It’s Monday morning and you just had a great weekend. You get back to work and someone asks about your weekend. You no more begin to tell how much fun you had when they jump right into their exciting or not so exciting past couple of days. You sit there and listen “never once” getting a chance to answer the original question or much less being able to talk about your weekend.
or
You ask a friend out for lunch and all they do is talk about their life. “Never once” considering why you asked them out to lunch or caring about what’s happening in you life. While the conversation may be pleasant, do you wonder if they really care about you?
or
You come home from work, sit down at dinner and afterword realize you only talked about your day. “Never once” thinking about anyone else’s day at the table.
How do you feel?
Pareto Principle (80/20 rule)
Maybe you’ve heard of the Pareto Principle or often referred to as the 80/20 rule. It states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the
causes. Or as Pareto observed that 80% of the peas came from 20% of the pea pods but I digress.
In Business and Sales it is widely accepted that:
- 80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of its customers
- 80% of a company’s complaints come from 20% of its customers
- 80% of a company’s sales come from 20% of its products
- 80% of a company’s sales are made by 20% of its salespeople
But you may ask “What does this have to do with talking about my weekend or lunch with a friend?”
Maybe nothing but:
What if your friends used the 80/20 rule and spent 80% of the time asking and talking about what you want to talk about and 20% about themselves and what they want to discuss.
How would you feel?
I’m sure you would walk away from this discussion or lunch feeling completely different.
You would most likely want to include them more in your conversations and invite them to lunch more often because they have demonstrated they care about you and what you have to say.
By simply making the conversation less about them and more about you, your perspective about them completely changes. Agreed?
As Salespeople we often make the same mistakes as our friends.
In our efforts to get our customers to like us and buy our products and services, we want to tell them how good we are, how great our company is and all the ways we can help them. “Never once” thinking about what our customers want to discuss.
How do they feel?
We fail to ask the questions that allow them to say what they want to say and forget to listen to what they do say.
We may ask our customer a question about themselves or their business but in our haste and excitement to make a sale or promote ourselves we quickly jump into talking about what we are there to discuss.
“We end up talking mostly about us and little about them.”
This must change.
What would happen if you implemented the 80/20 rule in your next sales call? Making sure that 80% of the conversation is about them and their company. Listening for their wants and needs. Helping them find solutions to their problems. Then making sure only 20% of your time is talking about you and your company.
Do you think your customers would walk away from this sales call feeling completely different?
Would you begin separating yourself from your competitors?
If you customers know you care about them and recognize you are not just there to make a sale, would they be more comfortable including you in their discussions and valuing what you have to say?
Then, when the time is right, they will be buying the products and services you have to offer. I strongly believe this will be the case.
Conclusion
- It will not be easy to implement the 80/20 rule with your customers.
- It will require to be prepared for each and every sales call.
- Be intentional and engaged with the customer, resisting the urge to mostly talk about yourself and your company.
- Making sure your customer knows you care before asking for the order or diving into your well crafted sales pitch.
- Remembering 80% them, 20% me.
I think it really boils down to intentionally giving (spending) most of your time making sure your customers and friends know you care about them and less of your time talking about yourself or asking for something in return.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.
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Now let’s get out there and over-deliver!
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