We have identified the four Cs of great salespeople and how mastering these traits will lead to better relationship selling and advanced selling skills.

This week we are focusing on the critical trait of Charisma and how being able to attract, charm, and influence those you engage with will help you be more successful. 

Three weeks ago, we kicked off a blog series focusing on the four Cs of great salespeople. So far, we have covered curiosity, confidence, and courage. Last week we focused on courage and the two primary challenges salespeople face that require them to be boldly courageous. One of those challenges is when a salesperson must provide pushback or challenge a statement that a prospect has made. Secondly, walking away from a piece of business when it does not qualify or fit.

This week we are turning our attention to the trait of charisma. Great salespeople are usually quite charismatic. The questions worth asking are twofold: 

1. What is charisma?
2. Where do you go to get charisma if you don’t have it?

Let’s start by defining charisma. It is the quality of being able to attract, charm, and influence those around you. It is generally very easy to identify when someone is charismatic. The challenge is being able to pinpoint the skills or qualities that charismatics have that others do not.

Charismatic people are very interesting to be around. I love the coaching I once received that reminded me that to be interesting you must first be interested. As in being interested in the person you are meeting with (at least more interested in them than you are in telling them about you). How much time are you currently devoting in your pre-call plan to identify the questions you intend to ask your prospect that will convey that you are genuinely interested in them and their problems?

In terms of question #2 above, I don’t know of a place you can go to obtain more charisma. Like your IQ, which is typically fully set around the age of 20, charisma is similar. Some people are simply more charismatic than others. But don’t let that deter you. You can still improve your ability to attract, charm, and influence the people around you. All you need to do is to be interested. That may lead your prospect to find you to be interesting (if not even charming).

We have identified the four Cs of great salespeople and how mastering these traits will lead to better relationship selling and advanced selling skills.

This week we are focusing on the critical trait of Courage. There are two primary challenges for salespeople that require the most courage.

Over the last two weeks, we have been building a blog series on the four Cs of great salespeople. So far, we have covered curiosity and confidence. Last week we focused on confidence and the three areas where that confidence is most evident during the sales process. Great salespeople are confident in; their company's value proposition, that they do not need to be liked to win business, and most importantly, their approach and sales process.

This week we will be focusing on the critical trait of courage. Great salespeople are always courageous. The question worth asking is, where does that courage come from? Maybe the other question worth asking is, how did they get that courage?

Mark Twain once said, “courage is resistance to fear…it is mastery of fear…it is not the absence of fear.” Great salespeople will always have moments in their sales process where they are challenged. Where they will need to have what Susan Scott calls a “fierce conversation.” For more on that topic, I encourage you to read Susan’s wonderful book titled Fierce Conversations.

It is my judgment that there are two primary challenges for salespeople that require the most courage:

1. Providing pushback. The prospect has said something that is just flat-out wrong. They want to do something that is just not right. As a salesperson, you have two options: you can simply remain quiet and let it go, or you can push back and challenge the prospect. Remember – it is never ok to confront or challenge people. But is ok (and quite frankly essential) that you challenge the statements that people make. And this starts with asking permission. One example would be; “Hey Mary, you just said something that I have a divergent opinion on…would it be ok if I offered a different perspective?”
2. Walking away. Salespeople hate what I call the “Crowded House” moment in a tribute to the rock band’s 1986 hit single “Don’t Dream It’s Over”. You know the words- "hey now, hey now, don’t dream it’s over." But what if it is over? Wouldn’t you want to know that so you could move on? Would you be concerned about wasting your time? Of course, you will only walk away if you have something else (other deals, other prospects) to walk away towards. If your pipeline is empty, walking away can be hard to do.

Do you want to be more courageous? Suppose I told you that you can be just that. Look for moments to push back (ask permission and be nice) and prospect like crazy, so you are operating with a full pipeline. Remember – you would like their business. But you certainly don’t need it.

If you consider all the things that you do as a salesperson throughout the day, you’ll notice you spend a lot of time virtually prospecting, qualifying, closing, and building relationships.

But there is so much more involved in making effective virtual sales calls and interactions with your prospects than just using Zoom.

The short answer is this: Everything!

As I thought about this article, I thought about what was all included with virtual selling:

• Marketing to new segments, verticals, individuals
• Prospecting for additional business from current clients/portfolios/books of business
• Following up on contacts initiated from social media or traditional networking
• Conducting initial conversation live but not in person face-to-face
• Qualifying discussions
• Presentations and closing appointments
• Use of video materials or other support content such as testimonials, case studies, and proof of concept reports.

But as I started my Google search for articles on the history of virtual selling, one of the hits was a link to a course offered by IMPACT – a virtual training company. Here is an excerpt from the page:

A couple of weeks ago, I set up an appointment with a rather large, well-known tax company. I went on their site ready to schedule my appointment and saw that I could either go in person, or I could do a virtual call. To start, they clearly laid out what I could expect and what I needed to do on the day of. When the meeting day rolled around, I checked my email to see if they sent a reminder of what I needed to do.

Nothing.

I then logged into the account I created where they said a button for a video call would show up.

Nothing. 

I then called them and asked what I should be doing to make sure the video call works out and then proceeded to tell me that the tax preparer will call me right before because "he’s the only one in the office who knows how it works.” 

Long story short, I received the call and then proceeded to spend almost 30 minutes trying to get it to work (which it never did). What seemed like a seamless alternative to save time on my part turned into quite a frustrating, time-consuming debacle. 

This is why there is so much more to making virtual selling and interactions with your prospects than just using Zoom for your calls. 

So, what can go wrong? Everything. And that, understandably, is why you might hesitate or be resistant to move towards more virtual selling. 

There was probably a time when many of the things you do now were new to you, your industry, or your career. Believe it or not, there was a time when:

• We didn’t use computers as a sales enablement tool
• We certainly didn’t Google anything, use Facebook or LinkedIn
• Emails were considered for internal use only and never, NEVER, would we communicate with a prospect or client via email
• Using a tablet or mobile device was Sci-Fi
• PowerPoint presentations were for those salespeople that couldn’t command the room or didn’t know their solutions well enough

My point here is that there was a time when you resisted, pushed back, or were hesitant to do something that you thought would take away from your traditional approach or thoughts about selling:

• People do business with people they like
• It’s important to have a firm handshake and look your prospect squarely in the eye
• Selling is a face-to-face business
• If I don’t’ get out and see my prospects, my competition will

But if you take a minute and consider all the things that you do, you’ll notice you spend a lot of time virtually prospecting, qualifying, closing, and relationship building.

Virtual communication can be defined as any communication that takes place without you physically being present with the person you are communicating with. If you don’t think you sell virtually today, or you don’t think you live in a virtual sales world, then take a look at your inbox and sent folder and your cell phone call log every day.

So, here is where I’ve landed:

• Embrace the fact that you already have a sales practice that is highly virtual
• Take time to understand how to become more effective in your current virtual communication methods  
• Your body language, facial expressions, eye movement, and tone of voice all gets lost when you send an email
• Much of the same is lost even on a phone call
• Emails have to capture the reader’s attention just like a handshake, and eye contact does
• When making phone calls, you have 5 seconds to capture the prospect's attention
• Expand your current virtual communication to include video: Tips for better, more effective video meetings;
• Duplicate the in-person experience as best you can
• Let an expert run the backroom – set-up and running the meeting – so that you can focus on what you do best
• Professional look and feel. You don’t have to be studio quality for most meetings but if you are presenting the deal that makes or breaks your year, and virtual is your best option, then put your best foot forward
• Practice, practice, practice
• Make sure your participants are prepared well in advance. Also, log-in for the meeting– especially first-time events – should be 10 to 15 minutes before starting the meeting
• Have backup information clearly communicated. For example, if you run into problems, you will switch to a conference call

In closing, think about how much more you can get done, and how much more effective you can be if you didn’t have to get into a car for an hour each way for a meeting. Think about the flexibility it gives your client if there are people that can't make it into the office for the meeting but can now join virtually. Think about your ability to include more of the right people in meetings so that your sales process doesn’t get bogged down. Think about all the things you already do that are virtual and how you can improve your skills in those areas.

We have identified the four Cs of great salespeople and how mastering these traits will lead to better relationship selling and advanced selling skills.

This week we are turning our attention to trait #2; Confidence. Great salespeople are almost always confident and express that confidence in three areas.

In last week’s blog, we began a series focused on the four Cs of great salespeople, starting with the first C- Curiosity. We discussed that the two most critical skills that a salesperson must master are being good at asking questions and being even better at listening. Both of which are advanced selling skills and keys to being a great relationship selling salesperson.

This week we are turning our attention to trait #2; Confidence. Great salespeople are almost always confident, and they tend to express that confidence in three areas:

First, they are confident in their firm’s value proposition (how their firm helps businesses or people solve problems). They are believers. By that I mean they believe their company can do everything they say they can do. They have “proof of concept” and share that with confidence. By the way, these confident salespeople rarely, if ever, think they need to have the lowest price. They position value, and they defend that value.

Secondly, they are confident in their approach. They know that they must interrogate reality, as Susan Scott says in her book “Fierce Conversations.” They must figure out whether the prospect is truly a prospect with a problem they have to solve, the money with which to solve it, and the conviction and clarity to make a decision when presented with a solution. Confident salespeople ask the tough questions, and they ask lots of those tough questions.

Thirdly, confident salespeople are confident in their belief that they do not have to be liked for the prospect to do business with them. Don’t get me wrong – they do subscribe to the philosophy that people generally enjoy business relationships with people they like. But they confidently believe that the buying decision is made because the prospect has trust and confidence that the salesperson can do what the salesperson says they can do – and that is to solve the prospect’s problem. Being liked has very little to do with any of that.

So, how confident are you? And is that confidence contagious?