Why Humility Wins in Sales

Do you know what you think you know?

How many times has this happened to you? You are approaching the end of the sales cycle only to find out that there is no alignment between you and the client to close the deal.

Ouch! This always hurts and it's rarely expected. You look back to evaluate what you've done wrong and hopefully learn from the mistake. You loop it again and again in your mind many times yet often there is no single reason you could easily ping down as the culprit.

So what could it be then and what could we done better next time?

Back in the glory days of scammy sellers, sales used to have clear advantage over buyers mostly because:

• Uneven information distribution
• Lack of trustworthy sources for buyers to get insights from
• Lack of product or service understanding (like for example PCs in the 90s)

Today, however, tables have turned big time. Often buyers are much better prepared than sellers in terms of specific product or service benefits because they are the ones driven by their strong desire to fix an issue or a pain they have.

So how to humble your inner sales beast?

As sellers we would be lucky to have a grasp of 5-10% of the whole picture that our clients have to deal with. Client - Seller interactions are often limited in time and scope so a lot usually is left unsaid.

Clients have their reasons to disclose and not disclose things they consider important for the progression of the deal. They are often fearful and uncertain how specific facts would reflect on the next steps plus they are not usually professional business people. As sellers we need to understand those nuances and dynamics so we could position our approach accordingly.

So instead of position of certain conviction, try to present yourself as you are in the shoes of someone who doesn't know much but has burning curiosity to understand.

I've seen this before ... I understand ... I know ... I assume ... I guess ... try to shift those to

How could A influence B? Could you tell me more about this? Am I getting this the right way?

The more space you leave the client to help you build your perceptions about the deal the closer you are getting in the darkness of the unknown.

So be humble and ask the right questions. Assuming things will lead you astray.