Before signing a 3-year contract extension, my customer wanted to negotiate some of their terms.  While negotiating terms was common with customers, this request was interesting because of the timing.  This customer’s most busy time of the year was approaching quickly and yet they wanted to begin a slow contract renewal process.  Something didn’t add up.

I was selling managed web hosting services to Fortune 500 companies at this time and my customer had over a year left on their current contract.  When they asked for an early renewal conversation, I was excited about the potential to lock them in for several more years.  They could get better rates and I could secure a customer for a few more years.  After the first meeting it was obvious to me that the negotiations would not be completed before their busiest online shopping time.  Why would they want to distract all of us during their busiest time of the year?

The negotiations extended past the annual seasonal spike in their online sales. I was told the contract must be in place by the end of May.  That gave us only 30 more days.  Why the end of May?  I was curious about the requested date, but I never asked.

The Punch in the Gut

Finally, we completed and signed the early contract extension. Time to celebrate, right?  Wrong!  Two days later I received a fax that they were canceling their contract.  That’s right… my brand new contract had just been canceled two days after final signatures.  It turns out that my customer was migrating all of their hosting services to my competitor. I was stunned. The entire time I thought we were winning a new contract extension, they were only negotiating for one reason. They only wanted to reduce the contract cancellation clause down to a zero dollar penalty so they could immediately cancel all services at not cost to them.  Under the old contract, cancellation with a year left on the contract would have come with significant penalties.

The One Common Trait of Successful Salespeople: Curiosity

We agreed to some of their concession requests, but not all of them. What I learned the hard way is that they really only cared about one concession… the zero dollar penalty for early cancellation.  I learned my lesson. No doubt you are probably familiar with the Dos Equis “World’s Most Interesting Man” commercials?  One of his tag lines is “Stay thirsty, my friends.” Borrowing from him, I will tell you that in sales, the tag line should be “Stay curious, my friends!” If something makes you curious, then pay attention! Your curiosity will serve you well in the sales profession.

Ask Questions to Satisfy your Curiosity

Once you’re aware of your curiosity, satisfy it by asking questions. Try to understand “the why” behind their decisions. When you can understand how people think, you are better positioned to help. The more you can empathize with your customer and see things from their perspective, you will connect with them better and you’ll be better positioned to close your deal.

Bring Value to the Conversation

Curiosity doesn’t always mean you are about to get punched in the gut, sometimes it means there is more opportunity to uncover!  When you stay curious you can bring value to the conversation.  I remember I was speaking to an executive in his office and I asked a very specific question about the deployment of the project.  He paused and looked up for a moment in silence.  I started to think, “Oh, no!  I asked the wrong question and now I’m embarrassing him.  I don’t think he knows the answer!”  And guess what?  He didn’t know the answer! But he was far from embarrassed.  He was thankful.

He responded to me, “That’s a good question.  I don’t think we’ve thought through that piece completely.” He made a note of the topic and then we moved on.  It was then that I realized I had brought value to the conversation.  I just prevented a deployment issue by bringing up an issue they need to discuss!  When you stay curious, you bring value to the conversation.

Sales Success on a Bumper Sticker…

When I’m asked by young sales professionals about what they can do to be a better salesperson, I always summarize it in two steps:

1. Listen for anything that make you curious
2. Ask questions to satisfy that curiosity

If you do this you will build rapport and bring value to every conversation.

Don’t sell products or services… always sell solutions!

Russ

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