The Minister of Happiness

Looking for something different to put on your business card? Why not change your title to “Minister of Happiness”?

After all, isn’t that your #1 job in sales? You work day in and day out to make people happy. Happy with your product or service. Happy with your organization. Happy to see you walking in the front door. Your job is to spread sunshine wherever you go.

But what happens when you run into a prospect who’s already happy – with another vendor?

Some salespeople try to dislodge an entrenched competitor by becoming the Minister of Pain. They poke and prod, looking for some little area of dissatisfaction that they can enlarge upon: The current vendor’s products are obsolete. Or they break a lot. Or word on the street is that they’re cutting back on client service. And for sure they’re costing you money or missed opportunities.

Sometimes that approach works, of course. But often it just makes prospects dig in their heels. They told you they were happy – so why are you trying to prove them wrong?

You could take a different tack: Brand X is a wonderful product. Its people are terrific, too. Of course the prospect is happy. As the Minister of Happiness, you’d just like to make them a little more happy.

Here’s what that means for your selling effort: You don’t want to emphasize the differences between you and Brand X. You want to emphasize the similarities. If they like what they have, you want to give them more of it. Make them happier by making it better — but not that different.