Meeting new people is stressful at all levels. If you notice an interaction between two strangers, you’ll notice that they are always on their guard. The assessment is not that of physical intimidation rather on psychological superiority, which is a threat to the psyche. Eventually, they will classify the other as an equal, a shade better, a dominant, a submissive or an intellectually poorer personality. All further interactions will be based on this initial theory and a relationship will be formed similarly. Likewise in Sales, we try to ascertain the relationship in a familiar pattern, so we can decide how we should behave and whether we should invest more time with the person.
During a sales call, it is important to discover an intersecting activity that will help you classify your relationship. The natural course of your conversation should lead you to display some personal interests, values, and temperaments that can create shared bonds and reduce stress. When you find personal intersecting activities with prospects, it is easier to develop rapport and begin the process of building personal friendship. Thereby reducing the stress caused by perceived dominant-submissive traits by turning it into a conversation of equals.
How do you identify intersecting activities with customers??
The simplest way is to observe their personal environment. Their office decor, pictures of family, certificates and awards or other items that convey their interest or personality. Anecdotally, my coworker built a very successful relationship with his client based on a simple observation while waiting to take a meeting at the office. The client had a massive aquarium full of piranhas, a very unique display, which then became a talking point about mouth breeders between my coworker and his then prospect and from there they hit it off by discovering their unique fondness of difficult pets. Yes, he was able to turn a common intimidation tactic of being told to wait for the meeting to start into a display of underlying interests by remaining observant. My point is, develop rapport with the entire person, not just the business person, and that’ll set you apart from the competition.
Have you heard of the better Person Syndrome? It is a theory which states that people will naturally gravitate towards those whom they feel are better than themselves in some way. This applies in Sales too. When faced with two similar products, customers will NOT choose the better product. They will choose to buy from the sales person whom they believe is a better PERSON. Some customers might like a friendly or responsive salesperson while others might like to be around someone who dresses aristocratically and hold themselves a certain way. People admire different qualities in other people making each sales call unique. You will not be able to change your personality every time you go out to meet a new prospect or start a conversation, but you will be able to gauge what their preferences are and showcase your interests that meet them in the middle to form a relationship of equals.
What are the Personality Traits of Top Salespeople?
1. Achievement Orientation
Top performers are Type A people who are goal oriented and continuously measure their performance to their goals. They are self motivated and require least persuasion as they are self driven. They always try to understand the politics behind customer decision making and are instinctively driven to meet with key decision makers.
2. Curiosity
They have a thirst for knowledge and information. They are naturally more curious when compared to poor performers. As we can see, to talk spontaneously and be knowledgeable on a variety of topics requires a bigger than average portfolio of information on a variety of subjects. This high level of inquisitiveness makes a person active during sales calls. Thus they are able to ask customers difficult questions to close information gaps. They want to know if they will be able to win the business as soon as possible.
3. Modesty
What?! Really? Yes. Contrary to stereotypes, top sales people are not pushy or egotistical, they are humble and modest. It is observed that sales people who are full of false bravado, alienate their customers rather than win them over due to their flashy loud persona. Top sales people will not make themselves the focal point, instead, they will position the team that helps them win over the account as a centrepiece.
4. Lack of gregariousness
No, I am not sabotaging your sales call. It is probably the most surprising difference between top sales people and the bottom one third. Their lower level of openness. This goes to show that while being friendly is important, it is necessary to keep a respectful persona and not display too many flaws. Being overly friendly will make it difficult to gain willing obedience of customers and the recommendation. Advice of this sort of sales person may not be followed.
5. Lack of discouragement
Top performers are not easily discouraged. It is discovered that the best salespeople have some history of playing competitive sport, which means they are used to handling emotional disappointments, can easily bounce back from losses and are able to focus on their next opportunity to compete.
6. Lack of Self consciousness
Sales people are difficult to rattle. They are comfortable fighting for their cause and not afraid to rankle customers in the process. They are goal oriented and are unafraid to cold call new prospects or quote high in their sales call.
7. Conscientiousness
Top sales people have a strong sense of duty and are very reliable. They take their jobs seriously, thereby have a feeling of responsibility towards the results. They will not let go of their control of the account and operate at the direction of the customer. They will take command of the sales cycle process to control their own destiny.
CONCLUSION:
We see that how we are perceived by the customers followed by how we drive them to perceive you as an equal will define your customer relationship. You may be characterized as a friend, an acquaintance, an older sibling, or at worst, an enemy. You must always strive to be a trusted figure or soul mate the customer is searching for. Do not be happy by just being a consultant. It is too impersonal of a relationship to build a thriving partnership on. Be someone who can act as a mentor, a trustworthy friend and a reliable advisor.
