Imagine being at a social gathering and walking up to someone to introduce yourself, “Hi my name is Jan. I work for a company that is the absolute best printer in town. We have been around for 100 years and everyone loves us.”
It’s not much imagination. This kind of introduction and self-promotion happens all the time. It may feel good for Jan, but it has been tuned out by the listener. Who cares how great you think you are? It is a common behavior not only for up close and personal encounters but with marketing that interrupts and many outbound sales processes. How great you are is irrelevant without trust.
What if the encounter was different. “Hi, my name is John. How easy or difficult has it been for you to know your ROI on your marketing?”
The conversation starts completely different. It frames it around thinking. You will know if you are dealing with a decision maker immediately. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but it is helping your listener to think rather than feel sold to.
Furthermore, it opens up dialogue for where the pain points truly are, if any, and allows you to offer help, if you truly can help.
Your sales process and your inbound marketing that wreaks of self-promotion is the same as a bad introduction at a happy hour party. You are selling, and no one likes to be sold.
Helping people buy means creating a connection that engages. That connection takes thought and empathy. We are all carrying out problems we are seeking to solve. Tap into that part of people’s attention and you will transform their internal monologue into a business dialogue.
Empathy comes from a genuine care about helping and being able to help. You can understand and feel the pain of your listener.
It starts with learning how to engage and connect and ensuring your systems support this posture. If you are being ignored, perhaps taking a look across how you sell would be a worthwhile audit.
Want help with examining your processes, feel free to connect with us.
What do you think? Feel free to comment below.
