How curiosity can be an asset in your sales efforts
If
youâre like me, you like to be well-prepared for a sales call. You
check out your prospectâs LinkedIn page, study their corporate website,
and review all your own product information before you meet with the
customer.
All this knowledge is valuable â but thereâs a risk to it as well.
Itâs hard to resist spouting all the information you have during the
sales call. And what happens? You do all the talking, instead of using that valuable face-to-face time to hear from your customer.
If you think about it, sometimes your ability to admit what you donât
know can be even more valuable than your ability to use what you do
know.
Of necessity, I got really good at this during my first job out of
college. I landed a position as a television news reporter at a tiny
station in eastern North Carolina. I was 21 years old, both naĂŻve and
somewhat ignorant. Every day, I was assigned to do a news report on
something about which I had no prior knowledge whatsoever. I covered the
opening of the tobacco markets even though I knew nothing about
agriculture, reported on advances in medicine even though I had only
taken two science courses (physics and meteorology!) in college, and
interviewed government leaders about civic issues in towns I had never
visited before.
There was no internet available at the time, so I had neither the
resources nor the time to read up on these topics before heading out to
cover them. Instead, I had to admit my ignorance and ask the folks that I
was interviewing to educate me. Happily, most people were very willing
to talk.
Use Ignorance As A Selling Tool?
Iâve found in my career since then that my willingness to confess
that Iâm unfamiliar with a particular topic or issue has become a very
valuable professional tool. I ask a lot of questions, and as a result I
gain useful information. Whatâs more, most people love to talk about
their work or their expertise, so asking questions is a great tool in
building relationships.
Here are a few ideas for turning your own areas of ignorance into potential advantages, along with my own personal examples:
- Networking: When you meet people at a professional
function, ask them about their jobs or their organizations. If they
describe a challenge or a business process thatâs unfamiliar, donât nod
your head and pretend to understand. Ask them to explain.
âHi Josh, nice to meet you. I have to admit Iâm not familiar with Healiant â can you tell me about your company?â
âBruce, you said that youâre responsible for category management
at your health system. I always thought of category management as
something that suppliers do â what does it mean in a hospital?â
- Training sessions and other meetings: Letâs say the
leader uses an acronym you donât know. Chances are other people in the
room are wondering what it means too. Why not take one for the team by
raising your hand and asking the trainer to back up and define the term.
âCara, you said the new competitive bidding program applies to CBAs. What are those?â
âTodd, what did you say your company sells? CGMs? What does that stand for?â
- Sales calls: Donât assume you know what the
customer needs. Ask questions at every stage of the call, and ask
follow-up questions as appropriate. Youâll need to read the customer so
as not to overdo it and annoy them, but most folks will be happy to know
that you really want to understand their situation and meet their
needs.
âCharlie, you guys said you want to grow your business in the post-acute market â how do you define that exactly?â
âMaureen, you referred to your company as an MRO distributor. Iâm not familiar â whatâs that?â
Itâs a good thing that people donât like know-it-alls, because we as
salespeople definitely donât know it all. However, by turning our
ignorance into curiosity about the customer and his or her needs, we can
make it an asset in our sales efforts.
From http://www.repertoiremag.com/the-value-of-not-knowing-it-all.html