Why HEROs are humble
Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Selling Points October 2009
You’ll never make a sale by winning an argument or making a prospect feel stupid.
If you want to be a HERO salesperson, you should master the art of asking good questions.
After reading my August column, “Will You Be An Economic HERO?” several people have asked me why I included being humble as a factor in being a HERO salesperson. After all, humility isn’t normally a quality we associate with salespeople. On the contrary, many salespeople would consider humility to be a weakness in their sales efforts.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you deal with a HERO salesperson, though, is that he or she is humble. Actually, you won’t so much notice the humility as you will notice the lack of the opposite—arrogance. While many of the salespeople you are used to dealing with are, for the most part, overconfident, arrogant know-it-alls, the HERO is noticeably different. How, though, is being humble an advantage in your sales career?
Well, think about that arrogant salesperson for a moment. How do you, as a consumer, feel when someone shows up at your door to show you a better way of doing things using their product or service, then implies that if you don’t buy
today you’re an idiot? It puts you off a little, doesn’t it?
After all, you were doing just fine before this so-and-so showed up, and you’re pretty sure you’ll continue to do OK without him and his widget. So then, here’s the question: How do your customers feel when you insist that your product or service is a better way of doing things in
their business?
Implying, let alone saying outright, that you know better than your customer is a sure-fire way to get their hackles up. Trust me. You’ll never make a sale by winning an argument or making a prospect feel stupid. Of course, this isn’t to say that your product or service isn’t a better solution for the customer’s need. In fact, it just might be the perfect solution for their situation, one that could make a big difference in their business. You just don’t get to say that it is yet. You have to lead your prospects to arrive at that conclusion on their own. How do you, the HERO, do that?
If you want to be a HERO salesperson, you should master the art of asking good questions. Asking questions demonstrates to your prospect or customer that you trust them to know how to run their business and that you acknowledge that you’ve got something to learn from them.
Not only will this demonstrate your humility, it will make your relationship with the prospective client far more collaborative and less confrontational. How will this help you sell your product?
By allowing your customer to do the talking, you’ll learn a great deal about them and their business. You’ll learn what they like and dislike. Also, you’ll find out what other solutions they’ve tried in the past, as well as why they are currently using the product or service that they are.
Additionally, you’ll learn what they like about that product, as well as what they’d like to see improved. All of that information is what you’ll then use to build and present a solution that truly fits the prospect’s need.
Does this approach involve more work than trying to pitch your prepackaged solution? You bet it does! Then again, nobody said being a HERO was going to be easy. It’s time to ditch your pitch and don your cape. Remember, the more HEROs we have, the sooner we can rescue the world’s economy.
HEROs unite!
Jerry Kennedy, CLS, is owner of Inside Out Business Solutions, a sales and customer service training organization. You can reach him at jkennedy@inside-out-solutions.com.