"If you're your authentic self, you have no competition"
Authenticity is one of the biggest challenges for salespeople in a profession riddled with scrupulous, fake and disingenuous sales reps; that quite frankly many buyers despise them. However, authenticity separates sales reps from sales professionals and this is what buyers want!
It may sound a bit touchy-feely but set aside some alone time, take a look inside yourself as sales is all about building credible, genuine and real relationships. In order to build relationships and change the way people think, you need to understand who you are and what goods you bring to the table. Here lies the issue for many sales reps, they don’t understand the value they bring to the marketplace because they haven’t spent the time investing in themselves.
Authenticity requires self-knowledge and self-awareness. Authentic sales people accept their strengths and weaknesses. They are accountable to themselves. They are connected to their values and desires and act deliberately in ways consistent with those qualities.
BECOMING SELF-AWARE LEADS TO AUTHENTICITY
Self-awareness means you know yourself so well that you become amazingly happy which in turn allows you to live an enriched and 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. I guarantee this will screw with your sales career.
KNOW YOURSELF
Getting to know yourself allows you to tap into the road of happiness and this is critical to your success as a sales professional. Your beliefs, your attitude along with your daily routines are mission critical.
Become brutally honest with yourself...
How clearly can you define YOU?
Every day ask yourself...
- Who am I?
- What am I most proud of?
- What am I most grateful for?
- What did I actually do yesterday?
- What did I learn yesterday that I can apply to today to become a better person?
HOW TO REMAIN AUTHENTIC
I encourage you to listen to the April 24th episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience where Chad Sanderson and I discuss authenticity in sales.
Link to the podcast is here... tunein.com
Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of sales reps are taught old school manipulative sales tricks – strategies to sell as fast as possible. These sales strategies make it all about them and not the buyer.
"We must bring the human approach back to sales and make it about our clients, the buyer and what's important to them"
It starts by leading with the heart, not with the wallet. Breaking it down to the simplest form, sales is about helping somebody solve a problem. Your job is to tie it to your solutions or service to help solve it. Everybody is capable of finding their authentic self. It requires self-discipline.
Authenticity starts when you set the intention and muster up self-fortitude to be genuine. You must become keenly aware of what this looks and feels like, along with the willingness to act in accordance with your genuine nature. Warning, this means you may become a bit vulnerable and this is OK!
KNOW YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF
Knowing yourself is the process of understanding you. What makes you tick? Knowing yourself brings you face-to-face with self-doubts and insecurities. Self-reflecting upon this allows you to take a serious look into just how you're living your life and sales life.
Knowing yourself is a conscious effort; you must lead with intent and purpose. This is the same approach you must take with your career. You must lead your sales career with intent, purpose and authenticity.
Authenticity is a choice. It's not easy, but for sales professionals this is the difference between just getting by and making it happen. Self-reflect for a moment, asking yourself what does it means to lead an authentic lifestyle? It's hard work. It's looking right into the mirror, asking tough questions and answering them. You're in charge of your own sales career.
What's your plan, what do you need to do and when will you get there? It is totally up to you! Now go open the door to your authentic self! Watch what happens to your sales career!
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!
I'm writing a book. The title is Selling From the Heart! I'm pouring my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it.Enter your email address here in this hyperlink and you'll be updated as the book is released. You'll also become part of our launch team. As a thank you, I'll have some special bonuses waiting for you!
In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image.
You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.
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, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
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