As an unseasoned, young salesman, I used to spend my windshield time thinking about all the ways I could talk about my company and my offering. I would turn the sentences inside out and upside down, forwards and backwards and everything in between. My strategy was classic rookie: He who talks best wins.
Over time I moved away from talking and towards listening. I learned about SPIN Selling and how to ask progressively more penetrating questions. Sometimes, my questions were cumbersome and forced; you could tell I was struggling to convert some of my old, well polished statements into probing questions, but wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Well, Mr. Customer, how has going without my service really put you in a bind?" Did that really just come out of my mouth???
As time passed, questions became the default, and genuine caring about people's needs took over. But the urge remained to "talk about us" a little bit. When I was with a big company, I somehow had to work in a thing or two about the billions in the bank account, or the office on the west coast. Surely the client wants to know about how our company is structured and the recent departmental realignment, right? Just kidding... I never talked about that. But I did feel the need to force some conversation towards us if the Client wasn't going there.
Even the past few years, with a company strategy that builds off of our private ownership and flexibility that allows us to deliver the best services at the lowest cost in the industry, I find myself struggling not to brag. (Get it?)
That is, until recently. In one 45 minute span, I got cured forever. My disease is gone with no trace left. I now confidently pledge to never again talk about myself unless the Client asks. I promise to focus on the Client and to never, ever assume that the Client can't wait for me to deliver my infomercial, no matter how sexy I think it is. So what happened? Very simply, we bought something.
I always tried to imagine myself in the Client's shoes, but as a salesman you never really get all the way there. I thought in terms of what the Client might be needing, or thinking, or thinking he is needing. I also focused on how the Client would receive what I would say. But until I sat at a conference table as the customer, and really experience what it was like to be the target of every word spoken, I couldn't know what the Client's shoes felt like.
Then I put them on. I became the Client, and as such, all I cared about was what I cared about. There were things I wanted to know, and thinks that I didn't know I wanted to know, but that I knew I probably needed to know. I wanted the salesman to guide me through that, and help me get where I needed to be. But it was about me, not him. It was about trying to unlock my own thoughts and feelings, not listen to his. The interesting thing about the experience was how great it felt when he was focusing on me, and how quickly I could become put off by an untimely diversion away from me and towards the merits of his company. I wondered almost out loud how out of touch this guy must be to think I wanted to hear his spiel at that moment. And at the same time, I was so grateful for the lesson he was teaching me. He showed me, quite frankly, me.
There has probably been no greater lesson for me in my career than to have that kind of a mirror exposing a critical flaw in my approach. My suspicion is that what I experienced would help a lot of people take the next step in their sales careers. It showed me how to better serve, not only my external Clients, but my sales team and other people around me. Buying opened my eyes and ears to truth, and I will take all of that I can get. I have taken the lesson to heart, and challenge anyone who has never put the Client's shoes on to do it and get ready to take some notes. Buy something, and really learn how to sell!
