are, not what AB is telling you they are. Make choices.

That is ultimate empowerment.

When you lock AB away in the cell and throw away the key, then you can be released to be even more successful.

CEO of Salient Communication, Elliot is a sought after keynote speaker and corporate trainer who has coached and trained over 4000 people including CEOs, senior management and successful sales teams throughout Australasia and Asia including Hong Kong and Singapore.

 

Elliot is a specialist sales speaker/trainer for high profile corporates having spoken at over 1500 conferences, workshops and break-out sessions on presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Computershare and CUB.

 

He is renowned for ensuring sessions are engaging, interactive and relevant to winning business in competitive markets.

 

Elliot is based in Melbourne where he lives with his wife and two expensive children.

E: elliote@salientcommunication.com.au