A Sales Bedtime Story

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Once upon a time there was an arborist (tree care professional) that was on top of the world.  He was so excited to finally get his certification after all of the hard work, years of learning all about trees and the commitment and money it required to get him there.  He could hardly wait to go out into the world and share his knowledge with his friends, family and customers.  And, so he did.  He went out over the next several weeks and visited with all of his customers and potential customers, sharing with them everything that he knew along the way.  He was helping diagnose tree diseases and fungi, explaining in great detail why a tree needed pruning to stay healthy and even how to best care for them as they aged and grew.  He felt as if he was finally doing something that he loved.  And, the best part was the more he shared, the more they asked questions.  They seemed to really enjoy getting all of their questions answered.

Then one day, while visiting with one of his customers he noticed that the work that he recommended had already been done by another company.  He was perplexed, wondering why someone who he thought valued his expertise would call another company and have them do the work.  He eventually shrugged it off as inconsequential and moved on.  Until, later that day he visited with another customer that he knew and despite all of his knowledge, they decided to use someone else that was less expensive.  Again, he was distraught.  “Why would someone that he knew not take all of his recommendations and just go with a company that was cheaper?  Don’t they care about their trees?”  Sadly, it happened the next day as well, while he was telling a potential customer all that he knew about a particular species of tree and what it would take to save it from disease.  The customer looked right at him and simply exclaimed, “Thanks for all of the information.  I think I’ll just take care of it myself.  Maybe I’ll just take it down”.

What was once something he so looked forward to, having meetings with people that he could educate on trees, he now found exhausting.  He thought that people would be so impressed with his new knowledge of trees that they would hire him on the spot.  After all, he really knew what he was talking about!  And, why would they use him for his knowledge only to either do the work themselves or find someone else that was less expensive to do the work that he recommended?  He was frustrated.  The more he educated people, the worse it seemed to get.  It was then that he realized that all he was, was an unpaid consultant.  He was happy to give people that he met advice, answer their questions and spend an inordinate amount of his time educating them...for free.  He realized that this couldn't continue.  He loved what he did, and he loved teaching people about trees, but he certainly should be paid for it, he thought!

It was at that moment that he decided he had to change.  He couldn’t just give all the information away again for free.  So, he decided to take action.  He made the decision then and there that he was only going to tell people the whole story if they hired him.  He would only educate just enough for people to understand that he knew what he was talking about.  He decided that he would not recommend, using his expertise, until he was pretty sure that people were going to commit to him.  How did he do it, you might ask? 

Well, he started by asking questions instead of making statements.  In other words, instead of recommending what someone should do about an overgrown tree and why, he would ask questions like, “What do you know about this species of trees?”, “What have others shared with you about this?” and even, “What are your concerns, specifically, with these trees?” 

He also stopped giving all of his advice away and saved it for those that were committed to using him to help them.  He started saying things like, “Boy.  Those are great questions that people usually ask when they know they would like my help.  Are you saying you’d like my help?”  Or, “I’d be happy to tell you everything that you’d like to know.  If you’d like to get started with us, we can go over what needs to be done to save that tree.  Ok?”

He also resolved to answering the smaller questions with shorter answers so it wouldn't lead to more free consulting.  It started working.  The better he got at the questions; the more people wanted to work with him.  By the questions, they realized just how much he knew.  They started saying to him things like, “Wow.  That’s a great question about when this disease showed up.  How did you know that this disease started a few weeks ago?”  The better he got at not giving away all of his knowledge, initially, the more people saw that he could help them.  And, when he finally did make a statement, it was really meaningful, and they saw that.

As his new strategy started to work, he grew in his newfound confidence and asked better and better questions.  When he was asked how long he had been an arborist, as example, instead of going into his story he would simply ask, “Interesting question.  Have you had an issue with someone that hasn’t had enough experience?”  “Yes!” they would exclaim and tell him their story.  His new skills were paying off and sales soared.

Years later and retired, as he told his stories to his grandkids, he looked back with fondness of all that he had accomplished.  He had years of great customers that didn't take advantage of him.  He had people that he served for decades, educating only those that worked with him, which allowed him to qualify stronger and earn enough to retire when he did.  And, what could have been a very frustrating career turned into one that he could look back at and be proud of.  Then he realized just how important that small change was.  He thought to himself, sometimes the small things are the big things. 

The morale of the story:  For anyone in sales, don’t be so eager to educate your prospects.  Ask good questions and qualify them instead.

The End