The Dummy Curve
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The Dummy Curve
What is The Dummy Curve?
The Dummg Curve is a sales theory that states the most effective sales professionals learn to act dumb with new clients and prospects. It highlights the importance of salespeople asking questions and getting prospects talking in order to learn more about their business, goals and pain points.
What are the three phases of The Dummy Curve?
The Dummy Curve can be separated into three distinct phases.
The Dummy Phase
This phase is for salespeople at the beginning of their careers. At this stage, the salesperson will ask more questions to learn more about the market and what clients are looking for, so the prospect will often end up doing 70% of the talking.
The Amature Phase
As they improve their knowledge, salespeople have a tendency to want to show it off. This means that they start doing more talking and offering more advice to clients. However, this often means they are doing 70% of the talking and don’t allow clients to be heard.
The Professional Phase
When a salesperson develops more experience they see the value in keeping the client talking. At this point, the prospect once again does 70% of the talking. But now this is on purpose as the salesperson is asking the right questions to uncover as much info about the client’s business as possible.
How to progress to the professional stage?
Although it takes time to develop the skills and knowledge to reach the professional phase, at Sandler UK we have some useful approaches to help you do so more efficiently. We have developed some ‘dummy phrases’, even novice salespeople can use to start talking like sales pros and ask the right questions. Here is how they can be used:
When prospects ask:
- ‘What will the cost of be…?
- ‘Can this be done by…?
- ‘Are you working with other…?’
- ‘When can I expect…?
You can respond with these dummy phrases to allow the prospect to share more useful information:
- ‘First, can you tell me more about…?’
- ‘Help me understand why…?’
- ‘Did we discuss why…?’
- ‘Let me see if I understand that correctly…?’
Sandler UK sales training session near you
Are you looking to progress from a sales dummy to a sales professional? Or, perhaps, there is someone on your sales team you are trying to develop. At Sandler UK, we have all the teams and resources to help you thrive. Join us for face-to-face training sessions at a centre near you or get in touch to find out how we can boost your selling power.
