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Rick Roberge

Selling Science

This entry was posted on 2/17/2008 7:32 PM and is filed under uncategorized.

This could be fun!

I've been thinking recently that one of the reasons that technical people struggle with sales is that they believe that salesmanship is an art. However, truly professional salespeople know that there is a science of selling and that there are many similarities between more traditional sciences like chemistry, physics, geology and the science of selling.

So, let's do it.

Is there a sales lesson that we can learn from the behavior of inert gases?

How about from Newton's Laws?

Are there any useful analogies between sales and the way the physical earth is put together?

Not a lot of answers here, but there's a lot of smart people out there.

Any thoughts? What's your interest, mechanics, fluids, IT, math, can you apply it to sales?

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2/18/2008 7:57 AM Pamelyn Collins wrote:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every action that a saleperson makes, the prospect will react. It is up to the salesperson to make sure the reaction is appropriate.
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1. 2/18/2008 8:47 AM Rick Roberge wrote:
  Exactly! If you take the prospect's position (not buying), what position is equal and opposite?
  Reply to this
  1. 2/18/2008 12:51 PM Rob Jewett wrote:
    Not selling.
    Reply to this
    1. 2/18/2008 10:18 PM Rick Roberge wrote:
      I don't think so, Rob. If two things are opposites, I don't think that it necessarily follows that their 'nots' are opposites. Here's an example. What is the opposite of running uphill? In the context of equal and opposite, we have to say, "running downhill". However, their 'nots' are not necessarily opposites. Not running uphill isn't necessarily the opposite of not running downhill. If you're not running uphill, you could be running downhill which would be the opposite of not running downhill. You could also be standing still which might be the same as not running downhill.
      
      So, I suggest that if I take the prospect's position of not buying, then I will not be selling and the prospect will be left with only one position. That of buying which is after all the equal and opposite of not buying.
      Reply to this
      1. 2/20/2008 9:20 AM Rob wrote:
        Rick - You're correct, of course. I suppose I was trying an extreme version of the "equal and opposite" of my normal response - fewest possible words!
        
        Early in my training with DKA, Chris got me thinking of "advising, not selling." In my pre-Kurlan days, I would approach a non-buying prospect by refuting what I perceived to be his objectives. I thought that this was selling. It seldom worked.
        
        Now, when someone is "not buying," I try to get to advising, which I think of as "not selling."
        
        So my previous answer was not strictly identifying an "equal and opposite" to not buying. Rather, I was trying to be cute about advising my way around or over a prospect's objections and concerns.
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