"Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place."
Daniel H. Pink
Selling From the Heart, it goes against everything that standard sales training teaches you. The world has changed and yet, how we sell seems to be stuck in past decades. No longer are the old-school or hard-nosed tactics working, it’s time for a change.
So how do you sell in this environment? From the heart! You put the needs of your clients first. You place them up on a silver business platter. You intently listen to their every word, what they need and how you can best fill it.
You care about them as people and develop meaningful relationships with them. You don’t go in for the sales kill and then abandon them. You take care of them each step of the way.
Love on your clients or someone else will
It's about becoming your authentic self. It's not about copying what others do and how they look. The real you is waiting to come out, and it is wonderful. You have a unique set of skills to bring to the table. When you find them and then use them, your sales will soar. You have an individual story, and it's time that it was heard.
When you share who you are from the heart, it creates a connection that's not easily broken.
SELLING FROM THE HEART
Selling From the Heart... it's about becoming a true sales professional who takes responsibility for their results. They don’t blame others when things go wrong, they look inward and determine what they could have done to make the outcome better. It's not about blame but self-examination. Taking a true look at yourself and congratulating yourself on what you did right and making a plan to become stronger in the areas that you are weak.
Selling From the Heart is the new sales economy.
- It's about knowing your values and living by them
- It's about getting brutally honest with yourself
- It's about doing the hard work to make sure you add value to your clients
Are you a selling from the heart professional or just another braggadocios sales rep?
WHERE'S THE BEEF? I MEAN YOUR HEART!
Imagine for a moment that its lunch time, you head towards your local sandwich shop and order yourself up a nice roast beef sandwich. You sit down in the corner booth, you start to unwrap the sandwich that you've been dying to have all morning and all of a sudden you notice something; there's no roast beef! You jump up, head over to the counter and scream, "Where's the beef?"
Think about this one for a moment... When you run around the marketplace attempting to get visible without truly understanding your value, in essence you're creating a "where's the beef?" moment all over your marketplace.
The emperor has no clothes and you're nothing more than a bunch of empty suits!
You may be asking yourself... What's this all about and how do I sell from the heart?
5 TIPS TO HELP KICK START YOUR THINKING IN HOW TO SELL FROM THE HEART
KNOW YOUR VALUE, INSIDE AND OUT
"What is it about you that would cause someone to meet with you?"
What are you bringing to the business table? What makes you any different than all the other sales reps in your marketplace?
What does value mean to you?
Answer the following two questions...
- What experiences do you bring to the business table?
- What have you learned that's directly applicable to helping the buyer do better business?
Your value is deeply cemented within the foundation of your business house. What makes you valuable? People won’t ever engage in a business conversation nor buy from you if they don’t even understand why they should pay attention to you.
A sales professional understands their value proposition is their promise. It's the value they deliver and communicate, as they hold themselves accountable to fulfill it.
UNDERSTAND YOUR STORY
Do you believe stories help you sell?
If we agree stories help you to sell then what makes up your sales story? Sit for a moment and self-reflect upon your sales story.
Why should you do this?
- People retain more through stories
- Stories appeal to our emotional side
- Stories create visualization
- Stories encourage action and inspire
Here are two questions to help you kick start your story. Your clients are a wealth of help, you just need to ask them.
- Can you share with me three ways I've added value to your business
- Can you share with me three ways I've helped you to do better business?
Sales is the art of the help. Art rhymes with heart. Get your clients and prospects to hear with their heart.
BECOME A SERVANT
A sales servant is more than a visionary word change, it's a mindset and belief change. It's based on the purpose to serve versus reactive customer service. To become a servant YOU must change your mindset, discipline and heart.
"Actions speak louder than words when speaking from the heart"
If you want to be 'great', if you want to be 'successful', learn to become a servant. Stop selling…Start serving... Start by leading yourself.
I wholeheartedly believe:
- Servants make themselves available to serve
- Servants pay attention to others needs
- Servants do every task with equal dedication
- Servants are faithful and they are trustworthy
Those who lead with the heart seek out authentic and genuine ways to continually serve those that mean the most to them, their clients!
A Servant Mindset Is Rocket Fuel For Sales Growth
PLACE YOUR CLIENTS FIRST
You must place your client's perspectives and needs far ahead of your own to give yourself a fighting chance. Putting them first is not complicated. It's about making them feel important and valued. If they need help, there should be absolutely no hesitation. If there's a question, every effort should be made to answer it. If there's a complaint, every effort should be made to rectify the problem immediately. Client satisfaction should be at the forefront in any reasonable situation.
Instead of worrying about being interesting, you need to first be interested.
Develop empathy for your clients. Start to gain an understanding of what motivates them and how this can align to what you can deliver.
Your clients come first, no matter what, no ifs ands or buts! This is the only way of doing business and living the sales life. If you take care of your clients, they will take care of you.
BECOME SELF AWARE
Quite simple, self-awareness means you know yourself so well that you become amazingly happy which in turn allows you to live a wonderfully balanced life.
- Are you living as the real you and not someone else?
- Do your thoughts match your actions?
- Does your walk match your talk?
- Are you emphasizing the positive aspects of your personality?
Living a lie comes out sooner or later. Living a sales lies is even worse as this will ultimately screw with your career.
All of this leads to this...
If YOU, as a sales professional can't challenge yourself to improve then how can you challenge your clients to improve?
If you lead a heartless sales life then do be surprised when I call you out as an empty suit.
HEART DOES MATTER
Heart is a place where one develops and gains strength. Sales professionals that embrace their heart will grow in purpose, profit and impact. All those professionals who embrace heart will strengthen their client relationships with many stakeholders, producing long-lasting results.
Your clients and prospects crave a genuine, authentic, real-deal and Selling From the Heart professional. I urge all of you to lead a sales life full of authenticity and integrity rather than the pursuit of lining your sales wallet.
This my friends is Selling from the Heart!
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.
Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.
In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
Comments (0)