Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. The Pendulum Time will tell David Sandler, the late sales trainer, illustrated this new perspective by using a visual of a pendulum that swings from the 9 o’clock position on a clock face to the 3 o’clock position. At 3 o’clock, you have a prospect that has no indication that he’d ever buy from you. At 9 o’clock, you have a prospect that is so eager to do business with you that he has pen in hand, ready to buy your lunch and sign the contract. Most prospects are typically somewhere in the middle. (The pendulum technique comes via Sandler, and is being used by the Sandler Sales Institute, www.sandler.com, and its training centers worldwide.) If you were using the traditional sales approach, you’d meet a prospect who’s at 6 o’clock (in the middle, lukewarm) and engage the prospect from a 9 o’clock (buy) position, telling him how great your company is, what state-of-theart equipment your company has, your on-time percentages, and most importantly, how much you’d love to have his business. However, human nature indicates that this drives the prospect who’s in the middle at 6 o’clock, further toward the 3 o’clock (not buying) position. If you were to stop and think about it, you don’t like to be “sold to,” though most everyone likes to buy. For me, I have a, uh, shoe problem – I like nice shoes. However, when I’m walking through the corridor of the mall, I get uncomfortable when I step foot into a shoe store, as that’s when I have someone trying to sell me something. I like to buy, but I hate to be sold to. So what do you do if “selling” doesn’t work? You don’t sell. That’s no typo . you don’t sell, at least as far as traditional selling goes. Moving the prospect to the selling side Here’s where the visual learning style that most of us have comes in. You must visualize yourself as being a little bit on the negative (3 o’clock) side of the prospects, wherever they are, until you know they’re on board. In fact, you can imagine yourself behind, on the 3 o’clock side of a prospect, with your questions and demeanor allowing the prospect to move himself to the 9 o’clock (buy) position on the pendulum. The pendulum technique would have you asking something such as “it sounds like no matter what, even if I could offer improvement over what you’re getting now – and I’m not sure I could until I know more about your situation – that you’d never consider another vendor.”. So when you meet with a prospect who’s lukewarm (6 o’clock), you might begin the conversation with “ I don’t know if what we do fits what you need or not – we’re not a fit for everyone – can you tell me about the printing you use?”, in an attempt to get them talking, take the pressure off the conversation, and establish that you’re not there to just sell to them (which you’re not if they’re not a fit for your capabilities, right?). Not selling to them, in the traditional way, builds rapport and makes the prospect more likely to mention any unhappiness he has with his current vendor, such as a recent problem with a printing job from your competition. However, when this happens, there can be a tendency to jump on this and exclaim how that wouldn’t happen with your company, how great you are, your quality measures, on-time percentages, etc. This approach occasionally works, but not often. Using the pendulum example, you’d tread cautiously, perhaps asking “why do you see that as a problem?”, “do you think it’s costing any time, money, or stress?” This gets the prospect to P6 CANVAS AUGUST 2008