Martial Arts of Sales: spin selling

When fighting or selling, you always have an opponent/customer you meet in person. In sales especially, many times people say that one has two ears and one mouth, thus one needs to listen to more than talk. On the other hand, in many martial arts styles, the emphasis is on attacking techniques. Many times this is due to the fact that you train alone or with train a set pattern of techniques, which make the learning and repetition easy. But in which case should you play with your strengths and in which case should you capitalize on your opponent’s weaknesses?

In the year 2000, I was fighting in an open martial arts' tournament, where my opponent was a very strong in kicking and much taller than me. He had won a bronze medal in Tae Kwon Do European championships, thus excellent in keeping a distance and applying counter strikes, especially with kicks. I had previously that year, won a gold medal in world championships, but in under 58kgs class. Whereas, we were fighting that time in under 65kgs class. So I knew, when going to my training camp, that I couldn’t be using my normal strengths of keeping the distance and using my longer limbs to win the fight.

My coach and I knew, that I had to apply a different tactic to beat this guy, than what we normally used. Also, at the same time, we needed to prepare for the whole tournament and to win the other opponents as well. We decided to train 80% as we normally do and emphasis about 20% of the training time on training how to block and catch a kick. This would help me to take the game to a situation where strong kickers would be uncomfortable. And this would give me a chance to score points by taking the opponent to the ground.

I managed to win all the other fights, but against this guy, I lost on points. I did manage to catch his leg after a kick many times, but I wasn’t able to capitalize these situations, since most of my training efforts had been on catching the leg, not on what to do afterwards. Of course, one needs to catch the kick first and if that doesn’t work, then there is no chance to continue to a takedown either. But I didn’t win with just catching the leg. Our strategy was correct in trying to win the fight with his weaknesses, but fell short in not being able to train it to be my one of my strengths. We learned our lesson and next year, one of my teammates won a fights against him, by being able to continue with takedowns after catching the kick. We learned that to capitalize on opponent’s weakness is not sufficient by just recognizing it and having a plan towards it, but you need to build a strength to win the fight.

In sales the weakness is customer's need

With this perspective, you will look at your sales situation with different mindset as with what you would if you were trying to look for the weaknesses of your customer. Surely, you can spot weaknesses from your customer, but there is no point in "attacking" them, unless they are considered as needs by your customer. You have your benefits ready and see a spot where they would help the customer, but I would hold off, until you are sure that what you are about to introduce is really something that the customer needs. Sometimes, you need to build a new way to solve the customer's need, in order to win the deal. Prepare yourself as you would for a martial arts' fight. Build your strengths to match your opponent's weaknesses.

How to build strengths in sales

A lot of emphasis on sales training is spent on different sales techniques and how to ask questions. While as product training is often done, when a new feature or a new products are introduced. After that, it is up to the salesperson to get the needed information and update the knowledge. Customers are a good source for information and understanding how products helps them in practice. Customers are the ones, who in reality have benefited from using your solutions, thus know the best, about the advantages and benefits your company provides. They have chosen your company over your competitors and with some specific reasons in mind. The better you understand why your customers have bought from you and why they are happy with the purchasing decision, the better you will understand what are your strengths. While you talk with your customers and why they are happy to be your customer, you actually strengthen your relationships at the same time. It will be harder for your competitor to try to pitch in the next time.

How to open up weaknesses in a conversation

Apart from needs being weaknesses, there are also many sales tactics you can apply to your individual customer as a person. I briefly introduced SPIN-selling techniques in my previous post 'The way of perfection - is all about mistakes'. With SPIN-selling, you have a ready-made script for you conversation and you will get information which matters does your customer consider to be the most crucial parts to be fixed in her business. You will work with problems and see which of the current problems are actually troubling her and how she values the possible solution to fix these.

You might also want to read 'how to win a fight when your opponent is much better than you (part 2)', where I was writing about how to concentrate on your strengths and focus on being an expert, not only a salesperson who is trying to argue against a competitor.

Above mentioned strategies are both very effective and useful in a sales situation, but when it comes to getting to talk about customers weaknesses on a personal level, I consider more psychological aspect to be the most effective. I am not talking about how to lure your customer to trust you, but how to build trust in a way, where you will get the needed insights from your customer, in order to be able to provide valuable content to the conversation.

One of the best and most usable method is NLP. There you will try to find clues, on how to communicate to that person by using words and sentences, which the person reflects the best. Some people visualize the outcome. There you might say: "can you see what I mean". You can spot a person who likes to visualize things by seeing her looking up, when thinking of an answer for a deeper question. They might look outside of the window and their glance when thinking might be somewhat distant.

Some others are better in listening, thus their audible representational system is stronger. There you might say something like: "how does this sound for you". The third representational system is kinesthetic or simply put - touch oriented.

You adapt to your conversation partner and use words that are familiar to their approach. This helps you to build trust and your words to sink in better. I have noticed that people change their representational system from time to time. Sometimes, I like to look out of the window and think during a conversation. Some other time, I hold a pen in my hand and touch it. So, it is important to pay attention to the current situation at hand and adapt the words and sentences accordingly.

Tips for fighters about NLP

Check how your opponent is preparing himself for the fight. Does he need physical contact to feel his power just before the fight. Or is he concentrating on his own eyes closed. Is music and especially lyrics important for him. If he is a kinesthetic person, you might want to start with a rush in the beginning. Try to make him feel weaker than you. If he is a visual person, then you start with a smile and look like you believe in yourself and look like a winner. With an auditory person, you can say out loud to yourself a few words, which state that you are prepared and nobody can beat you.

If this tactic works well and you get into his mind, he will start feeling insecure and likely will reveal his tactics with strengths and weaknesses. From there it is up to you to take advantage of the situation.

photo: Seppo Iivonen

Martial arts aren’t all about fighting, they also have a bit of an artistic side as well (as the name states). Some styles, concentrate purely on that side and some use it very little. The way I understood the meaning of arts is having something deeper to concentrate on. It also gives you the path for constant development. Imagine a situation, where you apply a perfect counter strike and knockout your opponent, and still you master says that your guard was down during your kick. It would be hard to understand, why the result isn’t the one you would be looking for, but a perfect form.

In sales, one can have ready written scripts for sales conversations. Sometimes, these feel unprofessional and you might feel like, you can do better without asking bluntly the same questions all the time. More experienced salespeople have developed routines and have skills in developing conversations without scripts. They might get sales training and improvement tips from a constultant. But how do you ensure your skills improve after 10 years of sales experience?

Paying attention pays off

photo: Seppo Iivonen

I am using the same photo in this post as previously in my other post (to evade, block or counter part 2). When I first saw this photo, I felt quite happy of it. Then my master pointed out, that my thumb is up. He told me that if I can’t control my thumb during a kick, I cannot fully control the kick either. This may sound like a petty comment, but I ensure you, it is not one. The hand with the thumb up, is not in my control at that moment. What if my opponent had managed to evade the kick and would be attacking me by kicking the thumb. I would have no chance of blocking the kick and would hurt my thumb badly. If I can’t control my whole body while kicking, I can’t fully control the situation either.

While having sales conversations, I like to use SPIN-selling method. By using the method, I try to follow the pattern of asking questions first about the current situation and continuing to problems that the customer has with the current solution. Inexperienced salespeople provide answers and solutions to these problems, which she is clearly stating in her answers, whereas more experienced salespeople continue to ask influence questions. These questions point out, how the current solution with the problem cause more issues now and in the long run, the situation will get even worse. The final questions are called net payoff questions, where you will build up the feeling on how she would benefit by starting to do business with you. By fixing the current problem with a proper solution, she will have a better future.

Controlled concentration on fixing mistakes, is the key in self development

In Martial arts, the concentration of a perfect form in movements, gives you a motivation to repeat the same techniques over and over again. There are always some small details that are out of your control, but when you learned to feel them and detect them while training, you can constantly improve your technique. It is very demanding to be in front of you master and receive feedback on your performance. But when you can find the reasons why you made that “mistake”, then you can start fixing them. In the long run, you will start feeling what do you do wrong while doing your movements and start fixing them on your own. This is the path of constant development.

A true martial artist is developing himself 24/7. You can, for instance, always walk with better control of your feet and improve your balance while walking. You can always concentrate on not spending extra energy, while you sit and not get your muscles tensed from sitting (if you sit in a chair for 8 hours a day, think how much tension your muscles get. What if you could improve your condition and not get worse? How much better would you get each day?). When you have a full concentration on developing yourself and fixing all the minor details, you can reach a high level as a martial artists. That is why, real masters have that special feeling when you meet them. They look very calm, happy and relaxed. Their eyes are full of wisdom, but they still have a good sense of humor. They are in control of everything and still they continue to improve their skills, even when they get older and older every year.

In sales, you constantly do these same kind of little mistakes. You interrupt your client, when she is explaining something. You become too eager to talk about you and what you have to offer, than to listen to what she really has to say and what she needs. These are rather easy to spot on your own as well. It is more difficult to realize that your questions and conversation skills are not up to date. You feel that the conversation was good and you have a solution or two in mind, which will be the basis of your upcoming offer. But she is not happy with the conversation and feels that she didn’t get any new information and will not accept your offer. These are the situations, when you need outside help (a master) to observe your sales meetings and give you honest detailed feedback. The more into details the feedback goes, the better for you.

Not all mistakes are crucial, but you need to be able to see mistakes everywhere, in order to learn the method of spotting mistakes. Once you see yourself doing those, you will start learning how to get rid off them and also, learn how to develop your sales skills without external help. You will learn a lot from books, podcasts and sales training, but it is wise to start to get rid off your basic mistakes first. Otherwise, you won’t understand what went wrong, when you don’t get a deal closed. Next time, when you feel that you should have called a client before the end of the day, call her immediately after the thought (no matter what time). Next time you won’t forget to call her on time.

What it takes to start aiming for perfection

Everything you do, is done with a thought that this will get you closer to become a master. You train to get fit, go to bed early and sleep well, eat a healthy diet. Don’t waste your leisure time in something, that is not getting you closer to your goal. These are actually very simple steps, but very often hard to accept. Too often, people start making excuses like “I don’t want to quit drinking alcohol, since it is not actually that bad for my health and everybody else is drinking too” or “I don’t think you should try to lead a perfect life, you need a break sometimes”. Or “I have worked in sales for 20 years, so I know almost everything there is to know about sales. There are no tricks, just common sense of handling people”. Those all are valid excuses and all of us will accept them sometimes. But those are the reasons, you will not become a master.

You cannot accept a mistake, that you know is a mistake. That is a hard road to walk through, but that is also the reason, why there are so few masters in the world. The question is: do you want to become one or not? If yes, then you need to start taking first baby steps and start to be honest to yourself and stop doing mistakes you know are mistakes. Don’t worry about making mistakes, just concentrate on not doing the same ones again. The start is easy, but to fix them all and continue to do that is really hard. But don’t give up, before you have achieved the results you wanted to. This is not a 9 to 5 job, but a way to lead your life, but still you need to have a balance in life. Don't sacrifice everything to become better. Become better with everything you do.