Have you seen the selective attention test?
For the uninitiated, there’s are six people playing a game.
Three people are dressed in black.
Three people are dressed in white.
Each team has a basketball.
The black team passes the ball to people dressed in black.
The white team passes the ball to people dressed in white.
The experimental “victim” is asked to count the number of times the white time throws the ball back and forth within a 3-minute time frame.
The correct answer is 15 passes.
The experimenter then asks, “Did you see the gorilla?”
53% of people say, “What gorilla?”
The researcher then rewinds the video.
One minute in, a 6’4″ gorilla walks into the middle of the frame, pounds its chest, and walks out.
Why am I talking about this?
This is a great demonstration of how intent works when selling.
When your intent is to focus on the “basketball” (the meeting or the sale), all you see is the basketball.
The question is when you’re focused on the basketball, what do you not see?
The answer?
You don’t see your prospect (the gorilla).
When you’re focused on the basketball, you behave in ways that feel pushy.
You don’t take no for an answer.
You follow up six times in 5 days.
You talk people into things.
Whenever prospects feel the push, they pull away.
Same intent.
Same behavior.
Same results.
How do you focus on the gorilla?
Shift your perspective.
Detach from the outcome.
Let go of having expectations.
Be curious about how your prospect is getting the job done without having an agenda.
It’s possible that your prospect doesn’t have a problem.
Ironically, when you change your intent, you get to more truth which leads to more sales.
Different intent.
Different behavior.
Different results.
