When marketing or selling something, you can make all the great ads, videos, websites or other communication in the world to tell them about your product or service – and that may work for something simple.
But for custom applications like what my company sells, we need salespeople. Why? Because people don’t buy because they understand what we have to sell, they buy because they feel understood first. It takes a person to understand them, before they begin recommending a complex/custom solution.
Not only does it take a person to understand them, it takes a person who will spend the time, ask questions and listen, care, and who can build rapport with a wide variety of people.
Salespeople who can do that will always be in high demand.
I’m thankful for Ken D’Silva, too.
I had a manager back in the late 90’s that would say to his team “people buy from people they know, like and trust.” That advice has served me
well my entire career.
Another great post, Larry. It’s been my experience that every business has internal and external customers. The rapport and relationships that result in satisfied customers, rave reviews, and repeat business – as well as being their ‘go to source’ in your area of endeavor – often comes down to empathy and active listening, backed up by an effective product and a business model that allows you to deliver on your commitments…
Someone who comes to you with a problem that needs to be solved, a project that needs to be planned, an idea that needs to be developed, etc. may not be able to exactly articulate the end result they’re looking for – if they could, they’d probably do it themselves – but they’d probably recognize what they’re seeking when they see it, or hear it, or both.
The art of active listening, along with the embodiment of empathy – when employed sincerely – helps you understand the solution they’re seeking and helps them believe you can provide it. If you can honor that belief by delivering on your proposal in a way that’s really about the end result that they’re looking for, and not the sale of what you decided they needed, you probably have a customer – and maybe a friend – for life. This comes from both of you believing that their business, and their need, is important to you – you believing this in the beginning, them believing it in the end…
If you keep your customer interactions – internal or external – about solving problems first and closing deals second, you’ll probably get to solve a lot of problems, have a lot of contacts, and be able to network your way to great success and influence in whatever role you’re in. And, as John Maxwell would say, ‘Leadership is influence’ – the more influence (legitimized by competency) that you have in your chosen field of endeavor, whatever it is, the more opportunities to lead will be presented.
This all goes back to a pretty old and reliable admonition – if you want to lead, learn to serve. A simple key to start with is to listen for understanding.