Black Sales Journal

Empathy - the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

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Selling and the sales process in general can be consuming.  Remembering the sales techniques, the product specifications, the time lines, and…oh yes, the customer.

The customer, regardless of the quips and quotes of many sales books and sayings, should not be forgotten, yet frequently is either forgotten or not made the focal point.

The best sales professionals realize that the customer’s plight will spell their success.  Having an insight into the concerns and feelings of the customer may take a little more energy, yet can result in the type of relationships that are enduring and profitable.

Logical Order

You meet a new customer for the first time, and this is your great opportunity to land a profile account and you have been waiting for it for a long time.  After the perfunctory introductions you begin to describe your company’s history, philosophy, and superb reputation.  He shows signs of agreement and understanding, and even compliments your fine organization.

You launch into the products that made your organization what it is, and even note which of your fine products you think would fit the customer’s needs based on the best selling product in your companies cadre of products.  He is engaged in the process, and showing interest.

Before we go any further with this, take note, you may be showing your knowledge of your company’s products and your presentations skills, yet you have missed the opportunity to understand what the customer needs.  You will likely blow the sale, or even worse, sell the customer something that they don’t need.  If you miss the opportunity to know the customer’s needs you will be hard pressed to provide solutions and satisfy needs.

Stephen R. Covey said it best in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” (Habit 5).  It has been said many other ways, but this one is the easiest to internalize.  The more knowledge you have about the customer, the more qualified you are to help that customer.  Knowing gives you the basis for empathy.

At the basis of this is good communications and the one of the least mastered skills…listening. (Black Sales Journal 4/14 – Are You Listening To Your Customer?)

How Would You Feel?

The easiest way to think about how your interaction affects the customer is to put yourself “in the shoes” of your customer.  As a customer, you want to have solid communications and a sales professional servicing your business that understands your business, and your businesses situation.

Customers want someone who has taken the time to carefully probe their needs, including their strengths and weaknesses so that they can offer solutions.  They want you to know relevant aspects of their business plan as well.  When you probe with the question, “What is your company going to look like in 8 years?” The customer might respond “Our growth will result in a tripling in size most likely because of our movement to automatic widgets as opposed to manual ones, as that is the most profitable line that we have.”

If appropriate, ask relevant questions regarding business goals and objectives.  It takes time, but that it what a true professional does.

This professional does the following:

• Seeks to understand your customer’s needs and priorities, and is genuinely empathetic because they do understand.
• Knows the customers goals and objectives and works to get fulfillment
• Clearly communicates with the customer, then follows with correspondence for monitoring and clarity.
• Avoids using technical language and jargon that your customer may not understand.
• Allows the sales process to proceed naturally, and does not exert unnecessary pressure.

Empathy allows you to recognize the importance and gravity of many of the issues in the customer’s world, and how they are affected.  It increases the urgency on some matters and decreases it on others, and that allows you to know, as the client knows, what is most important.

Don’t Fake It

Care must be taken not to be artificial in showing empathy, as if your buyer thinks that you are feigning empathy, it will almost seem patronizing.  It will simply look as if it is being done to ‘get the account’.  This is not a good place to be as no one wants to be manipulated in that fashion.  This is very evident in B2P sales, where some of the sales happen over the kitchen table.

If you cannot be genuine, then you may want to avoid the appearance of empathy, as it will be noticeable.  We have all had a sales professional (used loosely) who tried to act understanding, yet was not that good of an actor.  It is insulting to say the least.

If you have the passion that should be evident as a professional attempting to help your customers find solutions, none of this will be an issue.  You will feel the empathy more when you have uncovered the customer’s needs and special situations through your interviews and probing.

Your customer’s need you to understand, and will award you appropriately.

Your comments are appreciated.

I guess you could say that I have “Drank the Kool-Aid”  On this one!  There are just certain skills, attributes, and attitudes that you can have or develop that will put you in the leagues with the best.  Today, Monday (June 10th) and next Thursday (June 13th) I will lay them out.  Read them and be the best!

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Since late November of 2010, we have described many of the traits that a true successful professional would have.  We have outlined the activities and processes that would, over time, make a verifiable difference in this individual’s ability to reach goals, and provide customer satisfaction.

We have discussed personality attributes and skills that make a difference over the last several posts.  Once again it is time to talk about how a sales professional puts these all together and finds success.

Over the next three posts we will revisit these important posts and put these together in an effort to portray that individual who is sought by sales managers and customers alike.

This professional has learned the benefits of mastering relationships, both internal and external, to get the maximum leverage from each personal encounter.  This professional knows the different methods of getting exposure, and how to capitalize on it.  This individual is always prepared.

There will be some references to previous issues of Black Sales Journal, as I want to keep this as concise as possible, yet capitalize on the wealth of information that has been published to date.

Deep Enduring Relationships

There is no area more important in the long run than knowing how to ‘master the relationship’.  It does not matter what your level of intelligence is if you cannot decipher how to ‘work’ your personal relationships to your advantage, and your customers benefit, you will not have maximum effectiveness.

There is an ‘art to the relationship’ that is undeniable.  It cannot be substituted by process, intelligence, or hard work.  You see, the ‘art of the relationship’ is not an inherited trait.  It is something that you hone with every interface.  It can be aided by having a gregarious and engaging personality.

The successful Black sales professional has the ability to form deep and enduring customer relationships (Black Sales Journal 1/13, Deep and Enduring Customer Relationships and Black Sales Journal 1/20, Deep and Enduring Customer Relationships II).  This individual works with the assurance that existing relationships are strong enough to receive ‘preference’ as compared to ‘wanna-be’ sales professionals look to unseat him or her.  In other words, the customer prefers to do business with someone like this professional, and that preference ‘spoils’ the customer.  This is a powerful preference that is enduring, and anchors the relationship.  We all want to work with someone that provides value, and is concerned about our business, and produces results for us.

This ‘preference’ exists not only because of the solid personal and business connection that exists, but also because the professional is effective in providing the customer something of value.  Always strive to always be effective and always show value.

Undying Professionalism

Being effective is a good start, yet by itself it is not enough.  The consummate professional is more than just effective; he or she does those things that exude success.  We talked about this in Black Sales Journal 3/7, Be the Consummate Professional. This individual is:

• Punctual
• Empathetic
• Attentive
• Knowledgeable
• Organized
• Responsive
• Visionary

Most of these are self explanatory, yet I want to spend a minute on a couple of them:

Responsiveness is ever important.  As stated in Black Sales Journal, Responsiveness – the Objective of the Sales Professional 6/16/2011, responsiveness is in the eyes of the customer.  It is defined by the customers expectations, and includes such important items as:

• Answers the phone and returns calls promptly
• Keeps commitments
• Provides answers to inquiries and questions as soon as possible
• Stays in touch – communicates
• Provides requested information promptly

Knowledge will always set you apart.  This knowledge could get you labeled an expert.  This ‘designation’ comes from those people and businesses that have benefited from your knowledge, and make the claim in your behalf.  See a most interesting set of articles in Black Sales Journal 12/20, Your Customer Needs an Expert and Black Sales Journal 6/27, More on Being an Expert – An Edge for the Black Sales Professional.  Expert power is attractive to a customer.

Empathy provides a connection and a serum that convinces the customer you are real.  If you have no empathy for the customer, then why are you calling on them?  How are you going to solve their problem if you don’t have that connection?  Put yourself in you customer’s shoes.  Live their problems and your solutions will come about easier.  Always keep in mind that a customer can tell when you have no empathy as easily as you can tell when a love interest of yours is not interested.

Now for the point that pulls this together:  If you condition yourself to be accomplished at all of these different items, you will havecredibility. Enormous credibility is the product of having deep enduring relationships and being a consummate sales professional.

More to Come….

Armed with what is above you would think that success would be much more probable.  You probably are correct, although what are missing are the activities, habits, and processes that make the person formidable even if some of the personality issues are missing.

We will cover them in the next two information-filled posts.  These are powerful for the Black sales professional.  These items are hard to put together, and even more difficult to master, yet when you do, you have an enormous amount of power and potential.

Next up:  Black Sales Journal 6/10– The Ultimate Sales Professional Pt. II –The Black Sales Professional in Action

We hope you will read it.

Your comments are always welcome.