Selling with Grit and Grace: The 99% Confidence Rule
Selling with Grit and Grace
I base much of my selling success on taking the time to do my homework. For those who know me, that first sentence may raise an eyebrow or two. People always considered me impatient.
After a while, it no longer bothered me, as I happened to run at a different speed than most. Most of them were slackers, anyway. I built a $100M company on being impatient, so pardon me if I laugh all the way to the bank.
Building Confidence Through Preparation
The ability to speak confidently about yourself and your company first, and your product second, does not just happen. It takes discipline.
It was doing my homework before reaching out to a new customer that gave me that confidence, even if it was a referral from one of my global friendly manufacturer sales managers.
To me, THEY were my best customer; the gift that kept on giving, if you will. Those were mutually beneficial relationships. In some ways, we were using each other, and that was more than okay.
Human nature is to take the first bit of knowledge gained and run with it. But think about that for a moment. Once you do that, your tank is empty.
Challenge yourself to have at least five pieces of “deep dive info” on your plate before engaging in that conversation. This way, you can speak with confidence and not run out of gas after the one talking point is asked and answered.
Information is king. When I was introduced to that customer, there were no “first date” questions needed. Instead, I went right to the how and why they were deploying the products they were buying, listening to ways to create positive solutions for the customer.
Letting the customer speak was a wonderful way to learn, as the more they speak, the more new opportunities for them were opening in my head. Another reminder to “listen with your ears, not your mouth!”
Listening Is a Selling Superpower
Just as well, you can learn much about a customer without speaking with them. Visit their website to explore products, authorizations, customer feedback, and more. You can also do the same by doing a Google search about them.
The point is to identify their strengths and weaknesses, with a focus on the latter.
Once armed with all this information, ask for a meeting, preferably at their site. This way, you can garner all his or her attention, rather than the possibility of them distractedly multitasking while you mistakenly think they are completely focused on you.
By doing your homework first, while you certainly don’t know all about the person’s business, you know enough to get their attention, as you can speak confidently about their business’s place in the market.
People like talking about themselves. Company management likes to talk about its company. Let them ramble and take good notes.
There’s a fine line between knowing about a customer’s business and knowing too much about it. The latter could potentially scare away the customer, as they may consider you less of an enthusiastic person and more of a stalker.
You don’t need to know about every last bit of information, just enough to be knowledgeable, informative, and personable. It’s the last one of those that will get in the door the next time.
It really is all about that next time. And then the next time after that.
Turning Knowledge into Trust – and Sales
Speak with confidence about what you know; don’t try to bullshit your way into something that you know little about. A bigger show of strength is to be honest. If the customer brings up a topic you are uncertain or unfamiliar with, then say so, and finish with “I’d love to hear more.”
Worst case, you will learn something new and now have a new topic you can go home and deep dive into.
Confidence is not about knowing everything; on the contrary, it is about speaking confidently on those things you DO know about. And the willingness to learn. Especially for those in the technology business, as there is something new to learn daily.
Confidence sells. Uncertainty fails.
No one knows everything about everything. And there is never, ever, anything wrong with telling the customer you are unfamiliar with a topic that they bring up. Just ask him to keep sharing, as you want to learn more.
In this case, weakness is a sign of strength. Let that person speak with confidence to you, as you can learn from that as well. Their cadence, for example.
And that’s the point. Speaking with confidence happens when you are confident, never arrogant, and never sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
You want to leave that meeting knowing the names of their kids, and your most important product – trust.
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To learn about this entire journey, pick up a copy of 𝙄𝙩 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙈𝙚: 𝙈𝙮 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙞𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 today! Also available now in audiobook format!
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