Your Opinion Doesn’t Matter

In sales, the goal is always to close the deal. Being confident in your product or service is vital if you want your clients to buy in. However, the best piece of sales advice I can offer is that when it comes down to it, your opinion doesn’t matter. 

Our natural human tendency is to show people how smart we are. Unfortunately, in sales, that will get you in a boatload of trouble. How so?

Sales professionals have long tried to impress prospects with product knowledge and industry experience. Sometimes veteran sales people become arrogant enough to think they actually know better than the customer themselves. Take my sales advice: you don’t know more.

There are no “no brainers”

That is where opinion comes in to play. Just because you think your product or service is perfect for your prospects or clients does not mean they think the same. I see sales professionals lulling themselves into a false sense of security with idiotic phrases like, “this is a no-brainer.” There is a difference between confidence and arrogance, and many salespeople do not understand this difference.

To me there is no such thing as a no-brainer. If a company doesn’t feel it is something that has to get fixed – guess what? They aren’t going to fix it. It is that simple. 

Most companies are dealing with a host of issues and problems of various degrees. What can be a huge problem one day can all of a sudden take a backseat the next day. This major change can make a salesperson’s opinion close to irrelevant. 

There is only one  opinion that matters in sales – the opinion of the person saying “yes” or “no!” If the problem or issue has become something that they have to address, then guess what?  It gets handled. 

I have seen countless salespeople go down the lonely road of hope thinking the prospect has got to buy in because “it’s a no-brainer.” Wrong!

Ask yourself “why?”

How do you save yourself from your own opinion? The only way to do is this is by asking yourself “why?” Why does the prospect want to meet with me? What are they hoping I can help them with? If you are adamant about being curious, then you will naturally ask questions and listen to get a better understanding of a prospect’s world. 

How do you do this on a call or in a meeting? Fortunately, it is simple. You should always be prepared with questions to get an understanding of who the prospect is and what they are hoping to accomplish.  

The questions you ask, combined with your patience to listen, will help you create a great conversation. That conversation will be the key to connecting your product or service to your prospect’s need.

It is in the conversations you have with prospects and clients where you will discover the key. The key will open the door to understand and appreciate their world. That understanding – not your opinion – will allow you to position your solution as the answer that makes sense to the prospect. 

Opinions are better left for your backyard BBQ rants about who is the Greatest Quarterback of All Time or which version of the Godfather is best. Clearly, the answer to that is Part 1. But hey, that’s just my opinion!

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