Sales Training Blog

The Scott Brown Senate win: if you make the calls you make the sale

Tip O'Neil, the legendary Democratic House of Representatives Majority leader from Massachusetts once said, "All politics are local." I have a slight modification of that, "All politics is local selling." This includes selling ideas, selling legislation, and especially selling candidates.

The recent upset victory that Massachusetts Republican State Senator Scott Brown pulled off over Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley proves my point. In a special election held to replace the late Edward Kennedy''s National Senate seat, the two candidates were given about a month to campaign. In that time Coakley made a total of 19 campaign appearances, about one every two days. In this photo she is shown demonstrating the her campaign style by staying at home and sitting on her porch with her husband and dogs. 

 

Martha Coakley:

19 campaign appearances  

Republican candidate, Scott Brown had a different campaign style. He was out all the time and seemed like he was everywhere. In the same time frame Coakley made 19 campaign appearances, he made 66, over 2 a day.  

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Brown (far left) 66 campaign appearances 

Even in a Democratic state, in a campaign for the seat of a former Democratic legend, you can't fight the oldest lesson in selling; 

if you make the calls you make the sale. 

More on my theory that all politics are about local selling

Are “consultative style” presentations killing your business?

About 15 years ago I interviewed Mack Hanan, who wrote the book, Consultative Selling, and pioneered the sales movement by the same name. At the time, Hanan was disturbed by sales organizations who borrowed the style and semantics of consultative selling while not investing in the content needed to provide a true consultative selling service. He was particularly upset with media sales organizations, most of which he felt, had embraced consultative selling in name only.

Today, that same activity that upset Hanan is alive and well. How many sales presentations begin by appearing to take the side of the customer, imply that great and helpful content useful to increase business and profitability is coming, only to have the presentation deteriorate into a product pitch. Presentations like this are consultative in style only. Customers nod politely through them and five minutes after you leave the room have forgotten everything you said.
Content that fuels consultative selling feels different. It is…
• About their business, not about your products
• About their profitability, not your sales terms
• About their customers, not your customers
• About a new market opportunity
• New information about your customer’s customers they didn't know before

The real damage for using consultative style presentations comes when it marks the end of deeper inquiry into your customer's needs. When organizations believe they are delivering a consultative approach by stylistically shaping their product pitch, a deeper understanding of the customer, and all the opportunities that come with it, are lost. Over time this can kill a company.