Requests vs Requirements

A coaching client today asked me to write about prospecting, process, and power as it relates to sales.

1,000 words or less, here I go.

“You’re such an asshole.”

Or, as the easily offended might say, I’m rigid.

When it comes to selling, “deal making,” there are certain things I won’t budge on. You either meet me at my level, or we don’t meet at all. If this makes me a bad person, so be it.

“He really is an asshole,” says every reader.

Give me a second.

Here’s why this is a good thing for all my customers.

Little story time.

A referral was sent to me for a prospect that was perfect. Right smack in my ICP. Big problem, one I can solve better than anyone I’ve met, by someone whose business was transformed after meeting me.

This is where it gets weird.

This referral had all types of unusual demands.

• Pricing on company letterheads.

• Written letters of guarantees on pricing.

• Special terms.

Reminder, they have a problem.

Someone they trust said, “Chris can solve it.”

They are more concerned about the unusual demands than solving the problem.

You can guess what I did.

I said, “We don’t do business like this. What do we suggest we do next?”

The long-winded threatening email, which felt written by a mid-puberty teenager, followed.

I ignored the email.

No thanks. Not something I’m interested in doing.

Now, I’ll jump through hoops for prospects and customers that are riding shotgun with me.

But the client that wants to control me, has power over me, no thanks.

I ignored the first email where they said I was rude.

They sent me another “checking in if I got the last.”

They sent me a third email accepting all the REQUIREMENTS of our engagement.

Not my request.

My Requirement.

This isn’t a debate. It’s not an argument. It’s not even up for discussion.

When you work with me, you work my way.

This is the game, and this is how it’s played.

If you don’t want to play, that’s real. I have zero problem with that. In fact, I respect that you have your own requirements as a business leader. But I won’t be playing alongside you.

This is where I hear “You’re such an asshole, Chris.”

Wait, am I an asshole for not listening to their demands?

Doesn’t that make them an asshole for making me listen to theirs?

This isn’t for me. This is for my prospect.

I truly consider myself an expert in my trade. What I do.

I’ve solved these problems thousands of times, a thousand ways, with a thousand success stories.

I know what works. What doesn’t.

I don’t have time to waste. If you’ve spent anytime with me, you’ve heard me say, “I can’t spend time serving the healthy, only the sick.”

This may or may not intersect with their view of the same — but then, if they had a better idea than me, knew how to solve their problem better than me, why are they reaching out to me?

So, I spell out my terms of working with me right from the very first call.

“This is what’s required from you in working with me.”

This makes my life easier, but more so it’s for my client.

Do special unusual payment terms or pricing on a company letterhead serve the client?

Unlikely.

Does spending countless hours on the phone talking about doing the work serve them, versus just getting to work?

They are struggling, having problems, because of things they’ve done or inherited.

I waste no time doing things that don’t help them solve the problem.

(Hence why you never see me use a pitch deck)

What does this have to do with prospecting, power, and process?

Everything.

When you reach out to your prospects, do you sound like a 12-year-old boy asking the prettiest girl in the classroom to go to the school dance?

Nervous. Unsure.

Or do you have a confidence because you’ve been there before?

You know exactly what to do and know how to solve it.

The direction of your requirements is directly related to your confidence and ability to solve a problem.

And if you can solve a prospects problem it’s your job, heck, your requirement to do so as a professional.

So, which is it, do you have requests? Or do you have requirements?

Weekly Challenge

What are your requirements vs your requests?

As always, start with a list:

1. What information do you need from the client to solve their problem perfectly?

2. These are your requirements.

3. Do you always get them?

4. Why do they hesitate to give them to you?

5. Does the prospect follow their buying process or yours?

6. What is your selling process?

Now list #2:

1. List out all your deals.

2. List out the information you have in one column.

3. List out the information you still need in another column.

   1. The information you still need is to serve them perfectly.

4. Ask the prospect for the information you need.

5. When they tell you no, remember, Request vs Requirement.

Until next week,

Chris