People are people, so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully–Depeche Mode
During a conversation with a friend who is the CEO of a small professional services firm the question came up “how well do you know this person?” and “do you know them like a real person?”
Looking at these questions on the page, they seem a bit odd. But I’ve found in practice they are not. When we are selling, we tend to project some odd traits onto buyers. We forget that buyers are just normal people.
How do real people speak?
We are all on the receiving end of some truly strangle (bad) prospecting emails. These emails are not written in normal language to a normal person. The salespeople sending them would never write to their friends this way. They are following some kind of playbook they’ve been handed or some kind of “best practice” published on the Internet. The problem is we humans have a six sense for BS. Emails that are packed full of adjectives about how amazing this or that company’s products are, or how such and such a client of theirs is now a multi-millionaire, don’t ring true.
What do real people care about?
Salespeople also tend to assume buyers are well-aligned with the goals of their company. Good employees who have drunk the Kool-Aid and really bought into the mission of their company may indeed by aligned with the company’s goals (around 30% of employees fall into this category according to Gallup.)
Buyers have personal goals. At work, they may want to get promoted, not get fired, get a raise or maximize their yearend bonus. Achieving these goals is not always well-aligned with how well you do your job. More often the outcome has to do with how your boss perceives you. In addition, we all have a life outside the office (spare bedroom). We all have goals like looking after our kids, managing our health, managing our personal finances, going on nice vacations and hanging out with friends.
Can you help the real person?
How can you help the real human inside your corporate buyer meet their goals? Can you help them get that promotion or not get fired? Can you help them spend more time with their kids, or at the gym, without their boss thinking they are a problem employee?
Can you find a way to communicate how you actually help these real people meet their real goals? Can you say it in a normal way Next time you’re writing a prospecting email, or outlining a call script, think about the real human being that will be on the receiving end. Can you write/speak in a normal way that starts to build a relationship built on trust? One that is based on you helping the other person achieve what they really want to achieve.
Summary
- Don’t speak like a corporate bot. Speak and write like a normal human being.
- People may be aligned with their company’s goals but those are likely not their main goals. We all have personal goals, at work, and at home.
- Set out to build a trusted relationship with people. Talk to them in honest open manner and try to figure out how you might help them in any element of their life.