Business Intimacy Admission

I came across a cracking piece of best-practice yesterday talking to a customer of mine that helped the fella selling IT gain a jump over his rivals to win a 40k deal.

The prospect had used their kit in the past, but had little if any loyalty.  Suspecting he was second in a two-horse race, he said to the decision-maker:

“I don’t feel I know enough about your business to be able to add any benefits or value to what you’re hoping to achieve”. 

The response was simply surprise, as no-one had ever said that to the prospect before.  The seller continued along the lines of,

“if you’re going to put a report on the MD’s desk then I feel you’d need more than what you currently have”. 

This tack immediately enabled him uncover two major desires which ultimately made the difference between winning and losing.