Salespeople of old were constantly trying to cozy up to their buyers, taking them out to golf, reminiscing about their shared alma mater, and discussing their favorite bands. This led to the myth that you have to be likable to succeed. While it never hurts to have a good relationship with your potential buyer, effective sales methodologies are built on establishing and demonstrating credibility, not attempting to be as likeable as possible. In other words, selling is about bringing value to a customer, not making friends. Here’s how why you need to focus more on credibility instead of likability.
Buyers Care More About the Value You Offer, Not How Much They Like You
A buyer rarely commits to a purchase because they like the salesperson. Sure, their rejection might be kinder, and they might lead you on without ever giving a concrete no, but you can’t rely on friendliness to close a sale. At the end of the day, a customer is buying your product and the value it provides them, not your friendship.
For example, when you go to the doctor, you aren’t looking for a new golfing buddy; you’re looking for the opinion of an expert. Imagine spending the first 25 minutes of your appointment talking about the game last night and the last five minutes talking about your actual symptoms—the reason you came to their office in the first place. You probably won’t trust that doctor to solve your problems.
Now, if the doctor spends an hour figuring out you have a gallbladder problem and offers to remove it and save you from the pain you’ve been suffering, they instantly become your favorite doctor. It doesn’t matter how well you get along with them—you might even think they’re annoying and their breath smells. But they’re offering you value by improving your life. This is how you should approach sales. If you build credibility and provide real value, it won’t matter if you’re liked or not.
Diagnose and Understand Problems Instead of Trying to Be a Friend
Instead of spending your pre-meeting time researching casual talking points and conversation starters, you need to focus on 100% on the buyer, their business, industry, and problems. To return to the doctor example, your doctor might chit-chat with you for a few moments, but most of their conversation is the nitty-gritty. Where does it hurt? How does it feel when I press here? How well have you been sleeping? They understand how your body works and want to get to the source of the problem. They aren’t concerned with making you laugh. Instead, they show you that they, one, know what they’re talking about, and two, can help you in a meaningful way.
If you walk into a sales meeting with an inside-out knowledge of the buyer’s industry like the doctor knows you, you will have a leg up on a salesperson whose M.O. is being the prospect’s friend. SaaS sales training should teach a salesperson how to diagnose potential problems in a buyer’s business, not on how to cozy up to a customer. If you can intricately dissect the problems a buyer is facing and how your product can solve them, you become a valuable resource in improving their business.
Build Credibility, and You Can Challenge Anything
When our friendly doctor diagnoses you with a malfunctioning gallbladder, their credibility is their biggest asset. No matter how much you thought it was a different problem, the doctor is an expert, so you believe them. They can call out your bad eating habits and get you to change because they’ve been doing this for years and proved their knowledge to you.
Selling is always about change, and people are averse to change. That is why building credibility is important. Just like the doctor can challenge you to change to improve your life, you can challenge your customer’s beliefs and show them that you are their best pathway to a better business. If you’re credible, you can challenge a prospect on essentially everything, including price. So, forget about being a more likable salesperson, and spend more time working towards being a more credible salesperson.
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Original Source: https://bit.ly/3A6qWEO
