I named my company SalesGrowth MD, Inc. because of my belief that there are many things a great seller has in common with a great Doctor. Including a large paycheck in most cases!
Here are a few of the more obvious behavioral similarities and why they are important.
Great Doctors Don’t Prescribe to a Patient’s Self Diagnosis: In the Internet age in which we live the first place many people visit when they are ailing is the Internet. The same is true in business.
By the time a patient visits their Physician “Dr. Google” has convinced them they have Human Sleeping Sickness brought on by a Tsetse Fly bite or some other exotic “worst case” scenario based upon general symptoms.
The great physician doesn’t just listen to their self-diagnosis and prescribe treatment for their presumed ailment. He or she would perform a careful diagnosis of the symptoms, run some tests as appropriate, and only then prescribe a cure for the problem.
Too often sales people fall victim to a similar situation. The client thinks they know just what is required to solve their problem and they could be right. But they might not be and a great sales professional doesn’t jump on the “self diagnosis” and “prescribe” the solution until performing a thorough diagnostic. Just as in the medical example “prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.”
Great Doctors Don’t Do Most of the Talking: You can’t conduct a thoughtful and thorough diagnosis when you are doing most of the talking. A great physician will ask targeted questions that allow them to get to the root of the patients “pain”. The same would be true of a great salesperson.
Does the Doctor explain to you the history of how the prescription was invented and every detail of exactly how the prescription was formulated, patented, produced, distributed, etc.? Of course not but unfortunately that is exactly how many sellers approach the sales process.
Great Doctors demonstrate their years of training and education through the quality of the diagnostic questions they ask and not by lecturing you on how much they know about every detail and nuance of the medical profession.
Great Doctors Are Okay With No: When your doctor prescribes a treatment do they refuse to let you leave until you promise to adopt the treatment? Do you think it ruins their day if you decide to ignore their advice and don’t even pick up your prescription from the pharmacy? Of course not, their job is to provide expert diagnosis and care but they can’t MAKE you listen to them and they don’t question their medical skills if a patient decides to seek another opinion.
Far too frequently getting a “no” to their proposal from a prospect crushes salespeople. They take it personally and it can even be debilitating. Getting comfortable with a no response is a key attribute of top sellers because the more no’s they get the faster they can get to the “yeses” or “see more patients a day” in the case of the physician.
Sandler Training in Denver provides sales training, management and leadership training, and professional development for individuals and organizations. Let us know how we can help your team.
