Be a Disrupter
I've been battling an extremely difficult sales challenge. I found the answer while I was watching a movie last night. If you face the same problem, my story will inspire you. Here goes...
The Challenge
I'm the mad scientist of sales training. I designed a game-changing sales training system to fix the problems with conventional sales training. I succeeded. Sales training will never be the same. My product will help sales professionals sell better and sell more. Those sales pros will enrich the lives of so many more customers. (NOTE: if you don't feel this way about your own product, either change your attitude or change your product NOW. Life is too short for you to just get by.)
How to Put Prospects to Sleep
Without knowing it, I created the problem that held me back. I was explaining the science behind my product. I went to great lengths to describe how storytelling touches hearts, and how we all buy for emotional reasons first. If my prospects weren't already getting drowsy, I went on to describe how storytelling could be used for prospecting, qualifying, need-finding and every other step of the selling process.
But wait! There's more! If anyone was still awake at that point, I gave them even more information they didn't care about. I described the fundamentals of project management. I went into great detail about the project management profession. I praised the fact that the project management profession had finally met the sales profession.
I succeeded in putting 100 percent of my prospects to sleep. That must be some kind of record. Please do not try this at home. Or at work.
That's Not Me - Or You
I know better than to discuss features instead of outcomes. I got so excited about how it works, I forgot to discuss why it matters.
I have taken two personality assessments in the last year. Both reached the same conclusion: I am a Disrupter, a Change Agent. I dislike the status quo. I rebel against it by finding a better alternative. Looking back, I suppose I've been that way all my life.
As I was looking for answers last night, I prayed about it. After dinner, Kathy and I sat down to watch a movie. We randomly chose "Guilt Trip," starring Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand. Seth's character, Adam, was a mad scientist. He had invented an amazing cleaning agent, the best in the world. As he presented it to KMart, Costco and other large retailers, he spent all his time on the science behind his product. His technical presentations turned every buyer off. His final pitch was to HSN, on video, with an interviewer. Everything depended on this pitch.
Adam blew it again. Halfway through his scientific presentation, he realized the HSN producers had lost interest. Adam stopped. He did a complete turn-around. He began having a real conversation with his interviewer. He asked about her family. He asked several needs-based questions.
He performed an outrageous demonstration by drinking a glass of his cleaning product. Everyone was wide awake. They were amazed. As Adam and his mom left the meeting, an HSN executive indicated they will probably put Adam's product on the air.
Adam's mom (Barbara Streisand) was right, but she didn't rub it in.
The Moral of the Story: Be a Disrupter
Adam succeeded by being a Disrupter. He completely destroyed the status quo by designing a vastly superior cleaning solution that you can even drink! Millions of units of his product will be sold. It will enrich the lives of every customer.
That's not a bad legacy. It's one you can have, too. All you have to do is be a Disrupter with a better solution to your customers' problems.
It was "divine coincidence" that I picked "Guilt Trip" to watch, and that it had the answer I desperately needed. I'm rewriting my web pages and my white pages. Their new content will be disruptive. That content will offer real solutions to real problems. I'm replacing "what it is" with "why it matters."
What will you do today to be a Disrupter, a change agent for good?
