“On two occasions, I have been asked by members of Parliament, ‘Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?’ I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.” – Charles Babbage.

Babbage is known to some as the “Father of Computing.” The Analytical Engine was the first device that might be considered to be a computer in the modern sense of the word. It used loops of punched cards to control an automatic calculator, which could make decisions based on the results of previous computations. He sought financial support to continue its development from the British Parliament.

It’s the customer who “just doesn’t get it.”

The question posed in the 1830′s by the honorable member is not as dumb as it first appears. Let’s imagine a scenario where Babbage plays super salesman and presents his PowerPoint to show his customer just how much he knows about his product. He thinks that after they hear his great plans and what the machine can do, presto, he’s got the deal done.

Now, I can recall a few times where I did the same thing, just prattling on and on about how much I knew. I thought, mistakenly so, I could convince my customer to buy because I knew so much and that would surely sell them. In these situations of babbling brook syndrome, I, like Babbage, got equally dumb questions in response. I can remember too how I felt, walking out of a meeting and shaking my head all the while murmuring something to the effect “they just don’t get it.” The reality was I didn’t get it. A never-ending splurge of features and benefits and facts isn’t selling or convincing anyone.

Make matters worse: answer dumb questions.

I have to call upon Flip Wilson’s infamous line, “The devil made me do it.” It’s the only way I can explain why I said the things I did in response to really dumb customer questions. How many of us would be tempted to say “Yes, of course the right answers will come out” if we were standing in Babbage’s shoes? My instinct tells me quite a few would.

Instead, if the devil didn’t quite make me cross that line, modern thought is to reply to the question with a question such as “Do you want the right answers to some out?” For many a sales person this question answering a question only delays the inevitable, “Yes, of course it will.” And the customer says “Really?That’s great; we’ll have to think about it.” And the scene ends with you shaking your head and muttering, they just don’t get it.

Get you customer to stop tinkering and make a decision.

Babbage, who died in 1871, worked the rest of his life on the Analytical Engine but never completed it. It’s said he never stopped tinkering and no sooner did he send a drawing to the machine shop would he order everything stopped until he finished tinkering on a new design. Does this scenario remind you of more than a few customers?

I recognize that a lot of sales people make good money selling consulting gigs that allow customers to tinker themselves into oblivion. For those of us who don’t have that lap of luxury, our task is to motivate them to make a decision. The lesson is clear; if you fall into the latter group, don’t waste time on tinkerers, some customers will never get it!

MosaicCRM Experts Corner

CRM programs are great platforms for defining and monitoring the sales process.

• In this example, an ‘Account Rating’ system could be of huge value: Qualified & Committed or Suspect & Uncommitted? Too often account ratings simply define the size or location of an account. With CRM technology it is easy to go beyond that simple parameter and rate accounts by meaningful reference and measurable objectives e.g. financing approved, decision date identified, competitive advantages etc.

• Monitoring your Progress with an ‘Aging System’ is important in the sales opportunity phase. Use your CRM programs to check progress by length of time and date in each phase. After all, if the deal is not moving to the next sales stage in a timely manner, it isn’t going to because you wish it so. Using these ‘Aging’ techniques is also very telling on forecasting more accurate closing time periods.

• If the opportunity is not moving ahead and you’re not making to progress where you are, then the Fall Back System is needed. Beyond keeping your pipeline content clean, Fall Backs require a specific strategy and sales routine to follow.

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Written by
Bill Noonan, CEO MosaicCRM

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