You’re a good sales person.
You take the workshops. You attend the seminars. You even went on a mountain retreat that you’re almost certain was a cult because they forced you to wear a white robe and drink kool-aid while you focused on building a winning mindset.
But with all that learned knowledge, are you staying true to who you are? In all of your sales activities are you being genuine or are you merely a weird composite of exercises, gurus and inspirational quotes that have your prospects and clients wondering if you’re a victim of alien body snatchers.
I like to call this toxic trend ‘learning & earning’.
I love a good workshop. Hell, I teach a handful of them so it would be counterproductive of me to tell you to never attend another seminar. But when learning, it’s important that you apply what you learned to your existing style. The most important skill to have in sales? The ability to talk to people is probably number one but being genuine is hot on its tail.
And guess what? You can’t learn to be yourself from someone else. Shocking, I know.
In the words of Dr. Suess “There is no one alive who is youer than you.” Never thought I would be using Dr. Seuss in a sales blog but weirder things have happened.
The first step in being authentic? Skip the script and can those tired sales techniques. Neither of those tactics allow you to share who you are and your experiences and vice versa. Ever hear the phrase ‘conversations make conversions?’ Well it’s true, chatting with your prospect like they are instead your friend will allow you to learn more than if you stick to a stuffy old script. Let’s remember that people don’t generally like salespeople, how else do you think the jokes about ‘used car salesmen’ came to be? Be yourself and you won’t have to worry about coming off as a sleazy commission junkie.
Unfortunately ‘being yourself’ isn’t exactly a sales strategy.
Authenticity sells, but only when you learn how to sell in a way that suits you. Taking course after course just to regurgitate word-for-word what you just learned and doing that on repeat until the end of time isn’t authentic. In this regard, not all workshops are created equal. The good ones should give you tools and a framework that you can apply to your existing style.
*Toots own horn – let’s take my upcoming “Selling with Humor” workshop for example.
I’m going to present the psychology of humor and why it matters while walking you through exercises that will help you think fast on your feet so you can better make relatable moments funny. I also discuss four different style types so you can better embrace your personal style. All of the material is designed so that you can personalize the takeaways and mold the framework to enhance your existing skill set.
Workshops, courses, coaches – all of it should be done with the quality over quantity mindset.
Now I might be biased but SalesGravy University is a terrific place to learn new skills from quality coaches. Want my personal recommendations on which classes would benefit you best? Message me!
