It’s true.  Most of us walk around in a semi-zombie state.  The bulk of our waking hours are spent in a trance.  One day blurs into the next.  You get to work and can’t even recall the drive there.  SCARY!

Sometimes we as entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals can use this natural semi-waking state to our advantage.  John Jantsch gives the example of training the people you want referrals from on how to build a referral network.  However, the natural responses of your prospects can work to your disadvantage too.

photo credit: Naufragio

Ivan Pavlov was the Russian psychologist you first described the conditioned reflex concept.  As you probably recall from elementary school in the process of studying the digestive tract in dogs he discovered that the dogs actually salivated before the food was presented.  In fact, he could trigger salivation simply by ringing a bell.

We’ve all been conditioned to respond to sales and marketing through repeated previous exposure.  That conditioning is not a good thing as far as you’re concerned.  When you follow the “mold”, so to speak, you trigger resistance in the other person.  That resistance comes in the form of defensiveness.

The person you’ve just connected with feels they have to defend themselves against you because they don’t want to be sold.  And your behaviors tell them you are someone who wants to sell them something.  Aka, someone they need to avoid.

The way you conduct the normal sales behaviors:

• your sales pitch
• cold calling
• networking
• emailing
• upselling

All trigger your prospect’s defenses.  Your behaviors are the bell.  Once you ring the bell with your entirely predictive words and actions….

Your prospects automatically click over into their conditioned reflex which is to distance themselves from you and your offer.

Just exactly what you don’t want.

Change Your Behaviors &  Wake Up Your Prospects

 

The only way to successfully break the pattern of what you don’t want, getting rejected by prospects… and get what you do want… is to alter the way you make contact with your prospects.  Then you have to adapt the way you interact with your prospects once you’ve made contact.  Once you do that you remove their conditioned defensive reflex.  And removing that conditioned reflex makes your job a whole lot easier.

 

One of the first things you should adapt is the goals you set for each point of contact.  Typically, sales people set goals that can’t possibly be achieved on their own.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Say you call someone of the phone, for example.  You set a goal of getting the other person to agree to hold an appointment with you to talk about buying your stuff.

 

That’s goal is so wrong it’s utterly horrifying when you understand the concept of conditioned reflex.  The instant a prospect suspects a cold call their conditioned reflex is… to hang up.  No, an appointment is entirely the wrong goal.  The first goal should be gaining permission to speak with the other person.  And I DON’T mean asking if they have a moment because that’s just another bell.

 

Right now you’re trying to jump across the Grand Canyon with nothing but a wing and a prayer.

 

Instead, identify each small step and set a goal for each incremental step in your relationship with the other person.

 

The second thing you must do is…

 

… you must stop doing and saying what every other sales person out there is doing and saying.  All those cutesy sales phrases are nothing more than the Big Ben of bells triggering exactly what you don’t want.
photo credit: samlavi

 

 How do you make that shift?

 

Well, you start by thinking about what you would do or say to a complete stranger you meet on vacation.  When you meet a complete stranger somewhere far from home there is no expectation on your part that you are going to sell them something.  Consequently, it’s much easier to open a connection.  And sometimes much to your surprise you actually end up doing business with that stranger.  Plus you make a new friend.

 

When you meet a complete stranger on vacation how do you approach them?  Do you walk up and say, “Hi, my name is Bob Jones from Los Angeles and I’m the number one Real Estate agent in the city.  When you need to buy or sell your home I’m the only person you should call.”

 

Hmmm… I doubt you make too many new friends on vacation if this is your approach.

 

Or do you say something more like this, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help noticing….”

 

Or “Excuse me, I’m wondering if you could help me for a moment?”

 

So why couldn’t you start a connection with a prospect like that?  YOU CAN.  And I highly recommend you do.  Here’s why such a simple concept is so powerful…

 

You Don’t Trigger Resistance

 

Yes, when you act like a real person rather than the way a sales person is expected to act you don’t trigger the resistance through defensiveness you normally would.  So rather than starting from a negative position and having to work your way back to neutral you start from neutral.  Then when you continue to act like a real person rather than a sales person it’s very easy to share ideas with the other person, and have that person completely open to your ideas.

 

When you meet a stranger on vacation you:

• ask their permission to speak with them
• demonstrate genuine interest in the other person
• ask sincere questions
• listen to the answers
• engage in a conversation

What the heck… you naturally do all the things required for a basic sales conversation.  However, you’re doing those things before the sales conversation.  Because you’re doing those things from the beginning of your contact… it’s a lot easier to gain the appointment and increase your sales results.  It’s a natural experience rather than a contrived sales experience.

Wake up your sales results by shaking up your sales behaviors, and STOP acting like just another jerk trying to sell somebody something.  You aren’t a jerk.  You are someone who wants to help other people.  You deserve to sell more and make more friends along the way.  And you can do that by simply behaving in ways that don’t trigger conditioned reflexes.

Once you get this concept and apply it to the way you do business it’s liberating.  You get the sales you want and avoid the rejection you don’t.  Perhaps I’m a little prejudiced, but no one else is helping you understand this and put it into practice.  You can find out more about how this works here… Increase Your Sales following a few simple steps.