Why Old Sales Tactics Fail and How Adaptive Selling Wins

In this podcast we look at how to move beyond curiosity to the practical craft of adaptive selling—how to drop scripts, read cues, surface unspoken needs and pivot solutions in real time to solve real problems. We share stories, tools and steps for customer-centric conversations, stronger follow-up and trust that creates referrals.

• replacing one-size-fits-all pitches with client-centric conversations
• researching cues without creating a fixed script
• surfacing unspoken needs with better questions
• pivoting solutions in real time around true pain points
• using targeted narratives and relevant proof
• measuring impact and aligning on success criteria
• follow-up timing, referrals and post-sale support
• flexing style with DISC to improve rapport
• embracing objections as data and learning loops
• adopting continuous learning to compound results

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Welcome to the podcast!

Chapters

• 0:00 From Curiosity to Strategy
• 0:55 The One-Size-Fits-All Myth
• 2:48 Customer-Centric Over Product-Centric
• 4:15 Research Cues Without Preconceptions
• 5:06 Unspoken Needs and Better Questions
• 7:26 Pivoting the Solution in Real Time
• 9:59 Narratives that Address Pain Points
• 12:07 ROI, Referrals, and Follow-Up
• 14:09 Post-Sale Support that Builds Trust
• 16:10 Practical Steps and Role Clarity
• 17:32 Behavioural Profiling with DISC
• 19:19 Questions, Objections, Continuous Learning

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Hello again and welcome to another podcast. My name is Graeme Elliott. And in this podcast, we're going to build on what I spoke about in the last podcast. If you listen to that, where I was talking about the importance of curiosity in sales and the impact that can have on your sales results. So we're going to take that a bit further and go a little bit more strategic, I guess, with looking at something called adaptive selling. So this is getting beyond the one size fits all, it's getting beyond the standard pitch. It's actually looking at how can you use what you've learned through that curiosity and how can you really stand out from your competitors. So stay with me and I will take you through it. So first of all, I do want to talk about the one size fits all myth. Now, hopefully, you're not doing that, but certainly when I started in sales, that was really the way things were done. It was pretty much a standard pitch. You would maybe introduce yourself, go through the product, they do a demo, that kind of thing. So that was the sort of sales I was doing. There was a bit of discussion about what the client wants to do, but it was more along the lines of qualifying them to make sure they were, broadly speaking, candidates for the product I was selling. So what we looked at last time in the podcast about curiosity is just how important it is to put aside your preconceptions and just listen and learn what it is that your client needs to achieve. So this is where we don't think about the product, we think about how we can provide a solution. We think about uh or we try to understand what it is the client is trying to achieve. And this is absolutely fundamental. If you don't do that, you are like you're gonna lose sales that honestly you could have won. Uh, and that's not something you want to do because uh we all have a limited amount of time. So the time you spend face to face with clients, they need you need to be in a situation where you have a very good chance of converting that time and that investment into um orders. Okay, so the very first thing, and this ties in with what we spoke about last time, is there are no scripts, no pitches, don't do that. Have a conversation, be curious. And from that conversation, you construct what it is that the client is trying to achieve. And in doing that, you shift from what we would call a product-centric discussion to a customer-centric discussion. So, simply what I mean by that is that certainly most of the salespeople I've worked with who struggle are talking about their product all the time. They're not talking about the client's needs. Now, there is a reason why that happens, particularly with um inexperienced salespeople or with salespeople who are struggling. And that's because when you talk about the product, you're on pretty safe ground on the whole. The the more you know the product, the more confident you feel. But when you start turning it back towards the client and what they're trying to do, you then get into an area where there's a lot more unknowns. And this is one of the reasons why a lot of salespeople will talk about the product, they'll actually avoid even asking for the order, and that's because there's that uncertainty, the degree of uncertainty rises, and then there are all sorts of things that might happen, and you'll ask yourself whether or not you think you can deal with them. And what we tend to do as people is focus on the ones we can't deal with. So you need to drop that and make this about the customer, so make it client-centric, customer-centric. The next thing you can do to help yourself in this is to understand what the what the cues are, what data is available, what is likely to be the key leveraging aspects of the discussion of the sale that will either help you win it or lose it. And what I mean by that is really learning as much as you can about the client before you go in there. Now, I think it is important to emphasize at this point that this is not to dictate how the call and the conversation will go, but it's to give you information that you can use later. So we've got things like uh online profiles, you can find out about the client, you can find out about the business they're in, and all of these things will give you clues about what it is that they are trying to do. However, I've spoken about dropping preconceptions, it's really important that you don't create your own uh script, a static script based around that, but use it as maybe a checkpoint. Maybe um these are things you can check with the client while you're having the discussion. Um, I spoke about open questions last time. So think about what kind of questions can you ask that give you insights into the client, particularly things like unspoken needs. So clients don't, and this will depend again on the industry you're you're in, but clients don't always give you everything up front. Sometimes there might be a really important need there that they're uncomfortable about talking about. So just to give you a almost a silly example, but um it it gives you some context, and this would be selling somebody wigs. So I don't know if many of you do that, but there you go. So uh wigs for gentlemen or wigs for ladies, and you're having a conversation about what they want from the wig, and it might be um particular colours to match, you know, maybe their natural hair colour, um particular styles, um, to make them look good, all of that kind of thing. But the underlying need is usually attached to self-esteem, and that in turn can lead to confidence, self-worth, all of those kind of things. So if you're meeting somebody the first time to have a discussion about wigs, they're not going to come up, or it's highly unlikely, that they will come to you and say, Look, I need a wig because I'm suffering from really low self-esteem, low confidence, and um uh you know, I need to fix that. So this is where some insight, just thinking about the questions, and this is probably something you'll have to work on over time, but you really want questions that can elicit or at least give you an understanding that this could be a real driver. Because it's fine to talk about the colour, style, all of that kind of thing. But what you really need to get a finger on is what is it about the wig? What does it need to deliver in their minds to allow them to start feeling self-confident? It will probably be the look. I don't know much about wigs, but hopefully you get the idea about this. There are unspoken needs. And think about that for the business you're in, what you sell, and what are the what are the unspoken needs, but the really important needs that need to be met by what you're offering? So that may be quite obvious, it may not be, it may not even apply, but these are things to just be conscious of. The next thing to be able to do is to we'll call it pivoting on the fly, and that's simply adjusting the message, the solution that you have, and I prefer to think of it that way while you're talking to them. So, again, coming back to fundamentals, the way I approach sales is that the salesperson is there as a problem solver. Our client has a problem, they are coming to you because you're the expert in that area and they believe that they can solve the problem for them, that you're able to come up with a solution for them. However, what that solution turns out to be, we will only know through questioning and doing a deeper dive into what that client is looking for. So, hence the customer-centric model for connecting with the client. So, another aspect of that can be that as you're having the conversation with them, you begin to realize that, and this could come out of the thing I've just spoken about about the insightful questions, as you're speaking to them, you begin to realize that what they are looking for is actually not what you thought initially. There is some other requirement going on in there that you hadn't immediately identified. So it's really important to be able to just roll with that, to pivot with it, and to look at whether or not that rules you out, or do you need to change the approach? Do you need to change the nature of the solution? It could be a very simple change, it might be quite fundamental, but this is really important that you do not get locked into one solution and try and buy bend everything that the client says to allow you to sell that one solution. So be prepared to pivot, be prepared to be flexible. Uh, don't get too tied into one solution for them because it may well be you have another solution, could even be higher monetary value or whatever it might be, it might be more advantageous. So be prepared to just go with it to make it an exploration. That's what certainly an initial conversation with a client is. It's an opportunity to really explore the reality of their needs, to do a deep dive on it, really get a good understanding of what's going on there. Um when you've done that, you can look at the let's call them compelling narratives, um, just illustrations of how this particular solution may work for them that might use referrals, experience with other clients, that kind of thing. But it's really important to make sure that the client understands that you do understand their need, you have a real solution for it, it's relevant, and ideally have experience in the same sort of areas because we all like to deal with people who've already dealt with the kind of issues that we're now having to find a solution for. The key thing about these narratives is that you are handling the pain points. So this is another phrase I use a lot. I think it's absolutely fundamental. So in the conversations that we're having with the client, we are identifying their pain points. There's normally a key one, probably no more than three big ones, but there might be a few more. But the pain points are the reason that they've taken time out of the potentially a very busy day. They are spending time with you, they are contemplating spending what could be quite a large amount of money, it could be a very big commitment to them, it might even involve um other resources that they have to uh uh put in there. So clearly, for them to go to that step, they are experiencing pain of some sort. And so, again, as salespeople, our job is to identify the pain points, certainly all of the key ones, and really measure how good a solution we can provide. We may not be able to, and that's that's another thing that I've spoken about elsewhere, but never be afraid to walk away from a sale, that's another key one. So being able to handle objections is also another key aspect of this. Now, I'm not going to talk about that in this podcast because I've I've run other podcasts where I've focused on objection handling. In the uh in the online course, consultative selling, I do a whole section on that on how to not quite 100% eliminate objections, but you can certainly get rid of a good deal of them, probably in the 90%. So that's an area that I've covered elsewhere, but it's really important to understand that. And it's also worth thinking about where this style of conversation, this style of interaction with a client sets you up for the future. Because here I'm I'm looking at it a bit from your point of view, actually, from the business. And it's what's your return on investment? So, doing all of this stuff, what difference does it make? Well, the first suggestion I'd make is that you're going to make more sales in the first place. So the return on investment on your time will be much higher, be much greater. But of course, if you can build strong relationships with clients, that sets you up for repeat business. So that might involve just contacting them in a timely fashion. Um, there are pretty standard ones, so if it's uh about deliveries, making sure you contact them uh once they've had delivery, maybe contacting them again a few months later depends on what it, again, what it is they're using. But when they've had a chance to make use of it, get familiar, these are good times to follow up, and also good times to ask for referrals because they're likely to be very positive about the product in most situations. So getting referrals is really important. I said this a lot, but when you get a referral, that's already a very hot lead. Your chances of converting it are very high. So referrals are one of those things you really want to have happen, and the way you get them happening is obviously to drive them yourself because a lot of clients won't um self-refer. But um also to make sure the client is very happy to do that. Now, another way that you can help to nurture that relationship with the client is post-sale support. It can be that things go wrong, so obviously that's not what we're really looking for. It's generally not considered good news when things go wrong. On the other hand, again, depending on what it is you sell, but post-sale support in most businesses is pretty important. And most of us will do a pretty good um description of what we offer in terms of post-sale support and that we're always there for them, and all this stuff. So you could being a bit cynical, you might say that, well, they would say that anyway, and and possibly that's true. But when things do go wrong, that's your opportunity to prove that what you what you've said to them is more than words, it's not just words. And I've had a situation where things have gone wrong, and I've really made sure that the problems got resolved very quickly, and that has actually strengthened the relationship. So, again, don't be afraid of things going wrong. What I would say is get in there fast, own it. Uh, whatever's going wrong, you own it, you make yourself responsible for getting a fix or coming up with a solution that is acceptable to the client, and they will remember that. Um again, if you put yourself in your client's shoes, how would you feel about somebody who sold you something and then when things did go wrong, you just couldn't get hold of them, versus somebody who came straight in, took responsibility, got it fixed, got it sorted out for you. Are you going to refer which of those are you going to refer? Um I think most of us would refer the uh the second person. So these are really important things to um to bear in mind. So that's really the descriptive part, I guess, of this podcast. So, what I want to do, what are the practical steps that you can take? So, the very first one is to think about why you're there with that client. What's your role in all of this? So, again, I I suggest that your role as a salesperson is to be the problem solver for that client. So, your conversations are going to be about the client, they're customer-centric, and they're not about your product because your product um it might be the vehicle to the solution or to the end game that they want, but the end game is maybe having systems that work or losing weight or having a you know, feeling confident about themselves, whatever it might be. So your product usually will not be the end in and of itself, but it's a way to get to the end result that the client is looking for, and that's where and that's why that we have customer-centric conversations, and we ask a lot of questions, we get very clear on the pain points. Having the right conversation is also a very important part of this, and there's a whole other context there, concept we can work with, and it's something that I teach in um uh the sales program, the online sales program, consultative selling. Um, it's using behavioral profiling. Uh, that might sound like it's a lot of work, um, it isn't that much, and I use a system called DISC because DISC is actually quite simple. There's only four different types of people, and the way I teach it, you can identify first of all, you need to know what you are in terms of your uh of your um personality type, which of those four types is your I'm gonna call it dominant type, the the type that um comes out most often when you're interact with interacting with people. And then I teach people, I'll teach you in the course how to identify at least the 60% probability um which type of person you're talking to within a matter of uh less than a minute. So I think it's a very powerful tool, but understanding the type of people dictates the kind of conversation you're going to have, how good that how loyal they're likely to be as a client, the number of visits you might have to do, the steps you might have to go through in order to win a sale, so they'll vary from person to person. Uh, questioning is really important, so you need to have your open-ended questions clear. You um also need to have questions that will give you information that you might be able to use later if, for example, there are objections that um come up. And then the final thing I would say while we're on this type of topic is just to be be prepared to be continuously learning. Uh, I found in decades in sales that I was always learning something, something new, um I mean new things come along, but also just how we interact with people. There's always something to be learned. So embrace continuous learning, whether it's listening to podcasts, looking at videos, taking courses, doing workshops, whatever it might be. Okay, so I hope that's given you some food for thought. If I've earned a like or a subscriber, please, I would appreciate it. Give me a like and subscribe because that allows me to keep doing these things. And um, yeah, that's it for this one. I will speak to you in the next podcast. So bye for now.