If you\u2019re a regular reader of this column, you know that I value \u201cgood thinkers\u201d over \u201cgood talkers\u201d when trying to predict whether someone can be a great salesperson.\u00a0 This time, I\u2019d like to examine one particular aspect of \u201cgood thinking.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve worked with literally thousands of salespeople in one capacity or another in my career.\u00a0 Many have been good, few have really ascended to greatness.\u00a0 For those who did, it seemed that there was one common trait that separated them from the \u201cgood\u201d salespeople.<\/p>\n
That trait is:\u00a0 intellectual curiosity.\u00a0 I define \u201cintellectual curiosity\u201d as \u201cthe need to continually gain knowledge, identify problems, and solve them.\u201d\u00a0 The good salespeople acquire new knowledge (training, questioning, researching, etc.) because it\u2019s part of their job, and they have disciplined themselves to do so.\u00a0 That\u2019s okay.\u00a0 We can make a lot of money with these salespeople.\u00a0 The truly great salespeople, however, acquire new knowledge because it\u2019s as essential to their character as breathing.\u00a0 In sales, intellectual curiosity brings with it several beneficial activities.\u00a0 \u201cCurious\u201d salespeople are driven to:<\/p>\n
\nIn short, the non-curious salesperson views the sales conversation as a narrow sphere focused entirely upon their \u201cstuff\u201d \u2013 the products and services that they sell, and they restrict discussion to that narrow sphere.\u00a0 Problems that can\u2019t be directly addressed by their \u201cstuff\u201d will go ignored.\u00a0 The curious salesperson wants to know as much as possible about the factors that cause their customers to succeed or not to succeed \u2013 then they use their knowledge to benefit their customers, either by selling their own stuff or by referring them to other sources of help.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to tell you which approach builds stronger relationships.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the paradox:\u00a0 Many salespeople have their intellectual curiosity stifled by training that is overly product-centered and heavily scripted.\u00a0 By doing that, companies and trainers deny their salespeople the opportunity to become GREAT.\u00a0 What would you rather have (or be)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re a regular reader of this column, you know that I value \u201cgood thinkers\u201d over \u201cgood talkers\u201d when trying to predict whether someone can be a great salesperson.\u00a0 This time, I\u2019d like to examine one particular aspect of \u201cgood thinking.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve worked with literally thousands of salespeople in one capacity or another in my career.\u00a0 Many have been good, few have really ascended to greatness.\u00a0 For those who did, it seemed that there was one common trait that separated them from the \u201cgood\u201d salespeople. That trait is:\u00a0 intellectual curiosity.\u00a0 I define \u201cintellectual curiosity\u201d as \u201cthe need to continually gain knowledge, identify problems, and solve them.\u201d\u00a0 The good salespeople acquire new knowledge (training, questioning, researching, etc.) because it\u2019s part of their job, and they have disciplined themselves to do so.\u00a0 That\u2019s okay.\u00a0 We can make a lot of money with these salespeople.\u00a0 The truly great salespeople, however, acquire new knowledge because it\u2019s as essential to their character as breathing.\u00a0 In sales, intellectual curiosity brings with it several beneficial activities.\u00a0 \u201cCurious\u201d salespeople are driven to: *\u00a0 Continually train and learn their jobs:\u00a0 Sales is not a static activity; what it means to be a competent salesperson has changed radically over the last fifty years.\u00a0 New techniques, new ideas, and new thoughts have made obsolete the old \u201cslap the back, shake the hand, and tell your story\u201d salesperson from most industries.\u00a0 Those that are still around hang on by a thread.\u00a0 The intellectually curious salesperson continually seeks out sales knowledge on his\/her own and applies it.\u00a0 The non-curious salesperson gets left in the dust. *\u00a0 Continually learn more about their customers:\u00a0 Product knowledge used to be king.\u00a0 As I explain in my book, \u201cSell Like You Mean It!\u201d, customer knowledge is now king.\u00a0 The intellectually curious salesperson uses their time with the customer to continually discover more information about the customer\u2019s present and (more importantly) future needs.\u00a0 That knowledge helps you to position yourself as the customer\u2019s long term solution. *\u00a0 Ask good selling questions:\u00a0 Most salespeople ask narrowly structured questions designed to lead the customer toward a purchasing decision.\u00a0 They may get an order here and there, but by keeping the focus of the sales call narrow, they likely miss opportunities to penetrate new areas, anticipate future needs, and build real lasting customer relationships. *\u00a0 Listen:\u00a0 This is simple.\u00a0 Too many salespeople treat the customer\u2019s speaking time as an opportunity to plan their next selling tactic, rather than as an opportunity to learn.\u00a0 When customers are speaking, words are coming out.\u00a0 Those words tend to be important, and the curious salesperson wants to hear what their customer has to say. *\u00a0 Seek opportunities to move beyond their contact\u2019s office:\u00a0 One of the great joys (for me) of industrial sales used to be the opportunity to tour different manufacturing plants.\u00a0 I enjoyed seeing how things were made (I\u2019m mechanically inclined), and I also liked seeing our products perform in a live environment.\u00a0 Many times, I was able to solve problems on the plant floor that I\u2019d have never discovered in my prospect\u2019s office.\u00a0 The intellectually curious salesperson seeks every opportunity to see their customers\u2019 work being done, with an eye toward helping them improve their work. *\u00a0 Have new ideas for their own company and their customers:\u00a0 Ideas are the currency of today\u2019s business environment, and the curious salesperson uses new ideas to benefit themselves, their employer, and their customers.\u00a0 They are able to do so because they consume information from a variety of sources (again, because they want to).\u00a0 By consuming information, they can then provide ideas, referrals, etc. that help everyone within their sphere of business. In short, the non-curious salesperson views the sales conversation as a narrow sphere focused entirely upon their \u201cstuff\u201d \u2013 the products and services that they sell, and they restrict discussion to that narrow sphere.\u00a0 Problems that can\u2019t be directly addressed by their \u201cstuff\u201d will go ignored.\u00a0 The curious salesperson wants to know as much as possible about the factors that cause their customers to succeed or not to succeed \u2013 then they use their knowledge to benefit their customers, either by selling their own stuff or by referring them to other sources of help.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to tell you which approach builds stronger relationships. Here\u2019s the paradox:\u00a0 Many salespeople have their intellectual curiosity stifled by training that is overly product-centered and heavily scripted.\u00a0 By doing that, companies and trainers deny their salespeople the opportunity to become GREAT.\u00a0 What would you rather have (or be)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814,1866],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9124,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121\/revisions\/9124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}