Simple v. Complex Sales

And why most salespeople you deal with seem "gross"

Many of you lawyers don't like sales because you've had bad experiences being sold to. At the same time you probably also noticed that the most successful rainmakers in your organization don't give off that same gross sales vibe. Today, I’m going to explain why.

First, there is a huge difference between simple sales and complex sales.

Most of your experience as a buyer involves the former. Like buying a home, a car, etc. One-time transactions with one decision maker (DM), where the salesperson has limited influence on the buying decision.

Let’s use buying a home as an example. The realtor (buyer’s agent) likely has little control over whether you purchase or not—it’s likely a decision you and your partner made elsewhere at an earlier time based on the actual property. So the only thing the realtor does have control over is how quickly you’ll buy.

That’s why many of them will say all sorts of things to get you to move fast.

There’s a huge incentive to lie, or at least stretch the truth. These lies can be about the state of the market or how many competitive bids there are for the property. Buying a home doesn’t naturally lend itself to repeat business—it’s generally a one time transaction.

So to the realtor, the risk of being caught in a lie is worth the upside of getting you to buy the home quickly. Not all realtors behave like this—but the incentives are strong. Especially if lying is common among competing realtors. As a result, as buyers, we can sense the realtor’s lack of candor intuitively, and often don’t trust what they say.