The best salespeople practice productive paranoia, and The Five Abilities guides that focus. They constantly ask themselves if they’re doing enough to beat the competition. “Have we done enough to win?” “Are we delivering better value?” “What have we left undone?”
One of the best salespeople I had the opportunity to work with is Richard Newman, at American Bank Stationery. Richard was consistently a top performer and he was one of the first people I saw practice productive paranoia. When he was training me he emphasized that “we can never let down because the guys at Deluxe outnumber us and they’re super aggressive.” (Deluxe was the industry leader with over 50% market share.) He said, “If you let up even a little they’ll walk right over you.”
During my training I traveled with Richard and he was always on. At days end after many hours with customers we’d sit down for dinner or drinks and he’d ask, “What haven’t we done?” He was asking a 22 year-old rookie for ideas because part of productive paranoia is believing that others, no matter who they are, might have better ideas.
I also had the opportunity to work with a great leader, Kevin Johnson, who was a Microsoft SVP and is now CEO of Starbucks – he had the same trait. Before any major review he’d walk the hallways asking people for feedback on his materials. It didn’t matter whether they were experts or not. People who practice productive paranoia don’t believe they have a monopoly on great ideas. This is healthy and it isn’t limited to sales. I had a coach who would chide us weekly saying, “Starters – somebody wants your job. Practice harder or you’ll be on the bench next game.”
A helpful habit of the best salespeople is that they organize their paranoia into a few simple questions that propel them forward in an organized way. The Five Abilities® sales framework reminds us of the five simple questions that enhance our execution with productive paranoia.
- Are decision-makers and influencers asking to meet with us? If the customer isn’t pursuing more information from us, they lack the suspicion that our offering offers them value.
- Are decision-makers and influencers asking us for advice and counsel beyond just the product or service we sell? While “trusted advisor” and “consultative selling” are often over-used terms, they appropriately describe the status that the most successful salespeople achieve.
- Are decision-makers and influencers most inquisitive regarding the results they expect and less so about costs? Costs are always important but if it’s the primary topic of inquiries, this is an indicator that your offer is viewed as a commodity. Lifelong customers want to discuss results and leave costs to procurement professionals.
- Are we addressing the personal motivations for each decision-maker and influencer? We must know the decision-maker’s personal motivations for buying in order to optimally serve and sell to them.
- Are decision-makers and influencers confident that we can handle the unexpected? The unexpected will always happen and experienced decision-makers want to know they’re investing in an accountable problem-solver versus someone who points fingers.
Getting to yes for each of these questions is a good indication that the customer favors us over our competition. Making these questions a part of our self-assessment habit is the act of productive paranoia, and it’s a valuable friend to the best salespeople.
©2016 Rick Wong – The Five Abilities® LLC
