If your sales strategy still relies on pressure and pitches, you're losing clients before the real conversation begins.
One of the people leading the sales workshop started bringing participants up to do role play. I was stunned when the role play quickly became a high-pressure pitch. Instead of going through the dialogue between a salesperson and their prospective client, the trainer deployed unethical tactics to get their mark to agree to sign up for sales training. What I witnessed had nothing to do with demonstrating effective sales strategies or ethical sales behavior.
After it was over, the so-called leader dismissed their brand-new client, who shuffled to the back of the room, having committed to spend about $300,000 they weren’t prepared to. Forty other people sat quietly to avoid the fate of the person dragged into the role play.
That wasn’t a role play. It was a shakedown.
The Hidden Dangers of High-Pressure Sales Training Environments
The idea of doing a role play in front of a roomful of peers was designed to put the prospect’s ego under pressure publicly. Having just seen what happened to the first victim, as many as four other people walked up to sign a contract, dragging their feet as if they were going to their gallows. Anything to avoid public humiliation.
Or, perhaps these easy marks believed sales was supposed to be a high-pressure browbeating. Maybe they were so desperate that they thought learning the trainer’s manipulation and intimidation tactics would help their own sales team hit their targets.
One thing everyone in the room could agree on was that the experience was unpleasant, something to be avoided.
Why Ethical Salespeople Walk Away From Manipulative Sales Pitches
I was torn between creating conflict or leaving the workshop. I decided to leave, so I packed up my things and headed to the airport to catch a flight home.
The two men running the workshop had already made a large fortune. There was no reason to fleece people, whether or not they were easy to pressure. The experience left me uneasy and angry on behalf of the well-meaning salespeople at the workshop.
Always Be Closing: The Outdated Sales Mentality That Still Haunts B2B
Like many salespeople, the leaders of the workshop were taught and trained to always be closing—regardless of whether it was the right time. It is easy to recognize people who sell things but are not true salespeople because they use pressure tactics. If someone is always closing, always trying to push their prospect, it is because they lack sales skills.
Real salespeople have no need to apply pressure to a prospective client. Instead, salespeople use the sales conversation to create value for their contacts while building a relationship of trust. Real salespeople know trust is the critical factor in a client’s decision to buy from the salesperson.
Modern B2B Sales Strategies Prioritize Value and Trust
Pressure tactics like the ones deployed by the scammers leading that workshop are obsolete and rare. I wish they were extinct.
Modern sales relies on providing prospective clients with enough value that you can secure a series of commitments. This way, by the time you are ready to close—by asking the client for their business—you have developed a relationship, taught them something important, and addressed their concerns. This makes the close feel natural to them.
To learn more about gaining commitments, you might pick up my second book, The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the 10 Commitments That Drive Sales. The people who have executed the approach it describes share their success stories with me. They make more money than they used to. The book includes language designed to help your client take the next step using the Trading-Value Rule, which requires you to give the client something of value in exchange for the time they spend meeting with you. This helps you make certain that the client understands the value of the conversation at every step.
How to Close B2B Sales without Pressure or Manipulation
As a salesperson, your job is to help your client make a series of decisions that lead to a close. If you’ve done your job properly, the client should be happy to close because they have confidence that your guidance will lead them to success.
Remember that your prospective client accepted a first meeting with you because they needed better results. They had a problem they couldn’t solve on their own. What you should have done is share your experience and knowledge to help them learn more about the problem they are facing and potential solutions. By using your expertise solving similar problems, you should be able to educate your client about the underlying reasons and help them identify the best path forward. Ideally, that would be with you, but ethical salespeople also help their contacts understand all the options available, and the tradeoffs that come with each one.
It is better to remove any pressure and adopt an other-oriented attitude. Your prospective client must feel that you are working with them, not on them. Their success must drive the conversation. The moment it seems to be about how you will benefit, you will lose them.
Clients are savvy and sensitive to self-oriented salespeople. Progress forward without doing anything that might cause your prospect to doubt your priorities. It is a far better approach than sending the message that you only care about whether you make the sale.
The Sales Conversation Framework That Replaces Closing Tactics
Closing tactics are not right for B2B salespeople. They have been replaced with a series of conversations designed to create value for the client. In doing so, you will win your client’s relationship and their business.
