I was reviewing my notes from some of the outstanding books I have read on selling and relationship building recently and I came across a great thought I have always liked for its power and simplicity. It comes from the book, “Selling the Invisible,” by Harry Beckwith and it goes something like this.
Every person (buyer) we meet has an invisible sign around his/her neck that says, “Help me feel important.”
Think about that for a minute. I know hundreds of salespeople who are highly intelligent, who have absolute mastery of their products and services and who can deliver dynamic presentations. But the number of salespeople I know who have also mastered the fine art of discovering what makes a customer feel good about himself or herself is much, much lower. Of course, those also happen to be the most successful salespeople I know . . . by far.
There is a question a young salesperson asked me years ago that made me feel very important at the time, and I have turned around and used it with satisfying results over the years from the sell side. “Mr. Abraham, you obviously have a huge job here with a tremendous set of responsibilities. How do you stay on top of all this and how can I help?”
Finding the greatness in others and acknowledging it is our number one job as relationship builders. It also happens to be a lot of fun and people will absolutely love you for it.
—
To share or contribute, see below . . .
