How to win a fight, when your opponent is much better than you

Sometimes, in martial arts you are facing an opponent, that clearly you should have no chance in winning. He is better in skill, more versatile and even quicker than you. He is even more experienced and has developed into a champion in no time. Your odds aren’t good, but there is still a chance to win with a perfect tactic. What could that be?

In sales, you might meet a person, who has much better knowledge on your business field. She has worked for years and has a great team supporting her. She has bought similar products and services and is highly valued among her colleagues from different companies. How to close a deal, when she clearly knows more than you and really into her business? You can’t afford to go down on price, what other options do you have?

Master knows the solution

My master in martial arts, explained me years ago about a tactic that not so many use in these kind of situations. He told me a story about the best goalkeeper in the world and how to score a goal against him. Often, coaches say that shoot as many times as possible and you will eventually score a goal. If you, as a hobby player, get a chance to shoot against a real pro, for instance, a goalie from NHL, you will not score, even if you get a chance to shoot 100 pucks. He will not make a mistake, because he has trained his whole life and the level his goalkeeping is so high, that by just trying, you will not succeed. Not even, if you try harder.

I was really surprised about how the story was going. I always thought, that you should just  try harder and in the end, you would succeed. He asked me: “what technique would you use?” I answered: “I don’t know”. He continued: “you are right. You don’t know and that is the trick”. Then he explained that against the best opponent, you shouldn’t think about your technique, but make him insecure about his. You should try to dribble, use fake attacks and make all kinds of movements, but not really attack before you have made him nervous. The best fighters (and goalies in his example), need a feeling of winning and if you can challenge that, they become insecure. A goalie with no shots coming, doesn’t have a feeling of winning and gets frustrated. His head will turn against him in the long run and you have to be patient to get to that point.

How to apply the method in sales

In sales, don’t worry about your knowledge, challenge the knowledge of the buyer. Ask good questions and continue the discussion. Make new questions, based on the answers given and push the conversation further. Try to get to the limit of her knowledge and still push further (the questions have to be good and challenging) This will make the buyer more insecure of her knowledge and she will start to think that you know more than she does or at least that you have something that she doesn’t know about. She will end up by asking for your help. That is the right time to offer your solution and she will buy it. Too often, junior sales people start to talk about his solution and not getting the buyer thinking and questioning her knowledge. That kind of sales meeting will not result in sales and the buyer will not start trusting you as a service provider. In business, one way to build trust is to show that you have something that she needs. One way to build this need is to make her question her current solution.

What do you think? Can you pull this off? I have tried it many times in fighting and in sales. Sometimes I have succeeded, but not always. It sounds a lot easier than it is, but if you don’t try this method, you will not win an opponent who is much better than you. What do you got to lose?

To evade, block or counter (Part 2)

Blocking

In traditional martial arts, a lot of training and emphasis is spend on training blocking techniques. These can be trained in forms (alone, without an actual attack), with training partners following set patterns, or in a sparring environment where the movement and attacks are free.

At first, the emphasis is on the outer form and the track of the block, where you will try to imitate your instructor’s movements. You get a feeling of contact and try to build your balance against the attack. Sometimes, the block is more like a hit against the attack and sometimes you try to use the power of the attack to your advantage and move into a better position for your next attack. 

 Block your sales objections

In sales, a block is your answer to the sales objection or a critical question that your customers asks from you. The customer is trying to find your weak spot and see if what you are offering is really solving a problem for her. She might have got insights of your product/service from your competitor, have previous experience of similar solutions or she has been doing a research of information on her own. You have to be prepared for all of these and train at your home dojang (training place) for upcoming attacks.

Training blocking techniques require discipline. You have to have your mind into them or you will not get much out of the training. The form is given to you and you have to follow it and trust your instructor on his expertise. He will try to correct your movement with vague explanations and modify your movement to follow a certain track. With repetition, you will learn to control your body and become quicker to perform the block with better balance. As with everything else, the timing of the block is crucial. Even if everything else is in balance, the form looks great and the track is perfect, you will get hit without mastering the timing of your block. But still, beginners worry too much about the timing and try to come up with excuses of why this time, the timing wasn’t the best. One shouldn’t concentrate too much on the timing in the beginning, because that is more of an inner skill than a physical skill. The timing will come with a lot of repetition and with the development of the physical form of the movement. Perfect timing for a block comes “from the feeling” not from reaction to an attack.

Too few salespeople take the time to train for sales objections properly. Even if you have mastered the particular sales objection last time, it is wise to train for it again. How did we get into that situation? What was the real purpose of that question? Have our competitors found a new approach that challenges our solution and is considered to be better? When you can trust your knowledge and you have readymade proven answers to sales objection, you will be more comfortable in a tougher conversation with your customer. When you have many tested answers to the common sales objections, you can choose the one that fits the best for the situation. The more you prepare yourself with these basic questions and answers, the easier it is for you to keep your concentration on the more important signals, those that will result in making a deal with your customer. Don't spend too much energy on unimportant parts of the sales conversation.

The purpose of the block is to keep you unharmed and improve your position in the fight, moreover to stop the attack before it hits you. The attacker often uses more energy than you with the block. The same goes with a sales conversation. Answering simple sales objections, should be easy for you and you should have practiced the answers before entering the meeting. The more you practice, the better timing and better answers you will provide, when being asked the questions you already know. With this solid foundation, you are more prepared and don’t spend too much energy on the less important questions of the sales conversation Whenever you have time, go through in your head the basic questions your customers have asked you and try to prepare more answers with more versatile approach. Ask from your colleagues and manager, what kind of sales objections have they encountered and how have they answered them. Mastering the basics is the foundation of success.

Read:
Part 1 of to evade, block or counter

To evade, block or counter (Part 1)

In a fight, when the opponent is attacking you, basically you have three choices - to evade, block or counter. Evading gives you a chance to monitor the situation and you stay unharmed. If you chose to block, there is always some contact, but the attack breaks or starts over again with another attack. With counter attack, you chose to take advantage of the situation and try to strike where you seen an opening.

In sales, you have the same options when your customer is trying to object your sales pitch or starts questioning you before agreeing to buy. You can try to evade the situation and lead the conversation to another direction. The second option is to answer the (sales) objection and show that you are an expert in the field. The third option is to challenge your customers thinking and by using your knowledge, outwit your customer.

Like in a fight, in sales you can’t always use the same tactic. You need use all of these approaches in a single sales conversation. The big question is when to use which?

Evading (try to find the rhythm)

In a fight, the first thing I try to do is to find the rhythm of my opponent. This means, that I try to find out how fast he is with his attacks. How well does he moves and what kind of sequences is he trying to use when trying to attack me. Evading and keeping the distance is the best way to feel comfortable and avoid risks. With full contact fighting, it is better to avoid the contact, before you feel comfortable. In the beginning of the fight, the surprise attack is the most dangerous. You don’t know what to expect, therefore it is better not to take any risks. But still, it is wise to get the opponent be the first one to attack. From there, you can start to find his rhythm and adjust your speed to his. The one who controls the speed, is the one who will succeed in his attacks.

When starting a new sales conversation, the first impression is very important. You can lose the sales in the first few seconds, if you don’t play your part well. The prospect often waits for the sales person to start the conversation, but don’t push it too far. Try to see how she wants to play it. Start with being polite and ask simple questions. When you introduce yourself, try to get her to talk more about herself. Some people are easy to lead into conversation and some more difficult.

Open questions are good to start with, but if she gives you short answers, you are have not found her rhythm yet (meaning that you have not connected in the conversation) or you are asking too difficult questions. If it feels like interrogation, then the flow is lost in the beginning. Your body language, words and other expressions should invite your prospect to a warm and intriguing conversation.

Evading also means that you lose the tension. In a fight, it gives you time to relax, but at the same time you have no chance of attacking back. In sales, the conversation feels nice, but gets you nowhere. When you have found the rhythm, you need to start getting points. More about this in my upcoming posts.

Background

Background

I started to train martial arts at the age of 12. I somehow had always been interested in martial arts, not the sake of fighting but something else. But still it was a coincidence that I started to train with my friends, who had seen a show of Korean masters performing in our town. I don’t think I would have like the show that much and it was better that I didn’t take part in it, but went directly to the training. Best friends make you do things that are best for you, even if you don’t know what they are and why to follow. You just have to trust your guts and that is what happened to me a long time ago, and it took me to a journey, I never could have dreamed of.

My first real sales experience was at a telemarketing firm, where I sold magazines over the phone. I knew I needed work experience, since I would not make a living by teaching martial arts and I had to get some real work experience. The only job I got in July was in telesales. The job was difficult. It was not easy to pick up the phone and call strangers. Some names were more scary than others and often I had decided in my head, I could not sell to that person, without even having a conversation.

When I started training martial arts, I weighed about 35kgs and had poor hand-leg coordination and very little strength. I had played different sports, so I had stamina and willingness to learn. I knew, I could learn quickly, but not being flexible was my biggest problem. Almost all my friends improved their flexibility quickly, but somehow I just didn’t. In Finland we go to sauna few times a week and everytime I tried to stretch and get more flexible, when my muscles were warm. Still, I didn’t get flexible and people didn’t call me talented. It wasn’t always fun to be the weakest and the least talented person in the dojang (training room). But the feeling, when I got the yellow belt and felt that I had accomplished something, was very motivating and I continued to train. I was the only one in my group of friends, who graduated to the black belt. In the end, I spend 100 days a year with my master training martial arts and moved abroad to teach martial arts.

Few years after my first real job in telesales, I had graduated from the university and worked a year in Ireland and found myself trying to land a job in Finland. I applied to over 200 jobs, but sales positions were the only ones I got into interviewing stage. I knew, I had to start from the bottom and thought that getting a job in sales, would be my only chance to get a career. I had no other skills to offer to my possible employer than just my ability to speak and listen. I took the first job that was offered to me and started selling advertising. 10 years later, I’ve had a successful sales career and become a sales director to one of the biggest media companies in Finland.

This blog is about how I perceive sales to be similar with martial arts. I will look into how my training has helped me to succeed in work life and especially in sales. My topics will be written from martial arts perspective and then modified to sales environment. Please be free to comment and I hope we will have insightful discussions.