The dumbest sales idea ever

Several years ago, I read an article by a sales expert who suggested that salespeople could close more deals by using the “Yes, no, yes, yes, yes” approach.

This strategy suggested that salespeople ask their prospects a series of questions that will be answered with “Yes, no, yes, yes, yes.” He said that it was important that a prospect say “no” early in the sales process, because everyone who is tasked with a buying decision feels compelled to say no at least once.

The last question would be a closing question. Because the prospect would be used to saying yes by then, he or she would automatically say yes when asked to make a buying decision. I cringed when I heard this because I thought it was a load of crap.

Flash forward to this past week when a participant in a sales training workshop admitted to being trained in this tactic. He said, “We spent a lot of time role playing this tactic during training.” When I asked if the approach actually worked, he snorted, “Are you kidding me?! My prospects aren’t that stupid.” He went on to say, “No one in my office had success with it.”