Late last week a picture of a dress was shared on Tumblr that innocently asked for opinions as to what color it was. Most people stood firmly in their belief – you were either #teamblueandblack or #teamwhiteandgold.
Photo credit swiked
It was interesting to watch this go viral on social media, making me wonder how so many people could see the exact same image but still declare different colors. Eventually, it was revealed that the lighting was key to how the colors that appeared – the amount of light either made the dress appear white or blue. It was situational and had a lot to do with perception
And yet, it’s not that different from the selling process. How many times have you encountered a selling scenario that appeared to be identical to the previous one, but didn’t end up the same? You may have even proceeded as if they were exact replicas.
However, the reality is much different – there are different (lighting) perspectives that must be accounted for. A sales process is not a one size fits all, and like the dress, it varies in different light – with each prospect buying differently, interested in different products and services, and even with different personal motivators. Adopting a sales process that changes in real time, as the opportunity changes, allows the sales rep to identify only the real needs of the buyer, thereby guiding the prospect in the right direction toward a valuable purchase decision, further away from an optical illusion.
Qvidian Sales Playbooks increase sales rep performance through true customization, tailoring the sales process dynamically to what’s going on with the buyer during the sales cycle. The Great Dress Debate was looked upon with many different eyes; each pair encoded with biases of how color should appear, and therefore produced varying outcomes. And as we saw, with the right lighting, the outcome could be drastically different.
By the way, the dress is totally white and gold.
