Stop Needing the Sale

I think selling gets easier when we stop needing the person in front of us to buy.

Which is easy for me to say. You have a quota. Your manager wants an update. You’d like to continue living indoors.

When you really need a sale, it starts leaking into the conversation. People can smell your commission breath.

You’re asking questions, but you’re hoping for certain answers. And when you don’t get them, you start nudging.

They say they’re happy with what they have, and now you’re explaining why they shouldn’t be. They say it’s not a priority, and you’re trying to make it one.

I’ve done this. You probably have too.

It’s hard to be curious when you’ve already decided how the conversation needs to end.

What helps me is remembering that this person might not need what I sell. They might be doing just fine. Or they might have a problem that isn’t worth the trouble of fixing right now.

I’d like to find that out.

And if that means we don’t work together, okay.

I still want the business. But I want them to be able to say, “Josh, I don’t think we need this,” without having to sit through my rebuttal.

That takes some pressure off both of us.

I can stop trying to turn every answer into a reason to buy.

And they can stop choosing their words so carefully.