Sales Training Tip: Naked Sales Calls Pay Off

My daughter goes to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. They're famous for two things: an excellent music program and ... (drum roll) ... Coed Naked Soccer. Every year some students manage to sneak a game in despite the administration's warning of dire consequences if they're caught.

What does that have to do with sales? This past week, I talked with two sellers who are having extraordinary success right now. Their business is skyrocketing. Pricing is virtually a non-issue. And all this happened once they started going into sales calls totally, stark-raving naked.

At least that's how they felt when they stopped bringing their brochures into meetings with prospective buyers. Armed with only a notebook and pen, they had nothing to hide behind. They couldn't direct the prospect's attention to the marketing collateral. They couldn't point out hot new features. They couldn't show the exciting new technologies. They couldn't display their incredible portfolio of work.

Instead, they sat there naked - totally vulnerable - with their prospect staring at them. Waiting. Watching.

Without the brochure, they were forced to focus on the prospect's business. They asked questions about how it was going. They explored the challenges and the issues the prospect was concerned about. They discussed the prospect's goals, ideas and expectations.

And, because they were naked, with no brochures to fall back on even if they wanted to, they ended up having totally client-focused conversations.

The prospects loved it. They felt valued and understood. They felt like the reps cared and were concerned. They asked for the rep's advice and even wanted specific recommendations.

Despite this final temptation to pull out a brochure, these reps suggested a second meeting as the next step. They got it - and shortly thereafter ended up with bigger contracts than even they could have imagined at the beginning.

If you're one of those salespeople who relies heavily on your marketing collateral or samples, try shedding them for awhile. Go naked into your sales calls. Have a discussion - not a pitch. It won't be long before you too start seeing the difference it makes!

Comments

[Kristin Kowler]

Funny. Sounds like me. I recently stopped carrying my portfolio to meetings. Stopped writing long proposals. And started just doing what I do best in the first place. Listening to customers and thinking about their situation. Egads... Could this be consultative selling? If so, I think I'll go "naked" more often.

[George Hope]

Jill,

Question, Why do people generally believe they must have literature in hand when meeting a prospect?

Answer, this is most likely the well engrained traditional thought process based on the development of sales tactics in our economy.

Reality, the Internet has dramatically changed the way in which information is shared. Therefore, the best development a salesperson can make is to learn to listen. This makes "naked sales" a very logical approach to solving problems. We have come full circle in the "problem solving" business.

Best Regards

[Bill Bell]

Jill - The piece about naked salesmanship makes a good point. Though I did not go naked I sold the same way the nudes did and got the same response. Sales were good, advice was asked and given, no brochures were used, I did not carry a briefcase either. But did carry a package of literature for the prospect to use after I left his office so if he wanted to he could check out some of the things I had said. If it was an existing customer the material simply updated his files.

I learned this approach from two sources: One was a super salesman who was now retired as sales manager for The National Geographic Magazine. The other was from a fine book called "Conceptual Selling".

If you do a follow-up on this article you can tell people the technique works naked or clothed. Regards, Bill

[Nick Moreno]

Got my attention and I could not agree more.
Thanks for a great article.
Nick