← Return to Posts

Who Owns the Idea

May 5, 2016 Joe Mechlinski

So you are talking with a prospect experiencing significant pain. You know he needs what you are selling – but doesn’t know it yet. How do you get him to come to that decision? Should you tell him what he needs? Or should intelligent salespeople ask prospects what they need, and then bring them around to the same answer?

It is matter of form over substance here. We teach in our classes that when the prospect owns the idea – as opposed to you owning the idea and preaching what it is – you are more likely to get the sale.

I’ll use EntreQuest as an example. Our value prop is, we help companies grow faster than they could grow on their own. One way we make this happen is by recruiting and placing what we call Truby sales professionals. From our perspective, our Trubys are what every company needs because they are exceptionally driven, have great character, work ethic and coachability. But we never tell prospects that they need to hire these traits. It’s much better to ask prospects what they want to see in a candidate, and have them say, “I want someone with drive, character, work ethic and coachability.” At that point, we show how our Truby Program was designed for companies with exactly these requirements.

This approach creates a much deeper understanding. It positions you as a true partner in helping them get what they need.

Learn more from EntreQuest’s articles as published in SmartCEO Magazine:

Enrollment vs. Closing

Revealing the Need

TOPICS: High Performance, Employee Engagement