The Two Times You Can Sell

by Graham Denton

"It was a perfect match, but the timing was off." This "bad timing" comment is a common refrain in selling, and it's used by salespeople to explain countless situations where, if they'd only been there a month earlier or two weeks later, a great commission might have gone into their pockets. It's not merely an excuse, either. Timing is a critical factor in successful selling, and if you only had a situational thermometer for telling when the timing was right -- and when it was wrong -- you'd be able to save yourself a lot of wasted hours in pitching your product or service to people who just aren't ready.

In The New Strategic Selling, Miller Heiman authors Diane Sanchez, Steve Heiman, and Tad Tuleja provide that situational thermometer by explaining the four possible modes of customer receptivity. Beginning with the observation that every sale represents a change, they say that receptivity depends on each individual's "perception of the immediate business situation and of what will happen to that situation if the change that you are offering is accepted." There are four such perceptions -- they call them Buyer Response Modes -- that are possible, and the thing that the seller has to remember is that only two of these modes say the timing is right.

The first "receptive" mode is Growth. When a person is in Growth mode, he perceives a gap between where he is right now and where he wants to be, and he believes that he can close that gap only by getting more and/or better results. He's therefore receptive to change, and is primed to say Yes to somebody's proposal -- although not necessarily yours. In selling to a person in Growth mode, the secret is to demonstrate to him or her that your proposal can deliver the change that will close the gap.

How do you know when a prospect or customer is in Growth mode? Listen for trigger words that indicate a readiness to change: Customers who use words like more, better, faster, increased, and improved are telling you that the timing may be right.

The timing also may be right in a second mode, Trouble. The signals here may not be verbal, but if you're attentive to emotional nuance, they'll be clear. The hallmark of a customer in Trouble is that he's desperate for help, so if you're dealing with somebody who looks like he's nervous, distracted, or in pain, the chances may be good that he's in this second mode.

Just like those who see themselves as needing Growth, customers who feel that they're in Trouble perceive a gap between their current reality and a projected future. In this situation, though, they see things as going downhill fast, and they feel that a change is needed to turn things around. They'll be receptive if you can show them that your proposal can fix their problem now. The "now" is crucial. Customers in Trouble don't have the luxury of adopting a judicious planning or wait-and-see attitude. They want the bleeding stopped, and they want it done ASAP.

For the salesperson, there's an important lesson here. Since Trouble has an urgency that Growth may not have, when you're dealing with a customer in Trouble, fix the problem first. That is, in positioning yourself as the solution to his nightmare, emphasize those product or service capabilities that are Trouble-containers rather than Growth-enhancers. The savvy salesperson speaks to each individual person's perception of reality, and -- as the authors of The New Strategic Selling put it -- selling Growth to somebody who feels that she's in Trouble is "like selling a new roof to a farmer whose barn has just caught fire. Even if the barn needs a roof, it doesn't need one now."