by Jacques Werth

Our office manager rang me and said “John Richardson is on line 5.  He took our workshops several months ago and he has a problem.  Can you talk to him now?”

I said, “Sure” and picked up the call.

“What’s the problem, John?”

He said, “Since I did your courses I’ve increased my average monthly sales volume by over forty-percent and it’s still climbing.  So, when I was talking to my sales manger last week I told him that he should have all the salespeople take your workshops.  He told me to describe how High Probability Selling works, so I did.  He listened, took notes, and said he would think about it.”

I said, “I can guess what happened next.”

John said, “He called me today and said that what I’ve been doing can’t possibly work and he wants me to stop immediately.  He insisted that I to go back to using the company’s standard sales process.”

I said, “We always tell salespeople who participate in our workshops that they should never try to convince anyone to use High Probability Selling, and especially not their boss.  Trying to convince people creates resistance.”

He said, “I thought he would love the idea of everyone increasing their sales the way I have.”

I said, “First, it’s not true that all the salespeople will increase their sales – some can’t or won’t.

“More importantly, most sales managers have a big personal investment in having everyone do whatever they believe in.  It’s very hard for them to change, especially if they don’t discover it themselves.  That’s why we ask everyone not to tell their mangers what they’re doing, but wait until they are asked.  Then, you should just say “It’s too complicated for me to explain, but I’ll give you the book if you want to read it.”

He said, “I was so excited about the results I’ve been getting, I forgot all about that.”