Green Eggs and Ham

It's a common gimmick to hand out copies of Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs & Ham" in some sales training. As you may recall, Sam-I-Am represents the prototypical salesman - he is unruffled by any objection and refuses to take no for an answer. All the while, through trains and cars and boxes with foxes Sam-I-Am just plows ahead until finally his prospect yields. The story ends well, as it turns out conveniently that the unnamed prospect loves green eggs and ham and Sam-I-Am is the hero.

Unfortunately, "Green Eggs & Ham" is exactly the kind of take-no-prisoners sales approach that reinforces every negative stereotype of a salesperson. I actually participated in a sales training program with a global information technology firm where the bulk of the agenda was focused on consultative selling (being a pure salesperson who gains trust by serving as a valued source of information), but at the beginning of the day the familiar orange copies of Dr. Seuss's book were handed out to each participant.

As preposterous as it is to think you can build trust as an advisor while at the same time hammering people into submission, many organizations operate under this schizophrenic view. But for the pure salesperson, there is only one path - in order to be credible, you have to be willing to admit to a prospect the strengths and weaknesses of your solution and in order to be seen as a trusted advisor you have to be able to point out strengths in competing solutions that may at times make for a better fit.

Before anyone gets the idea that this about sacrificing dollars at the altar of integrity, let me give you a personal example of how this approach led to a sale of over $100 Million. I was representing a small software company to representatives of a Fortune 100 company that was seeking a strategic vendor that they could acquire. Early in the process as I met with the representatives who were tasked with finding the best vendor to meet this need. From our first conversation I gave them candid feedback on what I viewed as the major strengths and weaknesses of my company and several competitors. Over the course of a couple of months they came to view me as an honest broker in the process. I always maintained that the company I represented was the best fit, but I also acknowledged areas where I felt that other vendors they were considering had a strong offering.

Late in the process the choice came down to two firms, and I got a call from one of the people in charge of the selection process. He confided to me that he believed that we were the best fit but another colleague was leaning towards a competitor. He told me what he perceived as the weaknesses of the other firm and he asked me if I could provide any information supporting his position. I was able to give him honest and accurate information that led to a decision to sign on with my firm and within 6 months acquire the company.

While we may have won the business either way, the fact that I had built credibility as an honest source of information led to the opportunity to see inside the selection process and give information that was used to swing the deal in our favor. That would never have happened if I had followed the Sam-I-Am approach.