Look at this picture.
You know when those beautiful American sales books teach you that customers buy what they want, not what they need?
And that you can try to force a horse to drink, but if he is not thirsty, he will not drink?
It’s all true.
But what the authors of the books don’t know is that it’s not enough for the horse to be thirsty: it has to be super-thirsty!
In fact, many Italian customers do not even buy what they want. Or better: they often SAY they want things, but actually they don’t want them enough.
Not everyone, of course: I sure don’t want to generalize.
But when comparing purchase methods in Italy and abroad, I had to give up: there is a much higher percentage here of customers who keep complaining and who say they want to do things…
… but in the end, they are fine with the status quo.
They are not really willing either to invest or to work hard trying to change the situation.
Let’s tell it like it is.
They don’t have the B**** to change.
If only there were just budget problems, or objective restrictions. Lies.
It’s just that their department or plant or product or organization etc. works like that, as bad as this work can be, and they’re not willing to admit it sucks or bother to change anything.
They don’t want to leave their comfort zone. They are satisfied. They get by. They hesitate. They choose mediocrity. And in the meantime, they keep complaining.
So:
the horse of the metaphor prefers to continue to drink from his usual puddle of stagnant water where he has been drinking for years.
Perhaps it is no accident that we are a stagnant economy.
What about a solution?
From now on, when you qualify a new sales opportunity, think of this phrase of Manzoni “We cannot give ourselves courage”, and ask yourself:
– “Does this prospect have the b **** and really want to change, or will it continue to drink in the same puddle just to not work hard?”
Try to understand this as fast as you can.
If you sense that it does not have the right attitude, do not waste a single minute of time.
But if instead he has the courage and determination to do things, do anything you can to work with him. And then hold him tight: you are special, but he too is.
PS: This is a webinar for those who always want to drink fresh and oxygenated water: “How we managed to triple the appointments in 90 days by abandoning all the useless strategies of the gurus and adopting a single simple method in three steps”.
