UnlockTheThing

The Essence of Sales: Conviction Over Logic

When you boil the profession of sales down to its bare essence, we influence change. While there are many variables that impact our ability to paint a vision that others find inspiring, one of my biggest learnings about influencing change and the art of persuasion -

People are persuaded more by your strength of conviction than the height of your logic, more to your way of believing than your way of thinking. They don't necessarily care about what you "think", but they care deeply about what you "believe". In other words, passion is hard to deny. On some level, people are more interested in understanding your excitement than anything else.

Beyond the Challenger Sale

Every so often, a new book on sales comes out and it is "all the rage". For the past several years, that book that has been The Challenger Sale. If I've heard it once, I've heard it hundreds of times, "we have adopted the Challenger Sale Methodology" or "we want Challenger salespeople" or some variation. It's a great book and while I agree with the underlying premise - "the best of the best salespeople end up challenging their prospects and providing insights that help differentiate their company and products" (Teach, Tailor, Take Control), I do believe, without a detailed understanding of the market you serve, it can be mis-applied and/or potentially backfire.

For the sake of argument, imagine training a group of new salespeople to "challenge" their prospects. If mis-applied or lacking substance, those salespeople risk pissing off their prospects. In other words, "challenging" people for the sake of challenging them (because that's what the best salespeople do) has the potential to come across uninformed, argumentative and arrogant. Yes, the best salespeople end up challenging their prospects to some extent, but why?

The Power of a Strong Point of View

Simply put - they end up challenging their prospects because they have a very strong Point of View (POV)! They know who they are, what they believe and why. This strong point of view typically manifests itself in the form of passionate conviction. IMO, passionate conviction is everything!

Have you ever wondered why the founding CEO is often the best salesperson in the company? I would argue - they are the best because they have passionate conviction around a strong POV. Let's break it down. They have passionate conviction because they have unshakeable belief. They know, with every ounce of their being, that their product / service will make the prospective customer better. They have this unshakeable belief because they "know". In other words, they have the knowledge which fuels the unshakeable belief and it manifests itself in the form of passionate conviction.

Knowledge =========> Unshakeable Belief ==========> Passionate Conviction

Building Your Knowledge Base

It all starts with knowledge. In some ways, you need to become a student of; your profession, the industry or space you are serving, the issues you are addressing, the ecosystem of partners and influencers and much, much more. Essentially, you need to become an expert in the market and people you serve. You need to know as much or more than your prospects. You need to be able to describe their world to them in vivid detail - this alone will give you credibility and a point of differentiation. In order to "teach", you need to know your subject matter very well.

While many organizations have world-class on boarding and enablement functions, it will only scratch the surface. It's a great starting point, but it won't be enough. If you truly want to know, become a student of what you do. Research, read, ask questions, talk to industry experts, skeptics and influencers - never stop learning. What starts to emerge is a POV. The more you learn, the stronger your POV will become. How much expert knowledge you gain is totally up to you. When you know, it fuels unshakeable belief.

Developing Unshakeable Belief

Once you have knowledge, once you become an expert in the problems and market you serve, you start to see patterns and trends emerge. Essentially, you see things others don't (because they aren't looking) and you form opinions and a POV. You have looked at the problems from multiple perspectives and you truly understand what you do and why you do it. You've gone through mental gyrations, you've tried taking counter positions - in some ways, you try to decimate your own POV.

For me, I go so far as to pretend I'm a competitor - if I was competing with me and I had to "poke holes" in my POV, what would I do and how would I do it? Eventually, what emerges is unshakeable belief and confidence - you know with every ounce of your being, you have a solution offering that will make people better. If you don't truly believe, how on earth can you get others to believe?

Channeling Passionate Conviction

When you KNOW and you BELIEVE the thing that flows is PASSION. In some ways, you can't contain your enthusiasm for what you've discovered. You want (maybe even need) to share what you've learned, what you've figured out that can help make people better. Passion is contagious, it's hard to deny. We are attracted to passion and most importantly, passion drives curiosity. When we see someone that is passionate, excited and filled with enthusiasm, we want to understand why?

If you want to be persuasive, get excited and become passionate. If you want to be passionate, believe in something with every ounce of your being. If you want to believe in something, become a student of your profession and gain the knowledge.