When a child has a bag of candy dumped in front of them, he or she does one of two things. When it’s offered to them without supervision they gorge themselves on it until there is nothing left, which usually causes big problems for their stomach. The other option is that they turn their nose up at it because it’s not the kind they like. Not only are they upset because they don’t like it, they’re upset because they thought they had a great treat coming to them and are left with a worthless pile. When someone is supervising them they can discover which candy they prefer and be given a reasonable amount. In the end, it’s better for the child as they get the treat they like but don’t suffer the stomachache later. Prospects often need to be handled in a similar manner.

Too many salespeople remove the supervision aspect from the sales call. They dump their candy in the lobby and let the prospect do as they will. So how do they do this? They accomplish this by telling the prospect everything about their product or service. They run through a presentation that covers everything from A to Z. The prospect has a similar reaction the child would. They get captivated by the presentation and try to consume every word. The problem is they don’t really process it because it’s more than they need to know, it doesn’t relate to them specifically, and they end up being overwhelmed by the information in front of them. They are gorged on information, which puts them in a state of paralysis. They know so much they need time to process it. It’s rare that a prospect can efficiently and accurately process the information. Therefore, the sale is lost because it was more than they could handle.

The other reaction is when the information is dumped on them and they don’t like it. It’s not what they like or it doesn’t fit their need so they are resistant. In the end they are irritated because while all this great information is before them they can’t use it because it doesn’t have an application to their issue. Since they can’t find the value of what they’ve been told, they assume it doesn’t relate to them and the sale is lost. It’s very challenging to backtrack from this point and pick the pieces out that apply to them.

So how can a salesperson provide supervision? The first way is by asking some questions. What is the prospect looking for and what problem are they facing? After you get a good answer to that you can pick the features and benefits of your product or service that apply. Then lay those individual things out for them- it’s a manageable chunk of information that directly applies to them so it can be effectively processed. Without that supervision you’re bound to overwhelm a prospect or miss the mark. Either scenario will lose or prolong the sale.

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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