Desperation in Sales and the Danger It Poses
Have you ever found yourself trapped in the suffocating grip of believing that the world hinges on meeting your targets and then passing that pressure onto your customers without meaning to?
Or perhaps you have considered extreme measures to reach your desired goals, convinced no other options were available? If so, this is what we call desperation in sales, and it may be time for you to pause, reassess, and reconsider your options. Join us as we confront the issue of desperation, acknowledging its unwelcome intrusion into sales and sharing strategies to banish it once and for all.
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Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Have you ever experienced the overwhelming belief that the world will end if you don't meet your targets to the point where you are unintentionally imposing that pressure on your customers?
Cynthia Ficara: Perhaps you're contemplating going to great lengths to achieve your goals or desires as if you have no other alternatives.
Well, it might be wise to reconsider and weigh your options.
Anneliese Rhodes: Tune in as we tackle the issue of desperation, recognizing its inappropriate presence in the world of sales, and discussing effective ways to eliminate it for good.
Good evening, Cindy. Good evening to all of our
Cynthia Ficara: listeners. And good evening to you too, Lisa and everyone, as that is definitely a different greeting. But first I need to thank you for being flexible to come on this evening It was a long weekend work conference and one of those where you think if you drive instead of fly, you're going to get back faster.
And instead, you know, our six and a half hour trip turned into nine. So it is a late Sunday this evening. All worth it. You know, sometimes these conferences we do, I, I must say. They're great. I'm going to be tired this week, but I don't mind. Really good FaceTime with your customers. And I was in a beautiful place.
I was in Kiowa for a conference. Kiowa Island in South Carolina, that is, with palm trees and beach. So, I did find a break to go out and just, Enjoy some fresh air. That's a little self care. So, a little bit of work, a little bit of fun, all makes it great. So, thank you for coming in
Anneliese Rhodes: late tonight. Cindy, that sounds amazing.
I sure love the beach and I, we are so lucky, like you said, to be able to travel to the places that we get to go to for meetings and meet with our customers and do business at really beautiful places sometimes. It's, it's a blessing. It really is. So today we're going to be talking about a topic that, you know, can really kind of become overwhelming and we don't even realize we go down that path, but it's, it's pretty easy to do, especially when you're really trying hard to meet a number, a sales number or a target.
And that topic is desperation. It actually like makes me think about dating. I really wasn't like this, but I did know a few women that were like this, where they were just desperate to land this guy, you know, Oh, he's so handsome. He's so good looking. He's this, he's that. It's like desperate housewives and that's why it's called desperate housewives.
Right. Right. But I mean, I can think about this one girl. And I tell you what, I was like, I kept saying, look, he's not right for you. He's not right for you. Oh, but he's so handsome. He's so polished. He's so wealthy. So she changed her hair color for him. Like she dyed her hair dark. Cause he liked brunettes, not blondes.
He liked her to dress in like tight clothes, which she totally was like, not that kind of girl. So she like went out and bought like all these new clothes that like hugged her curves. And you know, she wore crazy makeup. I mean, She just like went overboard. I mean, she even got her boobs done. So she did like all these things.
I know just for like this dude. And they dated, I mean, he was dating her during the times that she was making these choices. And then of course they broke up because at the end of the day, she wasn't being true to who she was. And. You know, she just basically like literally spiraled down and let it take over her.
And she started making all these choices and saying all these things that weren't her. I think that we do that. We can do that in the workplace, in medical devices, and it's not hard to do. No,
Cynthia Ficara: I just picturing this person completely changing themselves and being that desperate for somebody else. The other thing is, when, when you said the word, I don't know what made me think of this, but desperation I can also see can exhibit sometimes, like I think of a little kid, and I think of a little kid when, say they want a candy bar, and they're in the store, and their mom is like, No, you can't have that today.
Oh, but mom, please, I'm going to be really good. And she turns and says, No, son, not today. And he goes, I will give you my iPod, my iPad, and you can put No, I'll give up the iPad for a week. No, son, not today. And then he's like, but I'll give you all of my toys, all in the playroom. I won't eat dinner for a week and you can have my bedroom.
Anneliese Rhodes: You can have my bedroom. He's making like all the deals. Right.
Cynthia Ficara: You can have everything you need just so I can have this piece of candy because he's so desperate in the moment thinking that that's what matters and he's not thinking about well now he's not going to have a bed because he just gave up his bedroom and all of his toys but it's funny I think in moments of desperation I picture a child exhibiting it that way but in medical device I see that happening in sales reps whether they recognize that or not.
Anneliese Rhodes: And you had a really good value bomb, which I, I'm going to say it, and then you can repeat it, but it's desperation repels what you desire. It basically, that girl, my example of the girl, she's, she, she didn't know she was doing it, but she was literally pushing the guy away because she wasn't who she was supposed to be.
And in the same aspect, the child of begging for the candy, he's literally going to such desperate measures that he doesn't realize what all he's giving up. And we can easily do that in business and in medical devices because we have numbers to hit. We have targets to it, to hit and attain and achieve and go above.
And we can kind of get out of our minds sometimes and hitting those targets and goals without realizing it. And it usually comes back down on the customer. So today we're going to talk about what desperation looks like in medical devices, because, you know, I know you've probably experienced it, Cindy. I know I have experienced it in my lifetime.
I know exactly what it looks like and I can feel it coming. And so we're going to give, we're going to give some examples of what it looks like to be desperate. And then finally, we're going to talk about how to avoid it. And, you know, again, The things that we talk about on this podcast, we realize these aren't easy things to talk about.
They aren't easy to do. They aren't like a flip of a switch, but if you are very aware of it and you make it become a habit, we both really believe that you can overcome a lot of the things that we talk about. Um, and this is a great example of it.
Cynthia Ficara: So Lisa, let's talk about the definition of desperation.
I'm going to read this to you. Desperation is a character trait that describes a person who is willing to do anything to achieve their goals or desires, often because they feel like they have no other options. A desperate character may act impulsively, take risks, or resort to extreme measures in their pursuit of what they want.
We kind of mentioned this before, so why are we talking about this today? Why is it so important to identify desperation in sales? And I think it's because desperation kills desire. Opportunity.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that. That's another value bomb. It really is. You're right. It does because a great example of this is walking into a customer's office and you're feeling under the gun to hit a number and you just are pushing, pushing, pushing.
And you don't listen to them, you don't hear their needs, and they could be a fantastic opportunity for you. They could be your next biggest whale of a customer. But yet, if you're desperate to get their business and you're not doing what you normally do, which is listening to them, sitting back, talking to them, figuring out what they need.
If you're not doing any of those things and you're just pressing so hard, that opportunity is going to go bye bye. Because they are not going to want to work with you. They're going to be like, never mind. Thanks. Thanks for coming out.
Cynthia Ficara: That example is exactly what you talked about in your, you know, desperate housewife analogy.
When you change who you are, then you have nothing to contribute. You bring no value. And you know, we think back to sales 101. And sales 101 is asking questions, listening, and bringing value. When you go in so desperate and you throw everything you know out the window, then You have absolutely killed that opportunity to grow your business.
It can be very dangerous, and I think that's why we talk about the dangers of desperation is you're taking risks that you should feel like you have nothing to lose, just throw everything out there, but instead, it may be the last time you ever get to see that customer. Salespeople need to make, you know, certain that they think about how they come across and not destroying opportunities
Anneliese Rhodes: in the future.
Desperation is a normal human reaction. It's a normal thing, right? When we get pushed to a certain limit, we can feel desperate about things. I mean, and that can go for anything in life. But, you know, talking about this is reminding me of a conversation that I had a couple weeks ago with a rep who called me and he was like, he was frantic.
He was like, Lisa, I don't know what to do. You know, I had this one case with this doctor, it didn't go great and now, now I'm never going to get another case with this doctor. He's never going to call me again. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? How do I get in front of him? You know, how am I going to rectify this?
And it was just like going on and on. And I'm like, dude, take a breath, man. And first of all. Things can happen, you know, good and bad. Did you talk to the doctor? Did you meet with them after the case? Did you do all the things that you were supposed to do? And if the answer to that is yes, which it was, I'm like, man, just give it a little bit of time before you go back and you press them and press them.
They're not going to be your best friend overnight. That's just not the way this business works. Remember, like we talked about, it's a marathon, not a sprint. There's going to be hurdles. There's going to be obstacles. You've got to remind yourself of all of that. But yet you can't go to the nth degree right away because you're going to push them away.
And I think, I think that's probably what he was doing is he was literally going like to zero to a hundred within, you know, 60 seconds. I'm sure that he was probably pushing the doctor away because they're like, Hey man, chill out. You know, this happened. Give me a little bit of time. Let's think about this.
Let's talk through it. Let's, let's be practical about
Cynthia Ficara: He probably didn't even realize that's how he came across. That also makes me think about different areas of medical device. Let's take leadership, for instance. You know, in our role in sales, we have a whole ladder of people supporting us. And they have goals that they need to meet each month.
And they have people pushing them to hit certain marks. And many times when you collaborate together without desperation, you sail across the lines and you celebrate all your great numbers. But I think a good example is thinking about what that looks like when it's not all collaborative, when there's pressure.
When let's just say a notch above you on the ladder is being pressured by the notch above he or she and they act out of desperation and come down hard on you. Not in a message that makes you want to go out there and sell and deliver, it's because their desperation can almost block you from doing your job.
When we don't go in in a good mindset and feel good and knowledgeable about what we're going to present, acting out of desperation doesn't help us. It's a good way of thinking of it, like urgency, because in sales, let's face it, it's not Everything is a timeline. Everything's in quarters and everything's really important.
But there's a really, really important to understand the difference between urgency and desperation. Because urgency is part of being a successful sales rep. You have that drive. You're trying to close your deals and make things happen in a certain amount of timeline. And desperation, on the other hand, Makes you feel helpless and that you don't believe you can do it and you're just then going to take risks like we mentioned before, regardless if it's the right thing to do or not.
And that's when you get into a big danger. You don't want to do something that's not right. That could literally kill your opportunity. And honestly, it's the main difference between urgency and desperation is truly just the mindset because a sense of urgency, you can focus on achieving your goals, doing what it takes to make it happen, you're driven, you're confident, and you have a clear plan of action.
When you go and prepare and then you understand if they don't align with you, maybe you go in and do a sales call and the customer says no, you know, you're driven to the end of the month, but you do understand that sometimes that's part of the sales process. You're not discouraged by being told no at that moment.
But you need to focus on the long term success and going back. Ultimately, you can drive your success by being disciplined to being a good rep and not being reactive in times of urgency.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, I agree with you. I think what you're talking about there, like you just mentioned at the end, is urgency is still discipline.
You're still capable of putting everything in its place and thinking about it. If the doctor told you, no, yes, you have a sense of urgency. But you haven't lost focus and you're still able to figure out why he said no, or she said no. And how are you going to overcome those hurdles? You may have urgency to hit your number, but you haven't lost that focus, that drive, that discipline, the person that you are.
Whereas desperation, it's almost like you're just throwing things at the wall. Like let me see what sticks here. Oh my God, I'm just going to throw everything. It's like those little sticky spiders that we used to get as kids. And you throw them at the wall and they go splat. And then they like kind of run down the wall.
That's what I feel like you're doing in desperation. It's just like, well, well, what about this? Well, what about that? And you just start throwing everything at them. And they're like, Whoa, like chill out, man. You are freaking me out. This is too much info. You need to go take a chill pill. And that really can kill your business.
You're exactly right.
Cynthia Ficara: Right. And you know, urgency, like I just said, is driven when you, when you're confident and you have a plan and it's all laid out where desperation on the other hand is driven more by pressure and fear. And then instead of being proactive, you're now reactive. And tell me a time when being reactive has worked for you.
Yeah, it's never
Anneliese Rhodes: good. You're, you're never good. You're always caught off guard. It's like the offense versus defense. Nobody wants to be on the defense. You always want to be in the offense. So what we're talking about here are some really great things to help you guys identify desperation. And on that note, we found a great article that talks about what salespeople do to make them look desperate and seem desperate.
So it's 10 things. That help identify this and I'm sure we're all going to hear this and we're going to be like, ding, ding, ding. I did that. Um, and, and so we're just going to run through these for you guys and give examples and really. See where that hits with you, and if you can identify that as well, so.
The first one is assuming that the prospect or the customer or the physician is interested. So here you are, you're desperate. You're going into Dr. Smith's office and you just assume that he wants your product. Oh, he is absolutely going to buy this product from me today. He's going to use it tomorrow. I am so going to get that and you just get pushy and you get one track mindset.
And you forget to listen and you forget to ask questions and you forget who you are because you're so one track on assuming that that person wants to buy your product.
Cynthia Ficara: The second one is pressing for a meeting too hard. And this makes me laugh because how many times we're all told no so often. We're not interested.
Now is not a good time. And then good rep can adapt to this. You can get past these, but if you're opposite and you're not interested, if you push too hard, you can risk being labeled as desperate. And then at that time, you're going to lose your opportunity all together. Instead, maybe a simple way is just, can we set a time to talk that will work for you?
Because, clearly, pushing at that moment Not a good call.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, you're exactly right. I I can say I've done that before. Um, so number 3 is jumping on problems too quickly. So it's almost like, which I will do occasionally. Occasionally is interrupt right? Your doctor starts to tell you something and we can go back to that rep that called me.
You know, we had that bad case and oh, and, you know, he's just, well, maybe it was this and maybe it was this and it's like, whoa, did the doctor even say that? Did he even say that that was where he was thinking? But you're so desperate to get to the bottom of the problem or the solution or sell the product that you're not listening to what the physicians, your customers are telling you.
And so you're just throwing things out there. And it's like, you better be careful because you can actually put some ideas in their heads that maybe they weren't even thinking about. And now you're just like throwing out all of these different issues and they're like, well, I didn't think about that, but geez, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
That's another desperate measure that you really want to try and stay away from. Remember to slow it down. Think about it. Ask the right questions. Hear what they're saying versus just jumping to conclusions so fast.
Cynthia Ficara: The fourth one, making side agreements, really, really is danger, danger. And I think this is really important because this is talking about reps that are really desperate to make sales that can bend the rules.
Now an add on perk in the medical device industry is, is grounds for dismissal in the medical device. The physicians, we all work under the sunshine act and you can't. Say I'll give you this for that. There's none of that is allowed and it's so So important that in the moment of desperation you don't ever Say to your customer Bending the rules and trying to make side.
I'll give you this for that You can't have that. What am I trying to say the quid pro quo? Absolutely, so just be very careful if you're desperate don't make side agreements just stick to
Anneliese Rhodes: your plan and keep going And sometimes those side agreements don't really sound like side agreements, or you're telling yourself they're not, but if they don't feel good inside, they probably are.
And you're right, Cindy, they are more common than I think a lot of us realize that we will tend to do just in conversation because we want the sale so bad, but don't make those side agreements. You're right. It
Cynthia Ficara: might sound good at the minute in the moment. You know, yeah.
Anneliese Rhodes: Don't do it.
Cynthia Ficara: Yep.
Anneliese Rhodes: All right, number 6 is, uh, issuing ultimatums.
Now, I can say, I don't think I've ever actually done this. It can look something like, I'm not leaving here to you, to you use my product. I don't think I've ever done that. I'll be honest. I'm not that type of person. I may just be like, okay, that really sucks, but you don't want to use my product. But I don't think I've ever said, I'm not leaving here until you use my product.
But I bet you money. There's probably people out there that have kind of been intimidating to their customers that have, you know, Maybe use their size, maybe use something else and said, Hey, I'm not leaving here until you give me what I want. And that is a big no, no, like a huge no, no, don't do that. I mean, you don't want that.
You wouldn't want that. If you were the customer and somebody was calling on you, you'd be like, go get out of here. You know, I don't, I don't need you in my office.
Cynthia Ficara: Well said. This next one, I had to read a little bit because I think it's interesting, and listed in this article, it says letting your voice communicate nerves.
It makes total sense that a confident salesperson can really move the prospect forward in the whole buying decision is the way they describe this. But if you think about inflection and voices, you know, we talked about this in one of our first podcasts, you know, do you end with a question and you say, do you want to buy my product?
You know, I mean, no, it's so crazy how communication plays such a big role in what we do and even your voice can lead you down the path of desperation and if you don't sound confident, how is your customer going to trust you in going to buy? So. You probably could do much better because, you know, my voice doesn't go high pitch.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. Well, not only, you know what else I'm thinking of is like speed talking when people like just want to get it all out and they're like, like, doctor, you got to buy this product because it's X, Y, Z and the benefits. And it's like, Whoa, like chill out because you have that urgency and you, your voice is now urgent.
You feel desperate. They hear the desperation. People can sense that. So that's another thing that I was thinking about when it was talking about in your voice. Okay. Thanks. Definitely inflection. Women definitely get higher pitched as they get more urgent, you know, excited or desperate, but also just talking really fast.
The next one is being too accommodating. I would say I've probably done this before, you know, where you're like, Oh yeah, where you're like, Oh, okay. No worries. I get that. Yeah. I'll, I'll be here. I'll be there. I'll wait. I'll wait outside. Is everything okay? Like, it's just like, you're overly like, you're like tripping over yourself and you're like, I definitely can say I've, I've, I've done that before.
Cynthia Ficara: The next one makes me kind of laugh, but it's so relevant, refusing to take a hint. Oh, yes, that is so I guess what is just written in this, it just makes me laugh, but it's so true because statistically speaking, the vast majority of your sales opportunities don't go anywhere when you're there and it's okay if they don't answer your email or return your call.
It's just getting to know that. But what's not. Is refusing to move on like sending email after email after email. It just gets exhausting And just imagine that kind of relentlessness like how does that come off? To your customers if you just sometimes you just need to step away. You need to take a hint.
They're not answering There's got to be a reason And that reason may not be that they don't want to buy your product. We can't assume We can't jump to that conclusion that reason may be Um, I'm in the middle of two different jobs. I had three people quit and I'll get to this next month. But if you come across desperate, then what was spotted to be circled back to next month may now, you may completely lose your opportunity.
So take a hint when needed. Your agenda is not everyone's agenda as well.
Anneliese Rhodes: Girl, I've got a great example for this. I'm literally like, I'm like, desperate to tell you my example. So there, yeah, exactly. There was someone that was looking to interview with one of the companies that I was working for. He was trying to get physicians to back him.
And it was like, he, he went to the nth degree though. He like went to the hospital. Tracked them down, texted them, found them in the OR and like, you know, how physicians are in the OR. They're like, Whoa, I'm good. You know, set up a meeting in the office if you want to talk to me here. And he just didn't stop.
And it got to the point where I started getting phone calls from the physicians. Like do not hire this guy because he's super like over the top, not taking the hint that we don't want to talk right now. And it wasn't even that they didn't like the guy. Or maybe he wasn't actually maybe cut out for it, but dang it, if he just didn't take the hint and stop the pressure, he just kept going and going and going, and it was so bad, it pushed him off and he ended up not getting the job.
And it's, you know, sometimes you have to just, you got to see when you're getting so desperate, you have to stop it. You got to stop the snowball from rolling all the way downhill.
Cynthia Ficara: That kind of combines with the one we talked about earlier with, you know, not bending the rules because again, there's protocols in ORs.
There's, you can't barge in and interrupt a physician exactly. Why is he going to want to work with somebody like that? That was a good one. Okay. So our last two, number nine and 10, number nine is offering unsolicited opinions, and it's just kind of where it's almost more damaging that you seem overly eager, eager to please with your customer.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh yeah. It reminds me of like. There was a rep. Okay. I always have stories, by the way, a female rep and I was in the control room and she was in there and one of my physicians was talking about a restaurant. They went to last week and just making small talk, whatever. And she was like, oh, my gosh, I went there too.
It's amazing. Have you had this? Have you had this? And it was just like, yeah. Oh my God, dude, whatcha doing like chill out? She was just telling you that she went to the restaurant and she liked it with her kids. I mean, I saw her kind of like working on the doctor to try and get the doctor to like talk about her product and so this was her trying to go over the top of being eager and to please.
It was so overwhelming that it was like, oh, I mean I'm kind. I was like, I'll be back . So it was, it was too much. It was just too much. So. Oh, that's funny. All right, and then the last 1 that, um, you know, that I can say that I've probably done is offering a discount too early. So this would be more towards when you're trying to sell your products to the hospital.
You're talking about pricing. You have a set price that you need to follow and then. Maybe you just get a little bit of pushback and maybe the pushback is just, we need more information. We need more of the financials. We need to know kind of what the clinical aspect of these products are versus just saying no, but all you hear is no.
And you're like, I got to get the sale. I got to get the sale. Oh my gosh, I got to get the sale. And you're like, you know what? Nevermind. We're not going to do that price. We're going to cut it by 10%. And you just say it and you have no approval of that. You have no proof that's even going to fly with your company, but you're so desperate to get the sale.
You just. Knock off 10 percent right away. And that's not really what you were supposed to be doing in your job.
Cynthia Ficara: Exactly. And that you can even take further in, in the sales process is that just because they said no, maybe cost wasn't the reason. Maybe it was that the head person that needed to approve it was on vacation that week.
I mean, to jump to conclusions and that happens out of desperation because again, you make mistakes. You make mistakes when you're not in your right mind, when you are too, or you take the urgency to a desperation level and it's not necessary. Yeah, I agree. That is a lot of good 10 different ways that salespeople do seem desperate.
It's just kind of funny as you read through them. We can relate to every single one. I've seen examples of all this happening, but ultimately, where does that get you? You know, again, desperation will kill your opportunity in sales. It's not going to get you where you need
Anneliese Rhodes: to go. All right, Cindy. So we talked about all these examples.
So how can we overcome desperation? So one of the key ways to do that is to build a strong pipeline. And what we mean by that is have a lot of targets, have a steady stream of leads and potential deals in your pipeline that you can. Go after each and every one of them. You're not just focusing on one customer or one target.
You've got multiples in your pipeline, so you don't feel so desperate to land that one customer. That's really important. And that comes from having discipline.
Cynthia Ficara: Exactly. Isn't that saying like, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Perfect example. Yeah. Perfect example. And then, you know, targeting, um, when you said that, that made me think, I think it's really important.
Number two is targeting because what if you're going after a customer that's not the most likely opportunity. So I think it's really important that you don't waste your time and target appropriately for. Or targets that will bring you the business that you hope to achieve
Anneliese Rhodes: with them. So you're setting clear and measurable goals.
And that's really number three is making sure that you're really setting those clear, measurable goals. You're tracking your progress. And like you said, so you're not waiting to the last minute to do things. That's what leads to desperation is this last minute. Oh, I got to do it. I got to do it. Don't let that, don't let it be last minute.
Have it be disciplined. Have it be targeted. Have it be measurable. You set it out and you now follow through with what you said you were going to do.
Cynthia Ficara: And everything that you just said that we've talked about before, what does that bring? Setting goals, being clear in your targets, tracking your progress.
What does that bring? Confidence. Why? We're confident because we've planned. We're knowledgeable of what we're going to do. It's just another day. You set a schedule and you follow it. It, you know, things that make you feel desperate are things that feel they come out of left field. Well, when you plan, you have an entire quarter.
You know when it's going to be the end of the month, and you know when it's going to be the end of the quarter. So, by doing these things, you're able to eliminate that pressure of desperation and go down a path that you do not want to go down. Absolutely. Absolutely. So in summary, desperation repels what you desire and kills opportunity.
Anneliese Rhodes: So our call to action is pretty simple. Look ahead to your next month and prepare by looking at your pipeline. Assess your targets and set your goals clearly. Be mindful of all of this and hopefully it will not lead you down to a path of desperation. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of secrets in the medical device sales.
We are so happy to have you. And we are the girls of grit. Please continue to rate us on Apple podcast we love hearing from you on LinkedIn, as well as Instagram. Have a great day, a great week and a great month. Bye bye. Bye.
