Beware the 'passion' trap

Day Two of my week’s marathon on anti-marketing (and dipping into my latest book – ‘The Anti-Marketeer’s Handbook’), covers popular pitfalls that the sales people can fall into if they are not careful…

There are other issues to mess with the modern anti-sales person’s head. When you have established a rapport with a client, then it is easy to slip into a number of nasty traps, which will lose you the day, no matter how wonderful or different you are.

First, falling into your pet ‘comfort zones’

For example, in the case of English language sales people, it is easy to wax lyrical about all your English programmes and studiously ignore the Teacher-Training and Junior courses, simply because you are not that certain about them and do not want to answer any tricky questions. Everyone likes to sell the stuff they know best – and it is a great temptation to concentrate entirely on the areas you are most at home with.

Second, rote learning

Many companies nowadays think that they can avoid all sales training, by using mechanical sales ‘scripts’. Take telesales call centres and their hundreds of humanoid sales ‘robots’. Much better to stutter, repeat and make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. Potential customers love to see the vulnerable, nervous side of the sales person. It makes them feel the sales person is one of them.

Third, the ‘passion trap’

Don’t get me wrong, used in the right place, passion is a lovely word. Like with your wife, husband, partner, cat, dog, bunny, kids, football team, favourite food or drink etc. But not with sales and marketing! A client or agent will see through that immediately, simply because it is not true. In fact, I knew a PR manager once, who instantly rejected anyone applying for a job being recruited for, who said the word passion. Interviews and jobs have no place for being passionate!

Fourth, ‘underselling’ and ‘overselling’

Both just as lethal. The first underlines lack of product knowledge and self-confidence issues and the second makes the sales person sound like Arthur Daley on a bad day. Both can lead to the worst situation of all – the promise you cannot keep or the explanation that was wrong. To do either can cause heartache at both ends of the sales funnel… and possible lawsuits.

(Taken from ‘The Anti-Marketeer’s Handbook’)