Look Out For Landmines (The Seller's Mindset Series)

One of my favorite things to remind sellers when we're prepping for an upcoming sales call is look for the landmines. Throughout the entire sales cycle—but certainly near the top of the funnel—the salesperson's job is to constantly be scanning ahead, looking out for things that will kill this deal.

Many people get confused and assume that since they're selling, they're supposed to be pitching and talking during sales calls. But this is such an important mindset shift. The best sellers know that the exact opposite is true. Great sellers listen way more than they talk.

And what are they listening for? They're listening for landmines. Little hints of trouble up ahead. An offhand comment about reduced budgets next quarter, or a new CTO who just started and nobody knows them very well. I mean, there are a hundred little things that could kill an otherwise very good-looking deal—and the customer's never going to come right out and say them to you.

You need to be finding them and proactively diffusing them. So that's how we keep deals steadily moving through the funnel, is by having a mindset of looking out for the landmines. And the questions we ask also should be strategically designed to uncover landmines that the client either can't see or is not going to pony up.

“Who else needs to sign off on this before moving forward?” Is a really good one. “Were you expecting to see anything today that I didn't show you?” And one of my favorites: “What more work needs to be done on your side before all of this is said and done?” 

So train yourself to change your mindset. Keep a sharp eye out for landmines in conversations, ask good questions and try to uncover things that could potentially kill your deals. If you find one early, you have a really good chance of diffusing it and keeping the deal moving forward. But if you don't…the whole thing could explode in your face.