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(Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes)

Speed and Gears ⚙️

Imagine you are driving at 50 mph and you suddenly put the car in the wrong gear. The engine spits out an ungodly sound, like a possessed hairdryer on steroids, and you think your car going to explode.

In the best case scenario, using the wrong gear will prevent your car from moving. In the worst case scenario you'll blow the car up.

Selling to prospects is the same.

It's a fallacy to think each prospect moves at the same speed. Or that you don't need to adjust your sales process according to the person in front of you.

You must change your gear based on their speed.

Here are some examples of poor speed/gear management:

• Asking for a 30 minute meeting on the first cold email

• Demoing a solution before a problem is identified

• Sharing pricing before you've demonstrated any value

• Elongating the sales cycle when the customer is ready to buy today

Sometimes you go too fast. Sometimes you go too slow.

Both are deadly.

Being in the right gear at the right time is what counts.

Sell the problem, not the solution.

Perhaps the biggest perpetrator of the speed and gear fallacy is selling a solution to a problem someone does not think they have.

'People don't care about solving problems they don't think they have'

You have to be sure they understand the consequence of their pain point before you switch up gears and focus on selling the solution.

That's why asking for a 30 minute meeting on your first cold email doesn't work.

Top tip: Use cold outreach to validate the presence of a problem and gauge interest in solving it, not to sell the solution.

Example of me changing gears in real life.

The below messages are me trying to close a new prospect on Spendesk. They're a couple of signatures away from closing. I'm following up with generic "here's the next steps" emails but I'm getting ghosted.

So, instead of going at the same speed. I realize its not time to push the close. I down-shift to a lower gear. Instead I clarify if this is still in their interests.

1) I'm pushing for the close.

2) I realize it's not working so I switch gears and instead reassess timelines and goals.

3) Boom. It worked. I got a reply. The prospect had slowed down and I needed to change my gear accordingly.

4) Deal back on.

And yes, we closed them 💪

Wrapping it up 🌯

Top sales people need the awareness to know which gear to be in, the skill to change accordingly, and the courage to not give in to a fixed speed process.

When you start to feel resistance in a deal ask yourself;

"Am I in the right gear or am i about to destroy this deal?"