Positioning Systems Blog

Have you heard of the Kinnardly Diamond? Dave Kurlan’s Objective Management Group is providing us with some valuable insight into their sales assessment tools and training practices. The Kinnardly Diamond is a story of a salesperson with a hidden weakness, Steve. Steve is an example of someone who might be on your sales staff who is unknowingly sabotaging his effectiveness. See if anyone on your sales staff resembles Steve.

Steve was a mortgage finance sales person who was having a great deal of trouble selling during the real-estate boom several years ago. He was barely making $30K a year. Steve planned to get engaged. He ended up spending $1100 on the diamond for his fiancé. [That’s why it’s called the Kinnardly Diamond – you can hardly see it!] Here’s what you need to know about Steve. Steve’s idea of a big purchase is anything over $50. Consequently he spent 18 months deciding on this purchase. He visited 26 stores, going back six times to the last store he eventually purchased the diamond from. Two things were extremely important in his final decision. The store he purchased from had the lowest price and they had layaway. 

Steve’s hidden weakness is called a non supportive buy cycle.  You see how we buy mirrors how others buy from us. You get what you expect, consequently when a mortgage purchaser would say, I have to think this over, or this is a lot of money, or we have to shop around, what does Steve think? No matter how much training and coaching you do with Steve, he is caught in the trap of what he believes. If it took him 18 months to make an $1100 purchase, how do you feel he looks at his customer’s purchasing a $100,000 or $200,000 mortgage?   No matter how hard he tries he can’t get past his own buy cycle.

Think about your sales staff.   Are you selling large purchases?   Does anyone on your staff have difficulty making decisions on larger purchases at or above what you are asking your prospects to spend? If so they have a non supportive buy cycle that inhibits their sales potential. You can learn about how this affects their closing ability.

Objective Management Groups sales assessments help uncover these and several other hidden weaknesses and elements for successful sales as well. 

Positioning Systems will be offering these tools to our clients to help them identify the challenges their sales teams are facing and to provide expert sales development.

If your sales team is currently challenged with a non supportive buy cycle you can expect as much as a 50% more effective team in 3-9 months by first discovering and then following the proper course to fix it. Wouldn’t you like to have a 50% increase in your sales performance in the next 3-9 months?

Sales success is both improvable and predictable. Fixing any of the remaining four of five hidden weaknesses can improve performance another 25 -35% on each weakness. The need for approval is the next hidden weakness. The question for next blog is which is more important in the sales process; that the prospect likes you or he respects you?

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Positioning Systems helps business owners and entrepreneurs transform their business.   We provide the tools and coaching to help you take control of your business -- rather then having your business control you.