Too often, we lose the opportunity to make a sale because we become emotionally involved in a sale. While it's important that we show emotions, actually getting emotionally involved can have many negative consequences. We've all done it at some point or another. So how can that impact us, and how can we avoid it?
When you're talking to a prospect and determining if they could use what you have to offer, you should be focused on their needs and any pains they are experiencing. When you become emotionally involved, you've reversed that process.
One of the principles we at Sandler help people learn is to qualify by disqualifying. In other words, look for any red flags that you shouldn't do business together. That way, you don't waste your own time, or the time of other people. When you become emotionally involved and excited, it becomes difficult to disqualify prospects.
Of course, the other side of being emotionally involved is getting upset and angry. Think about it from your prospect's standpoint. If you're talking to a salesperson, and they're getting irritated at you, does that make you want to buy? Or do you want to get away from them as quickly as you can?
Unfortunately, there's a good chance that you've become emotionally involved at some point, but not recognized it. The first step is to be aware that it can be an issue.
One of the best things you can do is to make joint sales calls with other people. It will need to be someone that will be honest with you afterwards about how it went. If someone else who is in the room with you can share what happened, it can be very enlightening.
It's also easy to get emotionally involved when your pipeline is dry. If you don't have any other prospects, this may be your only chance! This is where a Sandler Rule comes in.
Sandler Rule #40 is Fake it 'till You Make It. In other words, keep your cool and act like you have plenty of opportunities. If you go in with that mindset on every sales call, you'll avoid becoming emotionally involved.
An even better alternative is to work hard on keeping your pipeline full. Create your prospecting cookbook, and stick to it. If you've got a thousand prospects and you only need to make one sale, it's a whole lot easier.
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