Clean Slate Selling

Tabular Rasa comes from Zen philosophy and literally means “clean slate.” In selling, we all need to be a clean slate – we need to leave our presumptions, assumptions and preconceptions at home.

That doesn’t mean that experience doesn’t play an important role. It does mean that preconceived notions that come before the facts affect your sales calls – often for the worst.

For instance, imagine this scene.

You have to visit a sales prospect 61 miles from your corporate headquarters. The appointment is on Friday at 4 p.m. You’ve never heard of the company before – this is a lead from a trade advertisement – and now your negative preconceptions go to work.

You say to yourself, “Late Friday afternoon, 61 miles, an unknown prospect. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” You might even attempt to recall that prospect one final time on Friday morning hoping he’ll cancel the presentation.

Maybe you prepare for your appointment in a shabby fashion or you don’t bother to carry in all the samples you normally take with you. Maybe you’re a little less meticulous about your appearance.

Now you’re there. You step up to a relatively small, innocuous building in a suburban office complex and say to yourself, “I knew it all along. A meaningless prospect.” When you introduce yourself to the receptionist, you ask, “How many employees does this company have?” She replies, “Just 17 at this location.” So you say to yourself, “I knew it. Small company, stranded out in the boondocks. It’s the end of the week, I’ll get buried in traffic going home. What a total waste of time.”

You go through a hurried presentation and talk to an individual who has the title of vice president. Your sales talk is uninspired and uninspiring. When you leave with a classic, “Maybe we’ll get back in touch,” and go home, you’re sure that this was not a viable prospect. You’ve just created a self-fulfilling prospect of doom.

You see, that little place happens to be the headquarters of a small conglomerate operating 16 subsidiaries. That vice president is responsible for potential buying decisions that may exceed $100,000,000. But you dropped the ball because you predetermined that this wouldn’t be a viable sales prospect and you got what you expected – you failed.

Here’s another example:

You’re called in to see one of your best customers and you know he’s furious. Your company is more than two weeks late in shipping some critical components. His secretary was quite curt on the phone when she said that Mr. Johnson had to see you Thursday at the end of the day.

You begin to imagine the worst – a vicious tongue-lashing, the client threatening to take all his business away form you, or holding you up to ridicule in front of his subordinates. When you arrive for the meeting, you’re prepared for combat. You’ve already forgotten that he’s the aggrieved party, not you.

As you walk in the client’s office, you sense tension and you don’t spend the time you usually do to build rapport and reminisce.

The customer, who’s worked with you for many years, turns to you and says, “What are you angry about?” with a smile on his face. “I’m the one who got his order screwed up. Anyway, the parts came in yesterday and the reason I asked to see you was this – I need to place an emergency back-up order for twice the original quantity.”

Here you were, almost antagonistic to a valued customer because of your preconceived notions. You failed to check your own shipping schedule, you failed to ask the secretary about the reason for the appointment and you went in with a negative viewpoint. The customer’s own needs and desires saved you – this time.

Now imagine that you’re a new salesperson going to work for a clothing company. You’re full of energy, excitement and enthusiasm – this could be the start of a great business career and you’re with a terrific company.

Your first assignment is in a large city and your sales manager gives you a huge case full of point-of-sale materials and training aids. Your first call is to a huge department store downtown. With wide-eyed enthusiasm, you single-handedly plaster the store with every imaginable piece of point-of-sale material, educate every single clerk, and spend three of the most productive hours imaginable.

At the end of the week, when you relate the story to your manager, she’s in shock. “Kid, didn’t anybody ever tell you that we can’t put point-of-sale material up in department stores? It breaks every single rule. And you can’t take your time to educate a clerk. What are you crazy?” Then you both break into smiles as you realize that it was your tabular rasa, your completely unblemished mental slate, that allowed you to do what “couldn’t be done.”

Brand new salespeople often succeed not because of any special talent or gift, but because they’re open. They have a tabular rasa that says, “Show me the need and I will find a way.”

Unfortunately, salespeople who’ve spent as few or a few score years in professional selling often begin to lost this freshness. They think they know all the answers – or most of the answers – and got a bit cocky. Don’t let this happen to you.

Become a clean slate, and have the wide-eyed enthusiasm of inexperience and youth. Approach each selling situation as if it were new and refreshing – not just another humdrum day out in the field. You can go back to a tabular rasa anytime you choose. Get out your mental eraser today!