How different are your salespeople in the marketplace? Are they unique enough to break through a very crowded marketplace?
As a sales leader, part of your role is helping your salespeople create a selling approach that stands out. Differentiating in sales is not just about having a better product or knowing more about your business. It is about giving people a reason to stop, listen and want to know more.
I recently started reading Seth Godin's Purple Cow again, and early in the book he tells a story about driving his family through France. Mile after mile, farm after farm, they saw brown cows. At first, the cows were interesting, but after a while, nobody stopped to look at them anymore.
And that is the question for you and your sales team: Do you look, act and sound like everybody else? Are you another brown cow?
What does your sales approach sound like?
Nobody wants to listen to another pitch, another presentation or another salesperson who sounds exactly like everyone else. The response is usually, "I've seen it before. I've heard it before. I'm not interested."
Your salespeople may be smart. They may know their business. They may be interesting and great to talk to. But if the impression in the marketplace is that they are just another brown cow, no one is going to stop the car.
The goal is to become remarkable, and remarkable simply means worth remarking on. You know you may be onto something when a prospect responds with, "Tell me more about that," "How do you do that?" or even, "That's me. We have that problem." Those reactions are very different from someone simply sitting through another sales presentation.
Be brave with your approach
In order to move from brown cow to purple cow, you have to be willing to be a little brave. You have to redesign your approach in a way that might make you slightly uncomfortable.
For example, when you call someone, try simply saying your name and then stop talking.
"Hi, this is Tony Cole."
And then be quiet.
Most salespeople immediately follow their name with a pitch. They tell the prospect who they are, what company they are with and why they are calling. Instead, create a little curiosity and then say, "Well, let me ask you a question."
That does not sound like the normal sales call. The prospect is used to hearing, "Let me tell you about..." You are asking instead, and that small difference can change the entire conversation.
Brown cow thinking vs. purple cow thinking
Brown cow thinking sounds like this: "This is what I know. This is what I do. This is how I do it. Do you want some?"
That is how a lot of selling still happens.
Purple cow thinking is different. You might say, "What we do is not for everybody. We work with a very specific group of organizations, and not everybody qualifies."
Now the conversation changes. Instead of trying to push the prospect toward you, you are creating a situation where they may start explaining why they should stay in the conversation. That is a very different selling dynamic.
Would someone stop and listen?
So here is the question worth asking: If someone heard one of your salespeople talking to a prospect about what they do, would they stop and listen? Would they interrupt and ask a question? Would they want to hear more, or would they keep walking because they have heard it all before?
Differentiating in sales requires your salespeople to be willing to rethink how they show up in the marketplace. Be brave with your approach, say something different, ask a better question and create enough curiosity that the prospect wants to continue the conversation.
Go be the purple cow.
