Have you ever been in front of a salesperson who appeared to be desperate for the sale? Desperate salespeople and desperate companies tend to make unnecessary concessions, cave in on price too easily, and cater to unreasonable demands from prospects, and often scare them off anyway.

Keeping a mindset of being financially independent is the first step to ensuring that you never appear desperate in front of a prospect. The obvious problem with needing the sale in order to pay your mortgage, buy groceries or make a car payment, is that a prospect can smell that need, just as a shark smells blood.

Salespeople should remember that regardless of the size of their bank account, their attitude in front of a prospect should always be, “I’m financially independent and I don’t need the business.” Another way to put it is, “Mr. Prospect, I believe I can help you out and I hope we end up doing business together. But if you decide against that, I’ll be fine (and either way, I’m eating steak tonight).”

The best way to avoid sales desperation is to keep your own financial house in order. If your commissions are particularly good one month, don’t spend the extra money; take a steady draw each month at a level you can sustain year-round, no matter how small your monthly check is. Beyond that very necessary fiscal discipline, the most important thing is to create the belief and persona that you want the sale, but you don’t need it.

There’s a good example of this abundant attitude in the movie “Tommy Boy”, starring Chris Farley. The salvation of Tommy’s family’s auto parts company rests on his shoulders and his unorthodox and as yet ineffective selling skills. His sidekick, Richard, calls his sales effort, “a huge embarrassing failure.”

On the road, Tommy and Richard reach a point of despair as they are sitting in a country diner just before closing time. Tommy orders chicken wings but the waitress tells him that the fryers are shut down and they can have only cold items. Launching into one of his antics, Tommy convinces the waitress to start up the stove and bring him some wings.

Richard, looking dumbfounded, asks Tommy, “Why can’t you sell like that in front of a customer?” He replies, “What are you talking about? I was just playing around. If I don’t get the wings, so what, I’ve still got that (cold) pizza in the trunk.”

Did you catch that? In sales parlance, Tommy was saying, “I hope you decide to do business with me, but if you tell me ‘No,’ I’ll be OK; after all, I’m financially independent and I don’t need the business.” Once Tommy did not need the sale, he was a lot more relaxed and did not appear desperate; he could just play off the “prospect’s” responses and not worry about what was going to happen next. Not needing the sale enabled him to get the sale. The lesson he learned in that interaction enabled him to change his whole sales persona from desperation to confidence; he shifted from huge embarrassing failures to huge sales.

A sales call should be an adult-to-adult interaction where neither party loses. Groveling, begging or otherwise appearing desperate does not usually lead to the best deal for you even if you do close the sale. If you find yourself wanting or needing the sale more than your prospect, you’re probably going to come out on the short end.

Before every sales call, remind yourself, “I’m financially independent, I’d love to get this sale, but if I don’t, I’ll be OK; I can always eat cold pizza.”

2010 Marr Professional Development Corporation

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs the Sandler Training center at 501 Avis Drive in Ann Arbor. To get more information on Selling Smart training sessions being conducted this season, call: 734-821-4830 or visit his website at www.sandlerannarbor.com