The legendary comic actor W.C. Fields famously said, “Never
work with children or animals.” But not because he didn’t like them; because
they are unpredictable.
Fields, who started his career in vaudeville as a juggler in
front of live audiences, knew that unpredictability is not a welcome ingredient
for a successful performance.
The same is true in sales. When making a presentation to a
client, or going into orals or “yellow pad” sessions for an RFP,
unpredictability or spontaneity are potentially disastrous. The path to a
successful sale is built on rigorous preparation: mastery of the substance,
understanding the process and lots of rehearsals with your team to find out
strengths and weaknesses.
During a presentation for a software product some years ago,
the company I worked for at the time put a highly-experienced technical lead at
the front of the room to execute the demo. One of the client’s executives
watched with interest, and then interrupted the presentation to ask: “Well,
couldn’t you also do it by bringing the data through those other fields
instead?”
Our technical lead paused, clearly displeased by the
interruption, and said, “Well, yes. We could do it your way. Or we could do it
the right way.”
In W.C. Fields’ world, that was the equivalent of the trained
dog relieving itself on the people in the front row.
We did not recover from that gaff but I learned an important
lesson early in my career that is part of my preparation for any major
presentation: rehearse under stress. Before meeting with the client, put the
presenters up in front of the room and subject them to a barrage of difficult
questions. Get emotional. Yell. See how they react. Clients can always be unpredictable
in their behavior, but I can’t have surprises from my sales team!
So I want to see how my team will deal with the worst I can
throw at them. Will they wither? Falter? Or will they maintain composure under
fire. We can’t always predict what clients are going to say. But as a sales
strategist, I make it my goal to know how my sales team is going to respond.
