So, What Do YOU Think?
Nobody gives a $#!t what you think.
About business, the f#cking virus, the weather, football…
Ok, maybe somebody gives a shit, but the real reason most people ask you what you think is because they want to tell you what they think.
Here’s an exercise to prove my point...
Try to go a whole day, or even a whole conversation, asking people their opinions and not giving your own.
It’s hard as hell for most of us!
We want to tell people what we think!
If they ask you first, say, “ I know what I think, but what do you think?” instead of answering. My guess is they'll ask you back for your opinion less than 10% of the time. And that’s with your friends and colleagues!
Even worse, sharing your opinions in a sales call can be problematic and will often cost you BIG money.
Here are two ways it does:
1. Free consulting doesn’t pay very well
Ever been on a sales call and your prospect was really interested in what you had to say? She was engaged in the conversation, asked you questions, maybe even complimented you on your knowledge and then asked you to "put all that” in writing?
Seeing that as a buying signal, you went home and created a proposal with ALL of your great ideas and pricing. You might have even spent some real time on it, maybe got your boss or other people to help.
You get your proposal back to your prospect and she says it looks great and then asks you to call her back in a week. And you feel great about it!
And you call back exactly when you said you would.
And you're excited, because you now have a relationship with her.
But then you get her voicemail for the next three weeks... and you find out she bought from someone else.
Maybe she even used YOUR **number to beat up the person she was planning to use the whole time!
If this keeps happening to you, that’s your fault.
2. You're being tested constantly to see if you can be trusted.
Your prospect will call you an idiot if you share your opinion of their situation without first exploring what they think about their situation. (Maybe won’t call you an idiot to your face, but they will between their ears and to other people.)
When someone calls you an idiot, even when it’s unspoken, that’s not a great step in building trust, the ultimate currency between humans.
The exception to this is if you’ve been paid to give your opinion. An example is getting paid to do your proposal. This can come in the form of an assessment, deep dive, letter of value or other thing that's really just a paid proposal.
“But Walker, no one gets paid to do that in my business” you’re probably saying (while smirking and calling me an idiot because now I've shared an opinion you don’t agree with.) [That “no one does that in my business” is an excuse, by the way.] Say this instead: “I haven’t figured out how to get paid for my proposals in this business.” At least you’re owning the problem then.
Because I show people every day how to get paid for their proposals.
Chances are I’ve taught at least one of your competitors to charge for stuff you’re currently giving away.
You’re probably too cynical to believe anyone would pay you or your competitor for information you're giving away now for free.
And maybe you’re right.
If you could think of one reason, however (just one) that some people you call on would be willing to pay for the information you're currently providing for free, what would that be?
What kind of in depth information would you be able to provide if you knew you were being paid to give it?
Know why chances are no one has ever paid you for your information in the past?
Cause you've never asked! OR, you didn’t know how to sell it as a service.
81% of your prospects who pay you for your information will then buy your product or service from you, if they do anything at all.
How many do you think would spend money if they really had no intention of buying?
How many of your proposals are turning into sales now?
You'll get paid a hell of a lot more money in your career if you get better at soliciting your prospects’ opinions for free, while either not sharing or charging a lot for yours.
That’s just my opinion.
Bringing Honesty, Transparency, and Selflessness to Business & Sales.
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