Al sez:
" Although having dealt with countless engineers during the course of my career, as well as being one of them, my perception has been that there are many cases in which perfectionism tends to be carried to extremes. And many engineers tend to be a bit too dogmatic and inflexible in how they approach their work. All of which can result in the paralysis by analysis that OP referred to."
Exactly, Al.
Considering what Al said there, and considering the personalities of sales people who are happy closing a sale 50% of the time they make a sales call, or even less, its easy to see why so many sales people have such a difficult time selling to the engineer type. They're actually conflicting personality types.
Once a salesperson takes the care and the time to address the needs of the other person, understands the prospects motivation, and then points the prospect in the right direction, success usually follows.
Studying personality types really does gives a salesperson an edge up on the competition and imparts a lot of power to the salesperson during the sales process.
These are some of the differences in my business between a true professional and an also-ran. The most important attribute of all though is honesty to a fault.
There is a fine line between a professional salesperson and a con-man. A true professional in the sales field will never suggest or do anything that is a disadvantage to, or for, his/her customer. A con-man may make millions by being among the greatest salespeople in the world, but they usually end up in prison. Think Bernie Madoff.
OP
" Although having dealt with countless engineers during the course of my career, as well as being one of them, my perception has been that there are many cases in which perfectionism tends to be carried to extremes. And many engineers tend to be a bit too dogmatic and inflexible in how they approach their work. All of which can result in the paralysis by analysis that OP referred to."
Exactly, Al.
Considering what Al said there, and considering the personalities of sales people who are happy closing a sale 50% of the time they make a sales call, or even less, its easy to see why so many sales people have such a difficult time selling to the engineer type. They're actually conflicting personality types.
Once a salesperson takes the care and the time to address the needs of the other person, understands the prospects motivation, and then points the prospect in the right direction, success usually follows.
Studying personality types really does gives a salesperson an edge up on the competition and imparts a lot of power to the salesperson during the sales process.
These are some of the differences in my business between a true professional and an also-ran. The most important attribute of all though is honesty to a fault.
There is a fine line between a professional salesperson and a con-man. A true professional in the sales field will never suggest or do anything that is a disadvantage to, or for, his/her customer. A con-man may make millions by being among the greatest salespeople in the world, but they usually end up in prison. Think Bernie Madoff.
OP