Many CEOs, sales managers and salespeople I meet believe that educating their prospect will lead to more sales.  They think that education will build creditability and is an important component in the development of trust.  Unfortunately, this popular misconception flies in the face of the facts that psychologists and sales superstars have known for years.  The truth is that educating a prospect is the least important aspect of influence.  It is, however, the primary contributor to most sales failures!

Building trust and assisting prospects with decision making are vital elements in an effective sales process. However, over-presenting to a prospect is the least effective way to accomplish those objectives.

Despite believing the value of questioning over educating, many salespeople find it difficult to overcome their old habits of presenting too much and too soon.  If you know someone who might suffer from “unselling by telling”, they likely need to overcome one or more of the following Voices in Their Head:

1) Everybody Needs It – Salespeople who believe that everyone needs their product/service are vulnerable to assumptions.  This mindset undermines all the basic principles of asking powerful questions.  Why would a salesperson ask any questions if he/she already assumed that they knew what the prospect was thinking and feeling?

2) Need for Approval:  Many salespeople feel that it is more important to be liked than to generate business.  In an effort to get buyers to like them, these salespeople often give away their expertise (aka: “free consulting”).   They actually lose trust by doing so.  Sophisticated (and sometimes manipulative) buyers know how to use these salespeople as levers to buy at a reduced price.

3) Unwillingness to Change – Anyone unwilling to change will not grow and will not improve.  The “I’ve always done it this way…” mentality prevents many salespeople with potentially good skills from ever moving beyond mediocrity.

4) The Intellectual – The verdict is final—all buying decisions are made emotionally.  However, the Intellect will ignore all the research and instead stand firm in the belief that selling is an intellectual process.  He/she will choose to believe that providing a sufficient volume of data will ultimately “convince” even the most “dense” prospect to buy through brute force of logic.  Intellectual salespeople are among the poorest in the profession.

5) Self-Esteem – All successful salespeople know how to maintain control of the selling process.   Some salespeople have difficultly establishing a peer relationship with buyers due to their sense of subservience.  Rather than taking control, they believe that the prospect is more qualified to lead and decide.  How would you feel if your doctor asked to diagnose your own illness?

Winning more sales means developing more trust.  Trust development requires making fewer assumptions and asking more questions.   Questioning instead of educating takes practice and requires new habits.  Breaking old habits by overcoming the Voices in Your Head is a critical component to lasting change.  Help your Sales Team identify their head trash and develop habits to overcome them.  Doing so can lead to a massive increase in your revenues and profits.

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