Executive Development: Great Coaching Moments
From great teachers we’re moving to great coaching moments:
A sales training client of mine is a fixed income broker in New York City.
They hire elite salespeople who are quick in their thinking and have strong commercial judgment.
During one training program, a student asked me to resolve a consistent objection he seemed to be getting throughout his selling efforts.
He lamented that often a money manager would say to to him, after his clear description of a specific bond for him to buy, “Let me think about it.” Sound familar to you, too?
I recommended he ask the money manager what he wanted to think about so that he, as the salesperson/consultant, could think about it simultaneously with him.
My client agreed to employ this tactic the next time situation arose. Sure enough the next day he encountered this objection and asked the manager what he specifically was going to think about.
The manager paused for a while, long enough for my client to begin to worry he might have upset his client, when all of a sudden his client responded by saying, “Let’s go with the bond. I don’t need to think about it any longer. It’s the right bond.”
When my client recounted the story to me, I was thrilled for him and was also empowered by the understanding that all of us need to realize what each of our clients actually wants to think about before giving up on the meeting. Don’t try to be a mind reader. Ask what they are considering so that perhaps, you can help them resolve an issue.
The more we do this, the more we illustrate our confidence in our recommendation. Try it and let me know how it goes for you.
