Hijacked Sales Meetings – Beagles, Babblers, and Big Shots
By Ford Harding
Professionals I work with often complain about colleagues who hijack sales meetings by ignoring agreed upon plans and dominating the conversation, barely allowing the client a chance to talk. This problem is especially hard to deal with if the talker outranks everyone else on the firm’s team.
There are many reasons that a person will highjack a meeting. In planning how to deal with them, it often helps to see if they fit any of the following three types: beagles, babblers and big shots.
Beagles
It’s hard not to like beagles. Small, cheerful and friendly, they win a place in your heart. Smart, they quickly learn to behave, or so it seems . . . until they see a rabbit.
Upon seeing a rabbit, centuries of breeding short circuit every other thought in a beagle’s head. RABBIT! Off goes the beagle in pursuit sounding his wonderful bay. “Heel!” you may command, but something in a beagle’s head screams “RABBIT.” “Sit!” you yell. RABBIT is what the beagle hears.
You can shout, stamp your foot, threaten, cry, cajole or do whatever else you may think of, but RABBIT overwhelms everything. RABBIT! RABBIT! So overpowering is this genetically based focus on RABBIT that there is little you can do except watch the hunt.
Fortunately, rabbits usually run in circles. If you can find the center of the circle, chances are the dog won’t be far away.
Some professionals behave in much the same way when a client raises a specific issue. Everything short circuits and they begin to pitch whatever it is they specialize in. FORECAST! (or INTELECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION or ASBESTOS REMMEDIATION or whatever).
You may have agreed to sit back and hear what the client has to say before talking yourselves. No matter. That agreement is overwhelmed by the word, FORECAST!
Thought leaders often exhibit this behavior. They seem to feel that all clients hunger to hear their knowledge of a subject. Firms reinforce that belief by trotting them out to talk about their specialty at marketing events.
Like beagles, these people aren’t malicious. Rather, it is as if they have been bred for one purpose, to talk about their specialty.
Babblers
My wife is a second grade teacher. Every fall she must get her young scholars, who have run wild and free all summer, adjusted to the limits of the classroom.
On the first day of school last September, she told a talkative seven year old, “Now, Rachel, remember that in school you can’t just talk whenever you want to. You have to wait for the teacher to call on you.” To which Rachel replied, “You know, . . . I had the same problem last year.” One imagines Rachel having the same problem for a long time to come.
Rachel isn’t the only one who talks too much in spite of reminders. Some professionals suffer from the same malady. The babbler may be an extreme extrovert who gets such a high off of human contact that he talks away, missing the chance to learn about the person he is addressing.
In other cases, the babblers confuse the deference we show to those in power with interest in what they have to say. I can think of at least one hierarchical firm where promotion to partner increases a person’s prolixity more than it does his paycheck.
This isn’t the talk of a young person who seeks to prove herself or who just doesn’t know techniques for getting the other person to talk. This is the talk of a person who believes, often mistakenly, that other people want to hear what he has to say, of a person who sees a conversation as an opportunity to sound forth rather than to take in.
These people seldom realize they have a problem. Last summer I was asked to coach a former CEO turned executive recruiter. When I cautioned him about talking too much, he looked at me as if I were crazed and then proceeded to talk in almost a monologue for two hours, starting with a denial of his talkativeness, before rambling from subject to subject.
Big Shots
Big shots are firm partners who sell aggressively and believe that there is no other way. They dominate in sales meetings, because they always dominate. If another partner says, “Green,” they are likely to say, “Red.” They have personally landed most of the firm’s major clients and developed it’s most profitable services . . . just ask them. Actually, you don’t even have to ask.
They also knew all along that a hurricane would wreck New Orleans, advised Bush not to go into Iraq (by way of a close personal friend who knows a cabinet member who passed the advice on to the president), taught Robin Williams how to be funny and could bring peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, if someone would just let them.
After dominating a sales meeting, they will tell you that you should have spoken up more. They cannot see their domineering behavior as having anything to do with your silence.
Dealing with the Hijackers
As I prepare to write these recommendations for dealing with sales meeting hijackers, I am reminded of an office I once saw of a high school literary magazine that had a banner with publication’s motto boldly displayed over its three desks: Our Best Is None Too Good! Before providing suggestions on how to deal with those who highjack sales meetings, I must caution you that though these are the best suggestions we have, they won’t work in many cases. Hijackers are tough to deal with.
Here are some things your can try:
- Don’t bring the hijacker: See if you can bring someone else who can fill the role the hijacker plays on the team. Though this would be my first choice, it often isn’t possible. The firm may have but one thought leader on the subject the client is most interested in. The hijacker may be the head of the practice and so gets to decide who goes. There can be many reasons why you must bring him. Still, the potential for leaving him at the office is worth brief consideration. At the very least it allows you to daydream about the possibility for a few pleasant minutes.
- Plan and rehearse: Carefully plan out who will do what for how long and then rehearse as if this were the plan that everyone will follow. Plans and rehearsals seldom stop a hijacker, but when you apply one of the other techniques, the hijacker will be more likely realize where you are goings and sometimes fall in line.
- Bring someone who outranks the hijacker: You may not be able to control the hijacker, but someone more senior in the firm might. This is particularly true of the “big shot” described above. Big shots may walk on people lower in the hierarchy than they are, but usually kowtow to those more senior.
- Rehijack the meeting: At the appropriate moment—such as when the hijacker pauses to take a breath—say something like, “Thank you, Scott. That provides the big picture of the way these issues are addressed. I would now like to focus our conversation on the specifics of your (i.e., the client’s) situation. Please, describe . . . “ If you are seated, it is best to stand when you seize control of the meeting this way. If you are standing at the back move forward. This language identifies you as the practical manager of the effort, implying that thehijacker’s role is to provide the big picture.
This approach is most likely to work with “beagles” and “babblers” and especially if there is an agreed upon and rehearsed plan for the meeting. On the downside, it risks the appearance of an argument among the members of your team, which is almost certain to result in the client choosing someone else. So, think carefully about how the hijacker is likely to react, before you try it. I would not attempt this approach with most “big shots.” - Don’t give up control until the client has set direction: Briefly introduce yourself and your colleagues, stating why each one is present. Then, ask the client what she how she prioritizes her concerns, by offering a slide or page of a document that lists alternatives. Say, for example, “These are the issues that most companies concerned with the effectiveness of their sales forces have. Which, if any stand out to you?” The list (entitled "Increasing Sales Force Effectiveness") might read:
- Compensation
- Territory design
- Channel management
- Job design
- Recruitment and training
- Other
The client will then prioritize issues. If your colleague hijacks the meeting now, at least he will be talking about the issue the client feels is most important.
This approach relies on knowing enough about the client’s problem to prepare an issues list and on keeping the hijacker from talking at all until the client says what he is most concerned with. These are big ifs, but I have seen the approach work and, notably, seen it work when a junior person is trying to control someone more senior. - Compensation
- Split one meeting into two: If you can arrange to have a first meeting to talk about broad issues and a second to work out details specific to the client’s situation, you can sometimes go to the second without the hijacker. You might, of course, never get to a second meeting.
Dealing with sales meeting hijackers remains a tough issue. I would be interested in hearing about other techniques. If you have one, please send me an email at fharding@hardingco.com and perhaps I’ll include your suggestion in my blog.
© 2008 Ford Harding
Ford Harding is the president of Harding & Company, which trains professionals to win new clients. Rain Making – Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field, a revised and updated edition of his bestselling book, was published in February 2008. His books are required reading for certification by the Society for Marketing Professional Services. His articles have appeared in Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. Contact Ford and read his blog at www.hardingco.com.
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