The Problem With Projecting
Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount
Jeb Blount
4.7 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2020
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Projecting, which is all too common for salespeople, will cost you dearly at the sales negotiation table.
A few years back, my wife and I bought our dream home. It was on a stretch of farmland—exactly what we’d always wanted. We both knew in our hearts that it would be the last home we ever bought. This was where we planned to spend the rest of our lives.
This house, however, had to be completely remodeled. The work was so extensive that the contractor estimated that it would take eighteen months before we could even move in.
Through the years, Carrie and I had remodeled eleven houses. Each time, we’d done the work on a tight budget and made sacrifices with want we wanted so we stayed within budget. This time, though, we had the budget to create the home that we wanted. We promised ourselves there would be no shortcuts and no compromises. We planned to do it right.
After months of work, we were finally finishing up the bathrooms, and it was time to order the glass doors for the showers. The representative for the glass company met us at the house. We carefully explained exactly what we wanted. He gathered measurements and took notes.
Jeb’s New Book INKED Teaches You to Become a Master Sales Negotiator
The last stop was the bathroom in our master bedroom. He collected the measurements and started writing up the order. As he did, a worried look crossed his face, and he shook his head. Then he looked up said, “You know, all this custom work is going to be really expensive. Are you sure you don’t want to go with our standard doors? It will save you a ton of money.”
He clearly missed that the walls and floors of the newly remodeled bathroom had freshly installed imported marble costing more than $30,000. Rather than up-selling and showing us even more options, he was negotiating down, projecting the size of his wallet on us instead of focusing on the size of ours.
Projecting, which is all too common for salespeople, will cost you dearly at the sales negotiation table. When you negotiate with the size of your wallet, you routinely apologize for your prices, give concessions without being asked, and decide for your buyers what they can afford.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Sales Gravy Podcast. I'm Jeb Blunt, best-selling author of fanatical |
| 0:06.5 | prospecting sales EQ, objections, and inked, and I'm here to help you fill up your pipeline, |
| 0:11.6 | close bigger deals, and rock your commission check. |
| 0:18.8 | On this episode, we're going to talk about projecting projecting and why projecting your own fears of things that |
| 0:23.5 | make you uncomfortable and even the size of your wallet onto your prospects and customers, |
| 0:27.8 | especially at the sales negotiation table, can cause great harm to your company's profits and to your paycheck. |
| 0:34.2 | Before we get started though, you've heard me talking about my brand new book, Inc. And |
| 0:38.1 | Ink is a book that you need to get now. Ink is changing the way that salespeople, their |
| 0:43.1 | leaders, and companies are thinking about how to teach salespeople to negotiate better. Ink |
| 0:48.8 | gives you everything that you need to confidently negotiate with buyers in today's modern world where buyers have a lot |
| 0:55.1 | more information and power than you do. So go right now to Barnes & Noble, to Amazon, to Ibooks, |
| 1:01.1 | to Google Play, to whatever books are sold, and grab a copy of my brand new book, Inc. This is one |
| 1:06.9 | book that I promise and guarantee will make you more money this year. |
| 1:15.9 | A few years back, my wife and I bought our dream home. It was on the stretch of farmland, |
| 1:21.0 | and it was exactly what we'd always dreamed about and wanted. We both knew in our hearts that it would be the last home that we ever bought, because this is where we plan to spend |
| 1:25.5 | the rest of our lives. The house, however, had to be completely remodeled. |
| 1:30.2 | The work was so extensive that the contractor told us that would take at least 18 months before we could even move in. |
| 1:37.4 | Now, through the years, Kerry and I had remodeled 11 houses, and each time we'd done the work on the tightest of budgets, and we'd made sacrifices |
| 1:45.7 | to stay within those budgets. |
| 1:47.9 | This time, though, we had the budget to create the home that we wanted, and we promised |
| 1:52.2 | ourselves that there would be no shortcuts and no compromises. |
| 1:55.6 | We planned to do it right. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jeb Blount, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jeb Blount and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.