Most salespeople try to get people to buy from them. If this is the way you want to sell, then your success will depend upon how good you are at persuading and convincing, or at least influencing people. You give them reasons to buy. You focus on their needs and problems and expose vulnerabilities. You use techniques to build rapport and make them like you and trust you. If a sale doesn’t occur, it’s because you failed. Perhaps you weren’t persuasive enough or friendly enough.
In High Probability Selling, we look for and work with people who want what we are selling, and who are likely to buy from us very soon. If this is the way you want to sell, then your success will depend upon how good you are at finding these people, and how good you are at assessing the probability that they will buy from you in the near future. You let prospective customers make their own decisions, for their own reasons and in their own time. You focus on what they want and when. Then you focus on whether you want to do business with them or not. If a sale doesn’t occur, it’s either because they didn’t want what you are selling right now, or because you have decided not to go ahead at this time.
Both strategies have their proponents, and both strategies have successful salespeople. However, they are completely incompatible with each other. You can’t pick and choose elements from each. They just don’t mix.
Everything depends upon what you choose. Just pick one or the other.
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