Find the Story in Your Buyers

What we do in sales is not complicated.

We find the story in every one of our buyers.

There are many experts who would have you believe that sales in the B2B world is, first and foremost, a process that is freighted with complexity.

While process is unavoidable in selling, it does not define it. People do.

Technology will continue to exert enormous influence over the manners in which buyers and sellers interact. It has changed tremendously in the past 20 years. It will change in unimaginable ways in the next 20.

However, the one constant has been that sales is driven, and will remain driven, by people. And, the connections formed between them.

Many years ago, the late Anthony Bourdain was asked about his television travelogue and how he connected with people from all cultures in every corner of the world in order to learn about them and their stories.

I’ve kept the quote in my files because it so clearly captured the essence of how to build productive connections with strangers. In sales. And in life.

Bourdain said: “What I do is not complicated. Any stranger who shows an honest curiosity about what the locals think is the best food is going to be welcomed. When you eat their food, and you seem happy, people sitting around a table open up and interesting things happen.”

Think about this in the context of what we do as sellers.

If you meet a new prospect and default to the rote, uninterested interrogation of them with your list of scripted questions, then that door will be closed to you.

If you meet a new prospect and show an honest curiosity in them, and the things that are most important to them, then you will be welcomed.

And, when the prospect responds to your curiosity, opens up and talks about the things that are most important to them, then interesting, unexpected things happen.

What we do is not complicated.

We find the story in every one of our buyers.

And prepare for the unexpected.

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