How Authentic Leaders Embrace The Sales Process

Even if you are not in sales, the material in this post will benefit you as you continue to increase your confidence, overcome fears, put yourself out there, and authentically live your purpose.

Fulfilling your inner life is not about having some kind of hidden agenda or trying to take advantage of others – it’s about genuinely helping others. We learned about serving others in my previous book, Reach Your Mountaintop. Now it’s time to take a deep dive into how you can add value to other people and get paid for it at the same time.

Money is not evil. Money is neutral and in the hands of the right person, will help you to expand your influence. When your higher purpose is focused on helping others, money becomes a powerful ally. When you are focused on conning and cheating others, money becomes a means to something destructive. The important thing here is to base your purpose on a rock solid foundation of values.

One of the catch-22 aspects of fulfilling your inner life is that when you are helping others, you are simultaneously helping yourself. And in order to help others, you have to be constantly putting yourself out there and growing. It’s not an either/or paradigm; it’s an AND paradigm. You can help others, help yourself, and be properly compensated.

Sycophants put themselves out there to pretend like they care, but really they are seeking to further themselves. Winners put themselves out there and promote themselves because they want to genuinely help other people. There’s a difference. Sycophants and winners both put themselves out there, but the experience for both types of people will be different.

On a positive note, people are without a doubt generally good – there are countless good people in the world and way more good people than bad people. With that said, there are definitely cheaters out there who want to use you and take advantage of you. Don’t be fooled by people like that and use your intuition to determine if they’re trustworthy or not. Here’s the point: cheating does not have to be associated with selling and adding value. Good people sell.

You’re always selling something. Even if you never work a day in your life in an official sales role, you’ll always be in sales. Yes, you:

• You’re selling yourself in an interview.
• You’re selling an idea when you speak up at a meeting.
• You’re selling your abilities and results when you ask for a raise.
• You’re selling your charm and reliability when you ask for a date with someone.
• You’re selling your character when you make a promise.
• You’re selling a destination when you seek to convince your friends/family to travel somewhere with you.
• You’re selling your credibility and expertise when you put out content into the world and share your opinions with others.
• You’re selling your [fill in the blank] when you [fill in the blank].

You get the picture. But if you still don’t like sales, breathe a sigh of relief. You’re not really “selling” anyone on anything – you are adding value to their lives. True, legitimate value from the bottom of your heart and core of your soul. Sales is a misnomer because the word itself sounds like you are doing something sleazy and that’s the opposite of what sales is about.

Think of yourself as a consultant who is achieving a result that a person (or people) desire. Further, think of yourself as someone with the persuasiveness necessary to positively influence others. Focus on how you are making other people better, not on how they are making you worse. If you properly solve a problem for someone or provide a core need, you deserve to be fairly compensated for the solution you provided to their lives. That’s why it’s enormously crucial to be promoting and “selling” something you believe in – especially when you are selling yourself, like in a job interview.

Shatter Your Limitations

Pat is founder of Sales Babble, a website, podcast, sales training, and sales consulting resource that provides selling secrets for non-sellers. A successful salesman and entrepreneur, Pat revealed the secrets of selling authentically.

The first thing to understand when it comes to selling is that it’s a skill everyone can use. As I mentioned above we are all selling something, whether it be a service, product, our talents and skills, our ideas, or even our advice.

“Everyone is in sales,” Pat said. “We all persuade, influence, somehow compel, and enroll people.”

“Yes, very true,” I said. “Before we dive into some of the ins and outs of selling, I’m curious, what caused you to become an entrepreneur and start your own business?”

“It’s funny,” Pat said, “Back in the day, I had no interested in being an entrepreneur. When I was 28, I was busy with a family, 2 kids, and car loans – all that stuff. But times have changed. I was raised to get a good job until you retire. I worked for 23 years at Bell Laboratories and worked my way up to technical manager, until the ’01 and ’02 recession. Then, to my shock, I was demoted and laid off.

“All the sudden, I realize typical retirement isn’t going to happen. I reflected and discovered I’d prefer to work for a startup than a bigger company. I went from an engineering guy to a sales guy at a startup. After getting some experience working at a startup I decided I wanted to own my own business.”

Pat shattered limitations, going from engineering to sales. He is someone who does not limit himself in any way whatsoever. He also disregarded the labels others placed on him, which is one of the core themes of this book. He can relate to people and is good at getting other people to talk. He claims he was never an Einstein at software, but nonetheless becoming an engineer unto itself is a huge accomplishment. He also transitioned into a new career that is completely different from his original career. Part of being authentic, creating prosperity, and fulfilling your inner life means trying new things and tapping into different aspects of your psyche, letting go of the labels you and others have placed on you.

“Sales and success in life is all about listening,” Pat said. “Think of it like talking to your best friend and offering advice to someone. Keep the conversation natural, qualify the potential client to see if it’s a good fit, and continually ask good questions. That’s the key: good questions.”

Embracing the Sales Process

Pat is an expert in sales, but if you are new to sales it doesn’t mean you have to be intimated by it. If you are rolling your eyes about the idea of learning sales, don’t worry – l know the feeling. But the truth is sales is a learnable skill and with a little patience and persistence, you will be putting yourself out there and getting more clients in an authentic, natural, and organic way. By selling yourself, your ideas, and your products and services in the right way, you’ll be on your way to creating a life on your own terms.

Also, remember that these techniques can be used in a variety of situations. Yes, it may be a formal selling situation, but it also may be an informal conversation at a networking event, or any other kind of similar situation.

“What I’m about to explain stems from my Selling With Confidence sales system,” Pat said. “It’s all a process. It’s important to follow this process in the right order and sequence. It starts with qualifying people and finding out if they are a good match. Remember, you are not trying to force anything on anyone, but rather finding out if there is a good fit. Too often sales is lost at the beginning. If someone is not qualified it’s a complete waste of time, and you can determine this near the beginning of the conversation.

“Really understand what pains and desires the potential client has. Once you identify what their pain is, you will describe the benefits of your service and how you can make their pains disappear.

“You’re looking to S.O.R.T. the people you talk to: story, obstacles, ramifications, and transformation. You will hear clients saying, Because I am constantly faced with [insert obstacle] I can’t get this done, so I’m losing customers. Even worse, the potential client will realize that they are dealing with hurts – put bluntly, it sucks.

“You can ask your prospects, ‘what if I can make those pains go away?’ Create what I call a rainbows and unicorns situation for your client where you solve their problem: reducing cost, increasing retention rate, building loyalty, and results like those.”

Pat is suggesting to create a win-win relationship with your potential clients. It doesn’t mean that you will necessarily solve all their problems right away, but it does mean that you get them thinking in terms of solutions. This helps to build the trust Pat is talking about.

“From there,” Pat said, “create an offer for them: ‘If you think it would be great to get [their pains] to go away, let me show you how.’ In simple terms, you show the client this is your solution that does this. Once the client sees how it addresses their problem, they will get excited and started thinking, oh yeah!

“This process applies to all sorts of selling situations. I emphasize not to go down the path of showing your product/service before doing any qualifying. You create win-win scenarios by following ONE rule of thumb: you need to have a helping mindset. Ask, how can I help you? Don’t sell from the get-go. This is not some over-the-top unrealistic mindset; rather, it’s a practical mindset that can be used as a general rule of thumb with your potential clients. Rather than worry about memorizing scripts, focus on helping others and your sales will start to fall into place.”

“I agree with you completely Pat,” I said, “I just feel like prospective clients give all sorts of back talk and excuses when you try to help, like they’re trying to shut you down or make it seem like you are trying to do them wrong.”

“That’s everyone’s reflexive, knee-jerk response in today’s world,” Pat said. “Everyone has been burned in their life at some point or another, but you’ll show them that you’re different because of your genuine kindness and willingness to help.”

“I follow you,” I said, “but I’m still not 100%.”

“Think of it like this,” Pat said, “God forbid, let’s say one of your friends gets in a car accident. You would ask him/her: are you ok? Where was the accident at? How much damage is there? Want me to come get you?

“Notice how I’m not selling my friend. I’m asking genuine qualifying questions to diagnose the problem and issue. The exact same process applies to selling. Think of and present yourself as a consultant, not a salesperson, and don’t be afraid to ask the prospective client, if I were your best friend, what would you tell me?

“Just keep asking them questions and trying to fulfill their need. Sometimes you don’t have what they need, and that’s fine – you find that out by asking them questions.”

As you can see from Pat’s process, it’s not about trying to jam sales down their throat. It’s thinking of yourself as a friend and consultant and truly diagnosing the problem. From there, you will then accurately be able to present your solution. This is how your authenticity will win the day in all sorts of personal and business conversations. Part of becoming prosperous yourself means genuinely helping others to become prosperous. When you are authentically yourself you will be selling without compromising your values.

“When you follow this process,” Pat said, “questions flow naturally. Try this: treat every potential client like they’re your cousin. Start talking to them like you know them and they pick up on that. From experience, I can tell you they pick up on that right away. The amazing part about this is you can do this to strangers! You can ask all kinds of personal questions while being natural. You definitely can’t be overtly creepy, but just think of them like a cousin.”

“That’s awesome, I like that a lot. What kinds of questions would you ask your cousin?” I asked.

“Busy day? What’s your morning like?” Pat said. “Simple stuff that establishes rapport. Shoot the breeze a little bit, have a conversation. You’re not giving a speech, you’re having a conversation.”

“That’s powerful,” I said, “but it’s also simple. Why don’t more people follow this process?”

“Great question,” Pat said. “It may be simple, but you’d be surprised how many people jump right into the selling. It’s not about that. Those kinds of salespeople give this industry a bad rep. It’s about being friendly, identifying needs, and presenting win-win solutions. If you’re not interested in helping others, then don’t create a business.”

Closing a Sale

“That’s excellent Pat,” I said. “Being interested in helping others ties directly into fulfilling your inner life. Once you qualify and establish that rapport, and then go into presenting a potential solution, what’s a good way to close the sale?”

“Closing is hard for a lot of people. I know of people who can prospect and qualify, can present well, and then they clam up when it’s time to ask for the business. But if you’ve qualified them and you’ve walked them through the solutions to their pains and desires, there’s no reason why the close of the sale can’t simply be another natural step in the process.”

I absolutely love Pat’s natural and easygoing approach to life – it’s why he’s so good in sales and in business. We have become friends through our chats and he reminds me that it’s often nothing more than our own beliefs that get in our own way. You may be assuming that the client doesn’t want your business, but what if your assumption is wrong? You may be assuming that it’s nerve-racking and difficult to close a sale, but what if it could be natural and easy? (Of course there are always going to setbacks and rejections, but you get my point: don’t limit yourself by being afraid to ask for the close.)

“Here’s a great closing question to ask,” Pat said. “From what you’ve seen here today, what I’ve shared, and what we’ve talked about, do you think my solution would work for you? Do not play tricks. Be straightforward and be yourself, just like the entire process leading up to this moment. If they say yes, form there you can pull out an order form and quote a price.

“If the answer to your closing question is no, simply ask, oh, how come? They’ll give more pains and desires, and listening attentively you say, OK, tell me more about that. Then, just start all over. Never be afraid to start from scratch because it’s the consultants who are willing to start the sale all over at any given moment who make the most sales. Show that you care by not only being thoroughly prepared for the discussion, but also by continuing to ask interested questions throughout.

“If you get hesitation and silence, remember what I said earlier about asking them to treat you like their best friend. But beyond that, feel free to ask, is it the price? If the issue is the price, ask, why do you think price is an issue? Price is really a return on investment (ROI) conversation. If they’re worried about the price, you haven’t established the benefits strongly enough.

“I’m going to explain this with a simple example because I want to drive the point home. If you knew you could pay a dollar, but could make and achieve a return of two dollars, you would do it, right?”

“Yes, of course,” I said.

“And if you could pay a dollar, receive a dollar in return, but increase retention rates with your business, that would make sense too, right?” Pat asked.

“Yes, it would,” I said.

“That’s all you’re showing the prospective client,” Pat said confidently. “You’re explaining that this is an important decision for them because it will lead to solving their needs and desires. Remember the ramification questions: the ramification of doing business with you is a return on investment. If they can spend $100 and make $700 back it will make it an easy decision for them.”

I realize that every transaction may not be as cut and dry as a 700% return on investment, but more often than not problems with price boil down to not fully conveying the benefits that come along with the solution you offer. This post provides real sales tips, but it’s also an analogy for the process a leader goes through to “sell” their followers on their ideas. If you are an authentic leader and you find that people aren’t trusting you, it means that you haven’t fully shown them that all you want to do is help them. Reiterate it if you have to: you are here to help and you have their best interests in mind.

Do Your Homework and Focus on People

“If you can’t express the value of your products, services, and/or offerings, then you haven’t done your homework,” Pat said. “Everyone has needs. For example, a nonprofit is often looking to grow members. The trick is to ask these kinds of questions to find what people care about.”

Some people are more willing to express those needs than others, but I promise you everyone has needs. Those needs will vary for each organization you encounter. That’s why you need to do your homework so that you can tailor what you offer to their specific situation.

“If you’re struggling to get started, identify what the market is facing,” Pat said. “You may be spending endless amounts of time working to build a better mousetrap, but mice may not be the issue. Sometimes market research done upfront is one of the most powerful ways to create solutions that matter. You’d be amazed how many people are looking to cut corners, skip the hard work, and get by without doing their due diligence. Those who are successful in sales, and for that matter life, are the ones who are willing do the work upfront. The sales process then becomes easy for them, not because they are lucky or better than anyone else, but because they took the time to become more prepared.”

“This makes perfect sense,” I said to Pat. “I’m seeing how this directly ties into a leader running a business as well. Leaders need to not only get to know the people they work with, but also identify the pain points others are facing so they can help address and solve them.”

“Exactly,” Pat said. “When you do your homework, it’s easier to connect with people online as well. The focus needs to be on face-to-face conversations or phone calls, but I realize people have a lot going on and are balancing/juggling lots of things. LinkedIn is a good tool when used properly and I recommend it. Similar to in-person conversations, I suggest starting off with simply chit-chat. Just like meetup groups or seeing a cousin at a funeral, you can establish that familiarity with people via LinkedIn.

“I reengineered my website last fall and I’ve used Aweber to collect emails and set up autoresponders. It’s important to collect emails. With that said, I still value in the in-person stuff over the online world. Focus on people. I was talking with this guy yesterday who helps conduct workshops that show people how to talk to people in coffee shops, especially middle-aged guys who are struggling to pick up women. It’s all about those harmless conversation starters like, I like your shoes, or, love that purse. The key here is that in-person connection.

“The average person just wants to read email and see orders to come in, talking as little as possible; most people want money to come in without talking to people in person. This is a MYTH. A website is good once you get going, but if you’re just starting out, you need the business to find the voice of the customer. You can’t write or find the copy of your website until you’ve worked with enough customers.”

I relate to this enormously. When I first started out, I was a little too focused on the online world. It’s not like I was avoiding in-person conversations, as that’s my strength, but I was consumed with the seeming necessity of perfecting my website. Business didn’t start to come in for me until I really started going to more networking events and engaging people. People saw I was the real deal not because of some fancy website, but because of the way I shake people’s hands, introduce myself, and carry on a conversation.

One of the sub-themes of this book is to value in-person conversations with others. When you do that things will start to fall into place. You need to put yourself out there and make things happen.

Parting Shots

“Once you do your marketing research, call people,” Pat said. “Interview them through informational interviewing even before you try to sell anything. Figure out what kind of solution you can bring to the market. These are all things you can do yourself, whether you have a lot of money or not. Figure out an angle you can approach the market that will give you a leg up.”

“What if people don’t want to talk to you?” I asked.

“Make it as casual as possible,” Pat said. “Ask, Can I ask a few questions? You’re looking to figure out what people’s challenges are. Most people don’t want to pick the phone up, so if you make the effort to call people your research will be ahead of the game. Ask people what they want. Most people just want to invent a mousetrap. They dive headfirst into the market without understanding how they can help other people. Stop trying to trick people and start listening. When you listen, you’ll find your answers, the best way to approach your potential clients.”

These are impactful and powerful words from my friend Pat Helmers. The actual process can be fun! When you treat each new prospective client as an opportunity to help others, develop a friendship, and present a reasonable and workable solution, then what you are selling is the relationship and yourself more than the business. People will buy YOU more than they buy the product/service/solution because once you establish that trust and genuine connection, you put yourself in the upper echelon of authenticity. And once you show people that you care and have their best interests in heart, they will most likely be more than willing to do business with you if your solution makes sense. These are the principles on which a successful business is based; they will help you to make sure you are building your life on the right set of principles and beliefs. That’s why authenticity is so incredibly important to everything you do.

The key to influencing others is to be genuine and yourself. Lead with generosity and seek to help solve the problems of others. Build rapport and discover people’s pain points. Selling yourself, your ideas, and your products happens naturally when your solution intersections with people’s problems, needs, and desires.

Jeff Davis is the author of The Power of Authentic Leadership.