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How to Adapt Your Sales Process to Shifting Goalposts

As a sales professional, it's crucial to be able to adapt your approach on the fly to match the needs and feedback of your prospects. In this insightful podcast episode, sales expert Ian Ross dives deep into the concept of "shifting goalposts" - the idea that you need to be willing to adjust your sales strategy based on what your prospect is telling you, rather than rigidly sticking to your own process.

Active Listening

One of the key takeaways from this episode is the importance of active listening. Ross shares a personal story of a salesperson he was coaching who got so caught up in the prospect's emotional attachment to the property and overestimation of rehab costs that he missed the clear signs the prospect wasn't ready to commit. By failing to truly listen to the prospect's feedback, this salesperson lost the opportunity to make the sale.

Tune In

The lesson here is that as a sales professional, you need to be attuned to the subtle cues and objections your prospect is giving you, and be willing to adjust your approach accordingly. Just because your typical sales process involves a certain sequence of steps doesn't mean you can rigidly stick to that if the prospect is telling you they're not ready to take the final action you're pushing for.

Instead, Ross emphasizes the importance of "shifting the goalposts" – moving your focus away from closing the final sale and instead concentrating on getting the prospect to take the next incremental step in your process. This could mean setting up a follow-up call, getting the contact information for another decision-maker, or simply getting the prospect to verbalize something that allows you to smoothly transition to your next prepared question.

To Believe or Not to Believe...

The key is being willing to believe the prospect when they express an objection or hesitation, and then stress-testing that objection to determine if it's genuine. Common "smokescreen" objections like "I need to think it over" or "I need to talk to my spouse" may not always be as valid as they seem on the surface. But if you determine the prospect is being truthful, your job then becomes selling them on the next step, not the final outcome.

How to Apply

Applying this strategy on a granular level, Ross shares a specific example from his "Vivid Selling Framework" – a set of questions designed to guide the prospect to feel like moving forward was their own idea. When a prospect's response didn't align with his next prepared question, Ross had to quickly shift his focus to getting the prospect to say something that would allow him to seamlessly transition.

The Takeaway

By maintaining a flexible, adaptable mindset and keeping your focus narrow and immediate rather than on the big-picture sale, you can keep your sales conversations flowing smoothly, even when the goalposts shift unexpectedly. And when you're able to do that, you'll find yourself closing more sales and hitting your targets with greater consistency.

So if you're a sales professional who sometimes feels caught off guard or unsure of how to respond when a prospect gives you an unexpected objection or hesitation, take the time to watch the full episode of this podcast. Ian Ross provides a wealth of actionable strategies and mindset shifts that can help you become a more agile, effective salesperson - one who is always ready to adapt to shifting goalposts and keep the sale moving forward. With the right approach, you can turn those unexpected obstacles into opportunities to demonstrate your sales prowess and close more deals.

Watch the full episode here.

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