Sellers Have a Lot in Common with…

Believe it or not, today’s salesperson has a lot in common with the sport fisherman. This notion occurred to me as I went on a one-day jaunt up to North Georgia to fish for trophy trout this past spring. The fog gently lifted off the river as the crystal clear waters reflected the blue sky above. The water teemed with Rainbow trout. And, because we were fishing on private land, it was catch and release when we went, the idea being to allow the fish to grow to their full adult length of 24 to 26 inches and up to four and five pounds.

Being relative novices at the art of fly fishing, my friend Mark and I hired a guide (Andy) who not only knew the river like the back of his hand, he also knew how to choose the appropriate fly (or bait) for the given fishing conditions.

Chapter 4 in my first book, Secrets of Question Based Selling, opens with a simple anecdote that goes like this: “I go fishing up in Maine every summer,” Dale Carnegie wrote in the mid 1930s. “Personally, I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I find that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I go fishing, I don’t think about what I want. I think about what they want. I don’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. I dangle a worm or a fly in front of the fish and think, ‘Wouldn’t you like to have that?’” Carnegie’s story prompts me to ask, why not use the same common sense when fishing for customers? Shouldn’t we think about what they want?

The other direct comparison between fishing and selling is how you don’t actually try to hook a fish. In order to actually catch one, you have to first cause the fish to see the desirable looking baited hook and then come over and take a nice big juicy bite. That’s how you catch fish-by somehow enticing them to become interested enough to bite at your lures rather than just chasing them around and randomly trying to hook one.

Sales works much the same way. If you leave a voice-mail message, for example, that says something to the effect of, “I want to take a few minutes of your time to see if there is a fit between what we offer and what your might need.” Click! Very few customers would take that bait. It’s not that you don’t want to spend time with customers exploring their needs relative to your solutions. You just haven’t made it very enticing from the customer’s perspective.

You’d be much better reeling them in slowly by leaving a message that said, “I had a conference call with the Director of Operations last week, and three issues came up in the meeting that might directly impact your production. One of them is time sensitive, so could you give be a call back at…?” If you are calling with something that sounds relevant, most prospects will be hooked. They will want to know more about those issues that came up in the meeting, especially the one that was time sensitive. Bingo! That’s a direct strike on your line, which will help fill the boat with opportunities.