“Jamaine, are you really genuinely interested in the person you are selling to?”
99% of sales trainers teach this to their students. Including me.
I recently had a coffee with a friend (we are both in sales, so business talk was inevitable) when he asked me that question. Chapeau, good one. I felt caught red-handed, as I instantly remembered a buyer I encountered during a discovery process a few years back.
The potential deal was promising (= happy boss), so it was crucial to make it work. However, it felt impossible to connect with this person. There was simply no connection, and I had to admit, I wasn’t genuinely curious about him, his day-to-day, or his weekend activities.
It felt like being back in school, trying to make friends with this annoying cool kid just to fit in.
This is the hard truth for many salespeople who struggle to be genuinely curious about others all the god dang time.
Now, some sales leaders might say: “Yeah well, we are not here to make friends, but to drive revenue.”
Fair. But please do not underestimate the power of human connection in a business relationship.
Normally, this is where I would have to share groundbreaking advice on mastering the sales mindset in these situations…
(and yes, I will be talking a lot about charisma and the power of building connections soon)
…but, to be fully transparent, in order to close this deal, I had to dive deep into my charisma toolbox 😮💨
The result? I didn’t sell to him.
But my colleague did. Because for some unexplainable reason, they connected much better than we did 😉
My advice?
Accept that we cannot sell to every qualified lead.
If there’s no one else to introduce those to, try this mantra: “What can I learn from them and from this conversation?”
#charisma #valuesales #coffee
Head of Marketing & Growth @unu | Building strong growth marketing teams | Passionate about leadership and fostering innovative work environments
2yGreat work