CHAPTER 1

Becoming Sherlock

IN "JULIE'S DILEMMA," we saw Julie overcome a common obstacle insales. You uncover the customer's problem, present the product as a wayto help the customer solve it, and then the customer gets cold feet. InJulie's case, it's important to ask why the executives allowed us to makethat presentation to upper management. Julie's personal value currencyplayed a major role in her success, but there is more to it than that.

Learning from Julie

Let's go back to the beginning. Remember, Julie had invested agreat deal of time and energy on this deal. She had established herselfas a credible, trustworthy source of information and help for thesecustomers. She'd made many, many deposits into her personal-valuebank account, and in the end, she needed to make a big withdrawalfrom those reserves to close the deal. Developing this personal valuecurrency began with the very first call Julie made.

Most salespeople do not operate the way Julie did with thiscustomer. Even Julie herself did not when she was newer to sales.

We've all been there. You arrive at the office knowing thatyou're about to spend the day making cold calls. How many "no"answers will you receive? As usual, there were far too many to countyesterday. Today, you resolve, will be different. Today, you are goingto get that yes and get yourself in the door. But as the day begins, youfind yourself staring at the phone, which seems to weigh a thousandpounds. You resolve to push forward, because you must somehowfind a way in. You aren't exactly sure how, but you know this is yourjob and this is what must be done.

I remember the countless days of calls we all made, Julie included.She made tons of calls, "dialing for dollars" as we called it. Using hernicest voice, she'd politely ask potential customers to meet with her,saying something like, "I will be in the area and was wondering ifyou would like to meet," or "I would like to meet with you to let youknow about some of our new products," or "I was hoping we couldmeet to discuss your buying plans for next quarter." The approachdidn't result in many meetings.

"When": Calling Too Soon

In retrospect, Julie was not really asking but rather hoping thecustomer would feel charitable and responsive to her "polite beg."She was making her calls too soon, before she had a compellingreason that would make the customer want to meet with her. Inreality, this approach simply told target executives that she was notprepared. I'm sure they interpreted this to mean that if they met, theywould be doing all the work to educate her, rather than the otherway around.

Julie was essentially telling customers that she wanted to meetwith them to benefit her, not the customer. Focusing on "polite begcalls" without having done adequate homework caused Julie to makea poor first impression and yielded few positive results. She failed toidentify a compelling reason for the customer to meet with her. Shewas getting the "when" wrong by calling too soon.

Excelling in the initial call is about how tolook out for the customer, not what thecustomer can do for you to sell him or hersomething.

"When": Calling Too Late

Knowing she had to do research, there were times when Julieprocrastinated too much before making the call. She knew that sheneeded to know about her target customer during her initial call, andshe got caught up in thinking that more information was better too.Gathering a high pile of information would make sure she wouldalways say the perfect thing.

Like so many of us, she had analysis paralysis. Perfection can bethe enemy of progress. As Julie spent time planning, her call volumedropped, which in turn negatively impacted her pipeline.

I have seen many salespeople spend way too much time trying toget the perfect amount of information, and the sad thing is they don'tneed to be perfect. They only need to have enough information tocreate an idea or hypothesis about how they can help the customersolve a current or emerging problem. They need to play the part ofthe sleuth. Play a hunch and make the call!

Julie fell into a common trap. She let the cold calls intimidate her,causing her to do too much homework instead of taking action. Thistime, she was getting the "when" wrong by calling too late.

Your target customers endure a nonstop flood of calls fromsalespeople just like you. Customers are busy, and they often feelas if they are doing just fine. They cannot keep up with so manysalespeople asking for their time. They may be thinking, I am constantlygetting calls from salespeople wanting to sell me something. Why should Ispend time...