Assumptions: Guesses in Business Suits

Assumptions are a necessary part of life. It’s the kind of assumptions you’re willing to make that separates winners from ‘also rans’

Two cars were being driven fast and in opposite directions along a winding country lane. It was late summer and the hedgerows on either side were lush and high, making it impossible to see around the corners.

It was hot, so both drivers had their windows wound down. Their minds were focused on the road ahead and on their respective destinations. And as it happened, one of the drivers was a man and the other was a woman.

They approached the final bend at speed, only just managing to see one another in time. They stood on their brakes and barely managed to slide past each other without scraping any paintwork.

As they did so, the woman turned to the man, and through the open window she shouted: "PIG!"

Quick as a flash he replied: "COW!"

He accelerated around the corner .... and crashed headlong into a pig.

Ouch!

Assumptions are generally considered to be a bad thing.  As the line in the Steven Segal movie 'Under Siege II' goes: “Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups".  One of my earliest abiding memories of Benny Hill was a sketch where he delivered the line “When you assume, you make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ ."

I recently asked a LinkedIn group of sales professionals to generate a list of all the assumptions that they have made in selling that have come back to haunt them.

The list included;

• "I have assumed that having a price advantage gave me a sales advantage.
• "I have assumed that success would follow success without the effort that got me success in the first place."
• "I have assumed that when a customer said ‘yes’ we had an agreement."
• "I have assumed that by learning all I could about my product that my sales results would improve."
• "I have assumed that being liked by my prospect would give me a sales advantage."
• "I have assumed that I was right."
• "I have assumed that my prospect was telling me the truth."
• "I assumed that my prospect knew why we’re meeting, just because they had agreed to meet with me. "
• "I have assumed that my prospect was the decision maker."
• "I have assumed that my prospect would recommend my solution to his/her management."
• "I have assumed that an opportunity was qualified because my prospect had a budget."
• "I have assumed that my prospect doesn’t make any assumptions."

You could be forgiven for thinking that assumptions were some sort of cancer at the heart of selling. The reality however is very different. Assumptions are a necessary part of life. If we didn’t make assumptions life as we know it would grind to a halt. 

We make assumptions every day. For example, as a driver, I assume that other drivers will stop at a red traffic light. Sales forecasting requires us to make some assumptions. I made an assumption last night when I set my alarm clock that I would be alive in the morning to hear it. We’re currently experiencing arctic weather conditions as I write. The roads are frozen over and driving conditions are treacherous. I made the assumption this morning that I should allow extra time to get to my destination. This was a good assumption. 

A news item on the radio informs me that in two days time our country will run out of salt for gritting the nations’ roads. Clearly the authorities made an assumption some weeks ago that the weather would never get this cold. This was a bad assumption.

In the middle of the scale between right assumptions and wrong assumptions, good assumptions and bad, there is always a person. Some people tend to assume negative outcomes and others positive. Take the kindly old lady who came across two small boys trying to reach the doorbell of a house with a stick. She watched them as she approached up the hill, memories of her own two beloved and mischievous boys flooding back. 

"They're all grown up now but it seems like only yesterday they were that size." she reflected fondly. 

She though how much the world had changed since she was raising them. In her day their mother would have left the front door open! When she drew up to them, she kindly pressed on the doorbell for them. Quick as a flash the two of them ran off around the corner in a fit of giggles shouting:

 "Run for it!"

Another person might have assumed the opposite and called social services to have the boys apprehended.

An assumption, therefore, is a belief or proposition that we ‘hold to be true’, without sufficient supporting evidence. Sounds fairly foolish then, to be making assumptions at all. But, in the absence of perfect information, how could we possibly make decisions or take action on anything, without making those assumptions? On that basis, then, aren't assumptions a necessary part of daily life for everyone?

Now, ask yourself how acceptable would it be for a surgeon planning to operate on your child to make assumptions about what he should prepare?

How acceptable would it be for the pilot flying your plane to make assumptions about the fitness of your plane to take to the skies?

How acceptable would it be for the project manager on a multi-million Euro development to make assumptions about which sub-contractors are suitable for what? 

Each of these professionals is subject to the same human assumption impulses that afflict the rest of us. The difference is that their assumptions have an immediate and measurable consequence on life-or-death issues. Because of this, professionals in most fields have to work hard to eliminate assumptions from key areas of their work. For example, it's OK for a pilot to assume the steward has checked the coffee supply but it's not OK for a pilot to assume there's enough fuel in the tanks without checking.

The problem therefore is not the assumption. The problem is that we don’t have the appropriate in-built checks and balances that ensure we minimize the amount of wrong assumptions in the first place.

In all areas of life we make judgment calls in a rather random and unspecific way. In professional selling good judgment is essential so we have identified essential checks and balances which we call:

• Methodology

• Process 

• Qualifiers

• Inspection

Many people 'assume' that process and methodology are the same and I believe few sales managers know the difference between the two.

I have referred to sales 'Methodology' before as a form of sales religion. Sales Methodology is a common set of beliefs, principles, practices, rules and language that combine to define how we plan and engage with customers. Another way to think of it is like a governing constitution or framework. There is no universal ‘methodology’ because there is no universal customer engagement dynamic.
A sales process, as defined by Lanigan, is a sequence of steps designed to optimize a sales organization's return on effort in bringing a sales opportunity from initial contact through to a firm conclusion. I use the term ‘firm conclusion’ for two reasons.

It implies no assumptions on behalf of the selling organization or prospective client and it covers the three possible outcomes of every sales opportunity

• A sale

• No sale

• A Qualified Future Opportunity

At each stage of a sales process the selling team will concern themselves with something new. For example, at the initial approach to a new prospect, the sales team would concern themselves with building the relationship. At another stage they might concern themselves with the prospect's business problem. Another stage might require them to focus on investment issues - is the prospective customer willing and able to invest the required money, time and resources to fix the business problem? 

To be effective, each stage of the sales process must identify potential land-mines and eliminate assumptions  -  those held by both seller and buyer. This is achieved by embedding qualifiers into each stage.

Qualifiers are a form of high gain checklist or milestone, customized to each stage of the sales process. They answer the question “What has to have happened to complete this stage of the process?” Once all qualifiers have been fulfilled, then that stage of the process is deemed complete.

Expecting a sales organization to adopt a new sales religion or methodology, to follow a sales process and to complete sales stage qualifiers, is not sufficient. You must inspect what you expect. Inspection forms part of your management coaching process. 

You have a process for coaching, don’t you? You know how I hate to make assumptions!