Do Your Sales Prospects Have Their Own Poker “Tells”?

Posted by Guest Blogger on Jan 10, 2012 8:24:00 AM

Lead Generation Featured Image

Poker Cards

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint.

An important skill in playing poker is being able to read the opponents at your table. A “Tell”* is a physical reaction, sometimes called a habit, or behavior that tells others information about you and your hand. If you can read the “Tells” of the others, you win; if you can’t control your own Tells, you might lose. We all have our own Tells, which are tics and habits. There are some common poker Tells that you should know about and then we’ll see how this connects to your sales prospects and even your sales reps behavior.

Tells Saying "I Have a Weak Hand!"

  • Breath Holding
    A player holding his breath is a giveaway for a bad hand to the experienced player. You feel like slapping him upside the head and saying, "Let it out because your hand isn’t going to get any better."
  • Staring Down Other Players
    Some try to bluff as if staring can make you wilt. Chances are he has a weak hand. Try grinning, it drives ’em nuts!

Tells that Scream "I Have a Good Hand!"

  • No interest? Pretending not to be excited? If the opponent appears uninterested, they probably have a good hand.
  • Got the shakes? If your opponent’s hands shake, it’s a sign they have something to be excited about!
  • Heavy Breathing? Some can stop a shaking hand, but a fast heart rate and heavy breathing are more difficult when you’ve got a great hand.
  • Shrugging, Sighing and looking around. When the player acts out and says, “Oh, I guess I’ll call,” watch out.
  • Glancing at Chips After Looking at Hole or pocket Cards
    Some players involuntarily look to their chips to figure out how much they’ll bet after looking at their hole or pocket card. Watch out.

Poker Tells that Say "I Have a Drawing Hand."

  • Checking Hole Cards After a Flop
    When the flop shows there is a chance of giving someone a flush or straight draw, watch for players checking their hole cards. He wants to see if he has a piece of it. The player doesn’t have a flush or straight yet, because if he did, he wouldn’t check, but he is seeing if he has a draw to it. You have to love people who play poker and can’t remember what hand they have.
  • Taking a long time before calling a Bet
    If a player looks into the pot and seems to be doing some calculating in his head, he probably is.

I’ll bet your Customers Give You Buying “Tells”

In most instances, for marketers, the mark (oops I meant prospect) gives you Tells that they are ready to buy. You can help them by giving them an opportunity to answer questions.

  • How soon are you going to make a decision?
  • Are you the decision maker?
  • How soon do you need one of those?
  • Are you budgeted?
  • Want more than one?
  • The discount’s good until Friday?
  • Need to trade something in?

The point is, in order to know whether you’ve got a winning hand, you have to ask questions and see if the person ignores you or shrugs and gives you an answer. The answer is in the Tell.

With Salespeople it gets more interesting.

The salesperson on the phone has to listen closely to hear the Tell. It may be a sigh, a tone of voice, an impatience and even some of the answers above.

The field sales representative has a richer field of Tells to choose from. Body language for him is similar to that of a poker player. A good representative can see the signs before the words are spoken.

Whether you are a marketer or salesperson, you have to be “awake” and looking for marketing and sales “Tells” that let you know that the mark (I mean prospect), is ready to buy.

*Poker Tells: About.com


Tell us what you think!

Topics: B2B Sales, Prospect Development, Guest Blogs


Revenue - Inbound - Nurturing = The GAP. We guarantee you'll be surprised by your actual metrics. Try our Lead Revenue Calculator
Get the Calculator

filter blog posts

  • Search

Top 5 posts

How Much Leads Cost

I review a lot of content on this topic and am amazed at what I find written about lead cost. For example:

Why Don’t Companies Want to Talk to Anyone?

It’s truly strange when companies enter the stealth mode. They hide phone numbers, dial-by-name directories, and employee names,..

What Should the Sales Close Rate Be?

I’ve read and heard (from a well-known industry analyst firm) that best-in-class companies close 30% of sales qualified leads..

Gold Calling vs. Cold Calling

I've written many blog posts on the fact that cold calling isn't dead. In fact, doing the right amount of research, adding a..