I believe that being a baseball or softball umpire (as I've been since 1984) had skills and lessons that very easily translated into the sales process. After all, new umpires are instructed to sell the call through their mannerisms and use of logic on the field.
But a recent Smart Calling Tip from Art Sobczak, the president of Business by Telephone, a sales consulting firm, gave me a new perspective, by comparing the umpire with the customer rather than the sales person.
The tip was titled "Don't do This With Umpires or Prospects."
Sobczak had been a youth baseball and softball coach and more recently attended a baseball fantasy camp featuring former players from the Kansas City Royals.
During the games, players could not help but to indulge themselves to "discuss" plays they felt the umpires got wrong.
Sobczak commented, "One thing that I've learned from early years of playing and then coaching many years of kids baseball and softball, is that umpires don't like to be told they're wrong. (I'm speaking from first hand experience.) Tell an umpire that a pitch was a strike when he or she called it a ball, and they don't say, 'You know, you're right. Thanks for that. I'll change the call.'"
He then goes on to say that umpire is reacting in the same way your customers and potential customers would when you tell them they are wrong.
"Even though everyone resents being told they're wrong--often getting defensive—most sales training suggests sales reps do exactly that: counter objections and resistance with slick, canned phrases, with insidious names like the 'Boomerang Technique,' which inherently tells people they're wrong and makes them feel just slightly lower than topsoil.
"You'll never change anyone's mind by preaching at them," Sobczak said. But there are ways where you can help someone to doubt their beliefs, and get them on the path to opening them up to your ideas.
"You can help them to doubt their perceptions, which causes them to lower their guard and at least be open to what you have to say. You do this with doubt-creating questions. Here's how:
"Understand the objections you commonly hear. Write them out. Then list reasons people voice that objection. For example, when they say 'Your price is too high,' does that mean they can get it cheaper down the street? Or, did they have a predetermined price figure in mind? Or, do they not have enough money in the budget? You'll need to know their rationale (their problem) before you can address the symptom: the objection.
"For each of the objection reasons, write out questions that uncover their rationale, and plants seeds of doubt. For example, for the 'price is too high,' questions could be, 'Are we talking about just the price itself, or the long-term value? 'What are we being compared to? 'What price figure did you feel would be appropriate for what you're looking to receive?'"
Sobczak recommended approaching objections in a friendly manner "and ask questions to root out the reasons. Got through this process, and you'll be better prepared to ask the right questions to plant the seeds of doubt."
P.S. Loan officers of all types—residential, commercial and even reverse—don't forget to go to
