#55 - Sales Tip: One Way to Build Trust Early

Okay. So it's another episode of Let's Chat Sales. In this one where we're talking about how to deal with... 

maybe a little idiosyncratic behavior you might have...

or someone on your team may have. It's kind of interesting little quick conversation.

 I hope you enjoy it. And if you do... like and subscribe... 

and let's dive in.   

So Bob guess what? And you know... what... it's another episode of Let's Chat Sales.

Let's Chat Sales. 

So I, I had a coaching session...

a series of coaching sessions with an enterprise, uh, you know, midsize software tech company. 

It ran...

you were coaching them. 

They weren't coaching. I was coaching. Yeah. I was coaching them over.

Oh, several, several weeks. And evaluating, giving them tips...

and on the whole, it was really kind of fun because they were doing a really good job.

There's some little things makes it easier. It does. And so... not a long engagement for that reason, 

cuz they're doing a lot of the right things, but  I was able to help 'em in some certain areas.

But one of the things that came up was... one of the people  is quite rigid and uh,  and sort of unemotional and not engaging. 

She's quite good, but she's just matter of fact.

She cranks through the demo. She cranks through the presentation.

And it's just, it's just like when the, when the opportunity comes up, you know, she answers the question and keeps moving.

You know, it's not a, it's not a fun free wheeling. It's not like. 

Okay, well  so I dunno what to tell you there  someone might like that style. 

So the, so the point of this is... like what do you do with someone like that?

When someone's like that... they're good at what they do, but they're, but they're not, you know, 

maybe they're abrasive or they've got an edge or they're, they're not a people person or, or, and I have some ideas, but let's start with you.

What do you. First would you say? I 

think every flavor is like by some people.

So someone who'd be abrasive to you might appeal to me.

Someone who's sarcastic to you might be really fun to me. And so I think... 

we have to recognize that possibility that, you know, some people would say I'm a certain way. 

And there are people that I rub the wrong way.

I know I do. They've told me, they're like, just, don't like your style.

Impossible to imagine.

And I think we have to recognize that.

The other thing I think we have to recognize is... you can't change your stripes. 

You've gotta be you.

And I've gotta be me. 

There's a reason why I do the Let's Chat Sales.

It's just the way I am. 

If I had to restrain that I'd be going yeah. 

And it wouldn't feel natural. And so some people probably  watch this or listen to this and go... I hate those guys. Yeah. And they never come back and that's fine with sales people.

Right. 

Yeah. Oh yeah. Certainly. 

And you're gonna win some, lose some ultimately, right? Yeah. 

Yep. So, what were your thoughts? Well, uh, you know, no one's perfect. Of course. 

Everyone's got their, like you said, there are different strokes for different folks kind of a thing.

And so, so  the advice that I gave to the manager was...

get that out in the open.

Make that you, and and what I mean to say is...

figure out some way early in the conversation to say...

I've been told on more than one occasion that I can be a little abrupt. 

And so as we do these demos, as I get through this, you're gonna find that I sometimes come across a little robotic.

You make fun of it. You make it about you.

Hey, you know, I'm gonna... I tend to be a little, uh, anal repetitive or I've got a little bit of an OCD thing and so, so, uh,  I'm working on it, but it's, you know, it's with low to moderate success.

And so I just wanna warn you up front. So if, if I happen to be that way, sometimes it's, uh...

just work with me and understand it and, and then just be, uh, particularly tenacious about getting your point across and...

I'll try and accommodate you. So...

I like that by doing that.

Yeah. What that does, I think is, A) it's disarming.

Hey, I'm human. This is one of my flaws. I'm working on it. I'm not there. 

And it sort of ... it anticipates  the reaction that someone's might have. Right. 

And so by doing this, you're able to kind of diffuse the situation and, and, and even to some degree, get the people on the same side with you.

I was gonna say you're being vulnerable. 

Yeah. Right. Yeah. 

In, in a way that if they've observed it and they don't feel like they can comment and it throws them off... you're kind of stuck.

But this way you're putting it out in the open and you're kind of making fun of it in a playful way. 

And then that's the number one way being. Self deprecating is the number one way to get people on your side, right?

Yeah, 

yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, so, so that's, that was 

what's that? 

Do you think this whole approach would work in dating? 

I don't know, I'm a little rusty in that area.

Moment. Welcome to the club.

More to follow on this, there'll be updates in the future. 

So, uh, that was my, that was my kind of go to on this. 

This could be a very short episode, but I guess I was, I was figuring out that and whatever that situation is, 

whatever your particular shortcoming or your weakness is, if you can bring that up in a way that's that humanizes you.

That's not a. That's not a bad strategy. Thoughts?

Can, can we not call it a, a shortcoming or weakness? 

Yeah, I suppose you could. 

It's a character trait. 

Yeah. Right. 

You know, some people are just not funny. And so, you know, Hey, I'm not the funniest person in the world. 

So if you crack a joke, I may not get it.

Or I may be very robotic. That's just the way I am that doesn't make them. It's not a flaw. It's just who and what each of us is. 

Okay. Not a flaw. Yeah. Right. Fair enough. Right. That's true. Uh, yeah. 

Because I think if you think of it as a flaw, Brendan, then it's going to be a impediment to success in that situation.

That's fair.

You could argue that my sense of humor can play to my strengths. It can also be my downfall. 

I'm aware of that.  But it also is who I am.

And someone else being very serious. That's just the way they are. 

And you can't say to 'em, oh, you're really serious.... you should crack a joke to open every meeting.

And they crack a joke and it doesn't work because they just aren't a joke person.

And that's,  that's a different kettle fish in the sense that, that if you're not a joke person...

you probably shouldn't be telling jokes. Right. And there are people out there who are just not funny. 

And if you're not funny, you don't have the delivery...

You either figure out how to do it on your own time.

Don't use sales calls as a way to practice. That'd be one that's, that's a, that's a character...

whatever you wanna call it, not a flaw.

Whatever that is, you know, maybe it's not one of your strengths. Then, you know, practice it elsewhere.

But, but if you've got some sort of, um, certain style by, by, by getting it out there in front, 

it also kind of gives you the ability to kind of recognize it in a way that maybe you'll come off that style a little bit. 

That is... you recognizing it and, and then seeing the reaction from your audience ...

From the customer standpoint... I bet the, I bet you would see...

a greater level of understanding from the customer side if you diffuse that situation.

And then it makes it a little easier for you to lighten up and relax.  If that's the particular style that you happen to have. 

Because you're not worried about them recognizing it.

No, this person's too serious or this person is OCD or whatever. 

You've taken the pressure. You've taken some of the pressure off yourself.   

I think this was a great discussion. 

Yeah. So and timely, cuz it's just, it was top of mind. There you go. Very good. All right.

All so Bob, we'll probably have to do this again. 

Have to, or want to, oh, of course.  

all right. Talk to you, 

man. See you. All right. Bye. Bye. 

Okay. I hope you enjoyed that.  And if you did, here's another episode, so check this out and don't forget to like and subscribe and all that stuff. So, thanks. Thanks for listening, watching whatever you're doing.