Some view fear as an asset and some as a liability. It signals you in advance of impending risk, or it holds you back from acting. While both states can occur, does that make one right and the other wrong?
In competitive selling, particularly for important deals where winning means a lot, fear has its place. We’ve all been in sales situations that are peaking, suggesting that a client decision is about to be made. It’s a time when you cannot make mistakes. Take the case when the client is not being very responsive, not getting back to you. What do you make of it? It’s here that fear can be an asset, as it signals the application of a specific principle; when a sales campaign is peaking, and you sense you’re in trouble, you have a disaster! You could wait, seek more information on what’s really going on, or do nothing. But, time is a critical factor. When you’re at risk of losing, your vulnerability goes up with the square of time. So, you need to move. If you’re okay, no problem. If you’re in trouble, you may be able to pull off a loss recovery.
So, when is fear a sales liability? Let’s go back to our peaking sales situation example. You’ve done a great job with your sales campaign. You have been down selected, aligned with powerful client individuals, positioned your business value to the client very well, and are feeling pretty good. And so, you wait to hear from the client, but all of a sudden they are becoming pretty passive. In a flash, all of the thought leadership and assertiveness goes away. Why? All too often Business Development Executives don’t ask for the order – clearly and directly. Instead, they “massage” their way to the point when they hope the client will make a favorable decision. And, all too often, this goes back to fear. That is, fear of rejection. A time when it makes more sense to simply not listen to it.
Like in our example earlier, there is no downside to directly asking for the order early. If you’re okay, no problem. It just becomes a trial close. If you’re in trouble, you may flush out client concerns and objections at a time when you can deal with them.
So, when it comes to fear:
• Understand it
• Respect it, and
• Manage it, by knowing when to respond to it and when to tune it out!