MoneyWatch

Can You Handle the Truth?

By Geoffrey James

Updated on: September 4, 2008 / 11:31 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The above is the key scene from one of Dave Stein's favorite movies.

Dave Stein is the CEO and Founder of ES Research Group, Inc., which is the only company that objectively studies the performance of sales training firms. (They periodically publish an invaluable report rating the different vendors.) Dave is also the author of the book How Winners Sell, a prolific blogger (he's my personal favorite after Scott Adams), and also one of this blog's most prolific contributors.

In my recent post "Do You Have a Sales Success Attitude?" Dave commented that there's one attitude that's uncommon among sales professionals: the willingness to seek the truth when that truth is uncomfortable. According to Dave, "all too many salespeople don't ask their customers and themselves the tough questions, because they are not ready, willing and able to hear the answers."

Here is a sampling of questions that generally don't get asked of customers:

If you had to make a decision today, whom would you choose?
What would prevent you from doing business with me and my company?
Do I have an equal chance of winning your business?
If you don't make a final decision by that date, what will happen?
Do you really have a budget for this?

And here are some that sales professionals generally don't ask of themselves:

What skills must I improve to be more successful?
What's preventing me from taking action?
Do I really believe in my firm and, if not, why am I working here?
Why am I not taking full responsibility for my performance?
Have I truly confronted and overcome my fear of rejection?

Sales managers also have their own set of questions they won't ask themselves, like:

Is this forecast real or are you just telling me what I want to hear?
Are my sales skills, created and honed in the past, still relevant today?
Do I really have what it takes to be a coach rather than just a closer?
Am I using CRM as a way to micromanage and control my staff?
Does our sales process really match the way that customers want to buy?

Unfortunately, there's no good cure for this kind of self-imposed ignorance. All you can do is try to eliminate it in yourself, and be willing to ask the hard questions, even if it sends you out of your comfort zone.

I thought it might be interesting to take a poll on this. It's your chance to confront the truth about your willingness to seek the truth. Answer honestly! Remember, you're not fooling anybody but yourself if don't.

[poll id=23]

UPDATE: 7/8: If you're familiar with the video shown above, you may not be familiar with the SALES VERSION of "A Few Good Men." You can find it posted HERE, on Dave Stein's blog. Seriously, don't miss that video.