Sales landscape has changed. And changed for real. Earlier sellers use to leverage their gift of gab and thought that by waxing their literary skills – i.e. in this case their product spiel and sufficient follow-ups, they will sign the contract and start a relationship.
However fast forward to sales 2.0; i.e. this dynamic sales world where sellers who are just focused on the buyer’s money in the frame of the getting mindset will lead to, at best, just a conversation and never seeing each other again post that meeting. It is that hard. And tough to ‘get’ buyer’s much-needed attention.
So why we are constantly focused on getting instead of giving? This sound a bit paradoxical as earlier sales was a transaction, and now it is a game-changing, insight-led, emotionally triggered and impact focused conversation that catapults a real change for both buyers and sellers.
So here are a few reasons why givers sell more.
- Trigger emotions that are contagious. Sales come from old English word, Sellan – i.e. to give! How accurate a reflection of this profession: to give, and not get. Dan Waldschmidt nails it in his book Edgy Conversations that more than any skills, competencies, or hard work or all combined is always less than having a human strategy around every connection or conversation. It is to be empathic about your prospect’s business and understand their situation from all possible angles to arrive at a fruitful connection. Selling from your heart whilst providing educational hunches will always trump any product spiel in winning your buyer’s trust.
- Be real. I will echo the importance of being you in the sales process. Sometimes being real could also mean you are a bit vulnerable. To forge a strong ‘human’ connection, it creates a clean mirror for you and the prospect to catch any inadequacies or mismatch in the conversation continuum and take a detour should the need arise.
- Strive for excellence. In the book Go Givers Sell More, Bob Gurg and John David Mann state that according to law of value, the point is not to just provide value on the basis of how much you’ll be paid; it is to beyond your call of duty by providing more value to realize your buyer’s vision as your own. In other words, consistently de
livering value from that what the buyer expects translate to sales excellence – and that is what go-givers embody in their daily conversations. The goal is to touch as many people’s lives as possible – which forms the bedrock for sales success. - Perfect pitch for personal impact. Givers create a wistful impact on its buyers (sometimes) without even meeting them. How? With the power of influence, givers connect with their buyers on the most fundamental level. They create a persuasive business case for buyers to change from the status quo by not pitching! The secret lies in deep listening of their buyer’s business – on every platform. Their silence dwells behind their words. And when they speak, it is like a streak of genius that creates an impact on their buyers. No buyer likes to be prospected, or pitched. And this is precisely how givers amplify their impact – by asking questions that spark curiosity of the buyer.
- Follow through, not follow –up. A lot of sales people use the word follow-up or checking in to learn what the buyer has to say post their earlier touch point – which to an extent is not wrong but not effective. It means repeating the same process in the next conversation – which may or may not spur action from the buyer’s side. However, follow-through means completing a process and taking it to conclusion. What sounds better?
- Win the business. Many books articulate how to close a deal. (Which to me is motivating; however, winning a deal is inspiring!) And that’s how givers win: because they open a conversation instead of closing a deal. The real sales challenge arises when you win a deal – and they have a clear perspective of how to further expand business opportunities for their clients.
That concludes that don’t give to get; give to give. And you sales will follow.
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