The Rule of Inverse Defensiveness

This is primarily a rule for the benefit of sales managers. However, it’s also extremely useful for sellers to use for self-management.The Rule of Inverse Defensiveness states that the degree to which a sales rep, or sales manager, becomes defensive in discussing the status of an opportunity is in inverse proportion to the likelihood of the deal ever happening. Remember when you were a kid and your parents caught you out in a little white lie? Remember how that quickly escalated into a huge argument? You were shocked (shocked!) that your parents didn’t buy your story. So you invested your entire ego and righteous sense of self-worth into insisting that events transpired just as you said.I can’t count the number of times a seller has become similarly indignant as I dug into the details of an opportunity in his/her pipeline. Especially if the story of the deal, the details behind discovery, needs analysis and qualification, didn’t hang together. I use the following questions to help sellers regain perspective on a deal.

1. “What value does the buyer need from you on your next interaction (call, visit, email) to move closer to making a decision?”
2. ”What steps will the buyer commit to take as a result of receiving the value?"

If you’re a seller insisting beyond reason on the forecast for a particular deal, and you can’t definitively answer these questions on that opportunity, then stop, step back and take a deep breath. Take a minute to question your assumptions about the deal. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad opportunity. It’s just that your defensiveness betrays your lack of understanding about what it will take to get the buyer across the finish line and win it.If you’re a relatively new sales manager, this defensiveness is a red flag to watch for during pipeline reviews. Over-optimistic forecasts on deals lacking internal logic can ruin an otherwise good forecast if you don’t help your sellers by digging into them.- Andy Paul