It’s called Account Management for a reason!

Most salespeople I know ‘do, do, do‘ – do what ever a prospect or customer asks them to.

Ok I’ll stop myself from writing the Dr. Seuss Sales Post (… hmmmm). Let’s get back on track. I understand that as salespeople we want to prove we’re worth switching to, buying from, working with AND the proof can’t be told to someone – hence the ‘do, do, do‘ (and yes that does remind me of The Police – De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da).

Here is the contradiction – we need to do… BUT in the doing we might set ourselves up to be overwhelmed. If everytime anyone asks us to ‘do, do, do‘ without thought we:

• drop everything
• react
• start without asking questions
• act before we understand
• handle the request

We are training the prospect or customer to expect that FOREVER.

Instead – train yourself to ‘ask, understand, do‘ every single time you receive a request.

Ask: Anytime someone gives you a ‘do, do, do‘ to do…beging by asking lots of questions – not for the sake of asking, rather for to – Understand

• find out both their time frame for the request AND a must have time
• investigate what happens next
• delve into the why behind the request
• dig deeper

Now (and only now) it’s time to Do. Yes, in the end we are going to DO… but only after we ASK and the UNDERSTAND. Once we understand you can choose what the action you’re going to take is. Even *gasp* manage the prospect or customer’s expectations.

There we are back at the beginning – it is after all, called Account Management for a reason!