This post is based on a podcast with Bob Burg. If you’d like to listen to more #FlipMyFunnel Podcast episodes, you can check them out here and listen to this episode below!
If you’re like most salespeople, you think of yourself as a go-getter.
What if I told you, you’re on the right track but there might be something missing.
You need to reverse the polarity of how you approach your entire sales process. How?
By moving from an “I-focus” or “me-focus” to an “other-focus” — where you are totally, absolutely, laser-focused on bringing immense value to them!
I know this may sound insane, but I’ve just met the man who has totally convinced me.
In a recent podcast, I spoke with Bob Burg, speaker and author of the best-selling Go-Giver series of books.
Here’s What We’re Unpacking Today:
- Fun Fact
- Facts Tell. Stories Connect.
- Why You Need to Read the Go-Giver Books
- Selling on Price Makes You a Commodity
- Sweating the Small Stuff
- Sangram’s Summary
- Bob’s Challenge
Fun Fact
Bob Burg: I run on Dunkin coffee. I don’t need it to wake up, and it doesn’t keep me up when I drink it at night. I just really enjoy it. I grew up in the greater Boston area which is Dunkin Donuts’ home. It’s like a comfort thing for me.
Facts Tell. Stories Connect.
Burg’s first major book was called Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales. It was a how-to book about how people who had a product or service believed in what they did. They understood the value it brought to others.
But they didn’t feel comfortable in terms of developing the kind of relationships with people that led to what I call the “know, like, and trust relationships” that are so necessary for business and referrals.
It’s not so much that stories sell. Stories connect.
Once you have that connection, then the selling can begin. Now there’s a heart-to-heart situation, whether it’s leadership, sales, or social.
Why You Need to Read the Go-Giver Books
The Go-Giver Series shifts the sales focus from go-getting to go-giving.
Prospects don’t buy from you because you have a quota to meet, or you need the money, or you’re really nice and believe in what you’re selling.
They buy from you because they believe they will be better off doing so, than not doing so.
If you want the sale, place the customer’s interest first because they’re only buying for that reason.
Selling by definition is simply discovering what the other person wants, needs, or desires, and helping them to get it.
The most self-interested thing you can do is put the other person’s interest first, because that’s the only reason why they’re going to buy from you, and it’s the only reason why they should.
Selling on Price Makes You a Commodity
Technology has pretty much leveled the playing field. Most products and services are pretty much the same, at this point.
If a prospective customer sees no significant difference between two or more products, services, or salespeople, they’re always going to go with the lowest price.
Trying to make a low price your “unique selling proposition” is not a good way to do business. It’s not productive, it’s not profitable, and it’s certainly not sustainable.
When you sell on price, you’re a commodity. When you sell on value, you’re a resource. Communicate value, over and above the intrinsic value of the product or service itself.
It’s making yourself and the experience so valuable, so amazing, so immense, that you’re able to take price and the competition right out of the picture.
Price is a dollar amount. Value is the relative worth or desirability of a thing to the end user or the holder.
In other words, what is it about this thing, this product, service, concept, idea, that brings so much relative worth or value to it, that someone will willingly exchange their money for it?
It tends to come down to five elements of value:
- Excellence
- Consistency
- Attention
- Empathy
- Appreciation
To the degree that you can, communicate one or more of these elements of value at every touchpoint, that’s the degree to which you have totally distinguished yourself in the marketplace.
Sweating the Small Stuff
The small stuff that you need to sweat is anything that is customer-facing that shows that you’re seeing them as a human being, not as a number.
When you network with a prospect, you should be cultivating mutually beneficial give and take, or give and receive, win-win relationships. When done correctly, when done with a focus on the “give” part, when done with authentic caring for and about the other person, you’re creating the environment for a great relationship to begin.
Sangram’s Summary
- Shift your focus from getting to giving. Giving means giving value.
- Facts tell. Stories sell. Stories connect with people, and they stick.
- People don’t buy things from sellers because they’re nice, or they’re cutting them a great deal. They buy because it’s going to make their life or job better, faster, more efficient, etc.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously but at the same time, sweat about the small touchpoints that you have with your customers.
Bob’s Challenge
Focus on the other person. Rather than denying your self-interest, put it to the side temporarily. Put your focus where it belongs, on your prospective customer or those you’re serving. You’re going to help them, and in doing so you’re going to help you, your company, the economy, and everyone.
You’re going to see how great it really feels to know that your focus is on other people and that you’re taking care of them. And you’re going to see the great results from it.
It’s going to become a natural, authentic part of you.
