Your First Sale Was the Fourth

There’s a way to prepare for a scary sales conversation that resembles the world of user interface (UI) design.

Before UI designers can know whether a screen will work for their preferred users, they’ll navigate their choices, they’ll create prototypes, and then they’ll iterate.

Iterating is the process of revisiting a version, a draft, an attempt, after some time away. The time away is for learning, it’s for consideration, it’s for making sure you might think of a better way.

When you iterate, you’re comfortable with uncertainty. Uncertainty is built into the iterating process. And so if you’re new to design, or sales, it’s okay. Trust the process.

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Let’s iterate on the design of a sales conversation.

You consider the other person’s starting point, the progress they’re trying to make, what they’re willing to sacrifice in terms of money, but also in terms of time and effort. You draw your own box around what’s possible to offer, the lines you won’t cross, and what a win will look like for you. You go over your beliefs about what might go wrong, and you take that in, reflecting and checking your biases.

And then you’ll envision the sales conversation. And that will bring up some more beliefs, reactions and fears, for you to catch and revisit. Uncertainty.

And you might then stop that exercise, take a break, and start again from scratch this afternoon. Try another iteration.

You try again. “No, I don’t feel like helping with that aspect of the project. But this aspect excites me.” You’re iterating on your side of the offer. You’re drafting your end of the deal. Let’s put it away.

Another draft, this time it’s for the client’s side. “Right: they’ll probably want this from me. They mentioned price sensitivity but they’re concerned with quick results. Maybe there’s an option I can offer that’ll offer quick turnaround.”

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Your first sales conversation can be practiced several times in advance. Not so much as a script, but as a sort of interface you’re designing, the interface between you and the buyer. You seek a place where you’re ecstatic, they’re ecstatic, and there are no compromises. Maybe your first conversation won’t be a sales conversation, maybe you need more information before you can present a package.

If you’re serious about helping your buyer make progress, you owe yourself, and them, a couple good design sessions before your sales call, maybe a few round of questions.

This way, they’ll find you so good they’ll think you’ve been selling for a while. You, on the other hand, will know that this was your first.