Getting the RIGHT sales mindset? 6 steps for sales reps to achieve consistent success – Andy Paul
Andy Paul Is the host of a much celebrated and very informative podcast called the Sales Enablement Podcast. He is the Head of Revenue Performance Evangelism at ringDNA. He is one of the key influencers in the field of sales and sales enablement.
Andy shares from his decades of experience in high-performance sales, what kind of mindset helps in significant sales. In other words, you can say he will be letting us into the minds of high performing salespeople, and find out what they have in common.
The mindsets of a salesperson that are often spoken about are confidence, persistence, and resilience. The issue is, these traits focus on the seller and do not look from the angle of a buyer. It is a problematic approach as it ignores what a buyer is trying to accomplish or what is a buyer’s job. Their job is to make the right investment decision that works for them. Therefore, a buyer is set out to achieve the following things:
- Quickly gather information
- To make an informed purchase decision
- Make the least possible personal investment
- Time
- Effort
- Money
All the above has to be done with the involvement of a salesperson.
Developing Business Acumen
A buyer is set out to solve strategically urgent problems with the possibility of the fastest and highest ROI. The buyer’s focus has changed from speed to value .i.e. how fast can you deliver on your promises? How soon a salesperson can help them identify problems quickly and solve the issue.
Therefore, the role of a salesperson is no more selling but helping the buyer in understanding and solving the critical issues that are haunting their organization. The role has changed from a seller to a problem solver, a seller focused approach to a buyer-focused approach. The seller needs to develop their business acumen through which they can help buyers in arriving at a purchase decision.
With excellent business acumen, a seller can:
- Determine how a situation differs or is similar to an earlier situation he faced.
- What questions to ask to understand in a given situation?
Be more curious
The salesperson needs to have the curiosity of a child. They should be interested to know why a buyer is facing a hassle and what the solution is. To get this information out, a seller has to do the following things to satiate their curiosity:
- Ask the extra questions
- Ask questions you don’t know the answer to
- Use “Tell me more…” Show interest in the buyer more than just a money grabber.
Listen more and be Open-minded
Have a mindset of a student (learn it all) vs. an arrogant prick (know it all). Feed your curiosity. Try to learn as much as possible about the customer and their problem. No single problem is ever the same. Listen to understand the buyer. Find out:
- What are the gaps between the current state and the desired outcome?
- What are the barriers to change?
- How do we bridge the gaps and hurdle the barriers?
If you develop a curiosity based mindset .i.e. curious about customers, curious about their problem and interested to understand and solve their problems can take you, a salesperson a long way.