Got a Plan B?

Plans are great...until reality hits. In this video, I explain why flexibility beats preparation and how to build resilience into your sales strategy.

Don't forget to check out last week's top tip: What's Your Small Hinge?!

For more strategies like this, check out my sales tip video library on YouTube...

If you prefer to read - here is the transcript:

Mike Tyson has one of the most profound and my favorite sales quote ever. And that is everybody has a plan until they're punched in the face. Right?

In other words, we have to have a plan B, and I am shocked and appalled at how many salespeople don't have a plan B. They act as if the customer is saying something or doing something that they've never heard of before. It's the first time they've ever heard the objection in their whole career, your price is too high, and they're not practiced and they're not prepared. Preparing is your plan B.

I thought it was really interesting that during the last Ryder Cup, the European team anticipated a hostile audience in New York. They were away, they were on Long Island. And so what did they do? They prepared. They planned. They wore virtual reality goggles in hostile environments in order to prepare and plan for that hostile environment. They practiced.

Why can't we do that as salespeople? You might not be facing a hostile audience, but you certainly could plan and prepare for everything the customer might throw at you.

You've got a do or die deal, $1 million deal on the table that has to close. Why don't you sit down with your colleagues and say, tear this apart? What could the customer say? What are the objections? What do we need to plan for? What have we missed?

And have your plan B in case the customer thinks it's too expensive or too complex? Or if the customer throws an objection at you, you've heard them all. You know you have. Make sure you practice and prepare because there is nothing wrong with hearing an objection in sales. What is wrong is not having a prepared plan B to answer it.