Samurai Sales Training – Handling Difficult Situations in the Sales Process

There you are. In the midst of what seems to be a positive sales presentation. Then out of the proverbial blue, comes a totally unexpected, off point question or statement. You fumble for the right words to answer the question and return to a positive presentation. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

The Samurai, when in an inferior or defensive position, turned a positive into a negative. In a sales situation, it is conversational Jujitsu.

Under the guidance of Sensei Robert Lambert, of the Samurai Business Group, we learned and practiced conversational Jujitsu. The techniques taught should be used when a question is asked and you don’t know why. Or the timing of a question may be off topic, or your answer would hurt your presentation.

For example, you’re talking about how your product / services will help the prospect when they interrupt with: “I heard you had problems at XYZ Corp.”  Your response, using jujitsu techniques, could be: “There were a couple of issues that have been resolved. Would you mind helping me understand what specifically concerns you and why?”

Perhaps the prospect starts a negative comparison of your product or service to a competitor. “Harmont Services are much less expensive, and their contract is only for six months. If I’m not happy, I have more flexibility and a smaller commitment..”

“It sounds like you’ve decided to go with Harmont.  But now I’m confused; if you’ve already made your decision, what were you hoping to accomplish at our meeting?”

Or maybe they ask a question about something that hasn’t been discussed before and / or seems irrelevant: “Does your system have a throckmorton feature?”  Your response could be: “It’s interesting that you should bring that up.  Obviously, you have an application in mind for that feature?”

The secret to Jujitsu on the field of battle, or in the conference room, is to take the prospect’s advantage and turn it against them. How? There are three basic moves. The reversal is used 90% of the time. “That’s an interesting question. What do you believe are the advantages if we don’t sync our teams during implementation?”

Or perhaps a take away move would make sense. The enemy thrusts a spear at you. You side step, grab the spear, add energy to the forward motion and take the spear away.

In conversational Jujitsu, you might answer, “Interesting comment. For us to professionally implement this program, we will need to work with your staff. If that is not possible, perhaps we shouldn’t move forward. What is your alternative?”

This will either get the project back on track, or stop wasting your time in an impossible situation. In the 1980’s, there was a stockbroker (now known as Wealth Management executives), who was a master of the take away. His reputation for helping clients was national. His process was methodical. But if the prospect or client refused to cooperate, he stopped wasting his time and would immediately close the prospect’s file.

Finally, there is the pre-emptive move. In battle this was best shown in “Raiders of the Lost Arc.” An obvious masterful swordsman challenges Indians Jones to a duel. Jones calmly pulls out a gun and kills the swordsman.

In conversational Jujitsu, the actions are not as bloody. A few days after learning and practicing in our class, I was faced with the situation of telling a prospective client t

“Dan, I carefully reviewed your website. Please don’t shoot the messenger. The platform that was used is not suitable for a website. In addition, there are typos, dead links and one section that could get you in legal trouble.” The now client appreciated my candor and the fact I kept the conversation about helping him move toward success and didn’t make it personal.

Like all of the Samurai Business Group’s teachings, this needs to be practiced under the guidance of an expert. If not, you might experience being run through by a “spear.”

For further details on “Handling Difficult Situations in the Sales Process,” contact either Dan Kreutzer or Robert Lambert or visit the Samurai Business Group website.

Spencer Maus, of SpencerConnect, is a senior-level, public relations executive. Samurai Business Group is a client and providing compensation to SpencerConnect