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Professional Selling Skills
The Truth About Sales Training Whitepaper by Jim Ullery
Professional Selling Skills - PSS
Emotional In
telligence and Delayed Gratification
The “marshmallow test” became one of the best-known of all the scientific studies that Daniel Goleman wrote about in Emotional Intelligence; it was featured on 20/20, Oprah, and the Lehrer Report, as well as Time magazine. In this experiment four-year-olds from the Stanford University pre-school were brought to a room and sat in a chair in front of a juicy marshmallow on a table. The experimenter then told them they could eat it now, or get two if they were willing to wait until the experimenter came back from running an errand.
A failure in this circuitry may be at play, the researchers suspect, in disorders ranging from attention deficit to addictions. In the marshmallow test, impulse control turned out to predict how well those kids were doing 14 years later, as they were graduating from high school. Those who waited, compared to those who grabbed, were more popular with their peers, had less trouble delaying gratification, and scored far higher on achievement tests - 210 points.
One of the great predictors of success is a person’s emotional intelligence (EQ). The children who did not eat the marshmallows displayed a key trait found in people with high emotional intelligence: delayed gratification.
Impulse control - This is also known as delayed gratification. It is a person's ability to resist a temptation to act.*
Here's how lack of impulse control shows up during a sales call. The salesperson has done a good job of engaging the prospect. The prospect shares a problem he is experiencing with an existing vendor. In sales, it's called a buying signal. Without impulse control, the salesperson buys the buying signal without asking further questions to learn of the financial or personal impact to the prospect. They have given in to the impulse of presenting their solutions without a complete diagnosis. We call it the "spraying and praying technique." The salesperson sprays information and prays someone will buy. Salespeople have been coached to death about not presenting too soon. The sales manager doesn't need to preach one more sales sermon on asking questions. Sales coaching needs to focus on helping the salesperson learn how to improve his impulse control and delay the gratification of presenting his solution and ideas. It's emotional intelligence skill training, not sales technique training that produces a better sales outcome.
A salesperson scoring low in impulse control (delayed gratification) thrives on the opposite: instant gratification. This may affect a salesperson's ability to consistently prospect for new business. A salesperson scoring low in this area gets easily frustrated if their business development plan doesn't yield immediate results. As a result, they quickly give up doing the sales activity necessary to open up new opportunities. Instant gratification can also affect a salesperson't ability to navigate through large major account sales. Salespeople scoring low in impulse control (instant gratification) often grab the low hanging "sales" fruit because it is easier and quicker to sell.
*Colleen Stanley
Click on the link below to see the Marshmallow Video
See Marshmallow Test Video
Marshmallow White Paper Professional Selling Skills - PSS
Jim Ullery has taught Professional Selling Skills (PSS)-formerly Xerox Selling System for over 20 years. He is a certified trainer.
Professional Selling Skills - PSS Professional Selling Skills Xerox sales training
The progression is from level 1 through 2 and 3 to 4. It is not possible to jump levels. These four levels of learning and change can be thought of as steps on a ladder. In the model, you move through the phases as follows:
Level 1: Unconsciously Incompetent.
You don't know what you don't know. Your prospective customer does not know about your product or service.
Level 2: Consciously Incompetent
You know what you don't know. Your prospective customer is now aware of your product or service but does not see a need. Sales people commonly assume prospective customers to be at level 2, and focus effort towards achieving level 3, when often prospective customers are still at level 1.
Level 3: Consciously Competent.
You know what you know. Your prospective customer understands your product or service and has a desire for it.
Level 4: Unconsciously Competent.
You know what you know and don't need to think about it. Your customer knows about and uses your product or service without thinking about it.
An important additional bit of thinking!
The Sales Pro needs to consider the fact that going through the various levels outlined above relates to the actual product or service being sold. There is an important additional area NOT CONSIDERED by most salespeople. This relates to the CHANGE INITIATIVE the transaction will cause the organization. Frequently the most important aspect of the sale is understanding what the implications of using your product or service will be.
For example, let us say that you are selling to a former owner of a company that has just sold his or her company. He stays on to guide the company during the transition phase which usually exists in the sale to keep all of the knowledge from walking out the door the day the new owners come in. If a salesperson is dealing with the former owner, the change for the former owner seems like something the company could deal with. However, when the former owner brings the matter of the salesperson's product or service in question to the NEW OWNERS, they san NO. The former owner begins to realize that he or she no longer has the previous authority they once had to move forward with the purchase.
This is an embarrassing situation to the former owner who feels that their wings have been clipped. Usually this is a time when the sale "goes silent" and no calls are returned or emails acknowledged. The former owner has discovered something they were unconsciously incompetent aregarding their new status in purchasing. They do not like being conscious about this new found incompetency. They just have to "suck it up" and move on with the knowledge that they are no longer in charge.
For the salesperson much of this political posturing is not picked up on any sales radar as there is little or no further contact with the customer. The former owner has realized that the very change initiative is more effort than it is worth and they may become "passively aggressive" with the new owners or just start counting the days that their obligation to hang in after the sale ends and hope it passes quickly.
Salespeople always must understand that the product or service we sell is not the only sale going through the levels presented above. The whole CHANGE INITIAVE needs to be sold to the co-workers or stakeholders to make a full purchase viable. Salespeople must be competent at facilitating as CHANGE AGENTS the integration of their products and services.
This entire concept is covered in detail in our SALES PRO training.
