A number of blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it was an elephant. The blind men asked, ‘What is the elephant like?’ and they began to touch its body. One of them said: 'It is like a pillar.' This blind man had only touched its leg.– the second man said, ‘The elephant is like a husking basket,’ He had only touched its ears. The third man, touched his trunk and declared an elephant is like a rope. Obviously, none of the blind men were correct.
We see this phenomenon on a regular basis with our prospects. So often sales managers measure the effectiveness of sales people based on their ability to get to the end of the selling process. Salespeople respond to these measurements by rushing through sales calls, doing a minimal amount of questioning of their prospects and hoping that when the time comes they can put together a compelling proposal. This incomplete information too often results in lower closing percentages and smaller transactions. Naturally, lower closing percentages and smaller transactions lead owners to call us and ask for help with their salespeople’s ability to close.
Unfortunately having a blind man review the merits of another blind man’s watercolor portrait rarely produces the needed remedy to create a fine painter. As trainers we take a holistic view of your company’s Strategy Structure Staff and Skills. We make sure that the sales machine you have designed is really producing the conditions for success that you desire. And we make sure that if you are trying to describe a sales elephant that you are seeing the whole animal --tusk to tail-- and you are describing what is actually there not what you wish was there.
Tired of dealing with only some of the picture?
Contact Matt Nettleton, Sandler Training DTB 317-678-8800 or matt.nettleton@sandler.com
