How to Use Genuine Curiosity to Increase Sales

Prospects aren’t targets. They’re humans. Humans respond best when they feel understood, not convinced. The best salespeople know how to make others feel heard. When you ask a question, then another question, then another unrelated question, discovery calls can feel like interrogations. If you don’t listen and instead rapid-fire scripted questions, it feels like you’re not genuinely interested in the response but rather focused solely on your agenda of quantifying pain so you justify your solution. If people don’t feel understood, they’re not going to trust what you recommend. The way out? Ask fewer questions on discovery calls. Go deeper. Like a therapist: “What’s on your mind?” (Inbound.) “How's it going?” Mute. (Digging deeper) “Afraid to dial?” (Digging deeper) “It’s like the phone is a cactus.” Mute. (Digging deeper) “What else?” Mute. “There are so many sales trainers. What prompted you to call us?” “What's the real challenge?” (Digging deeper.) “What's your perspective on why that is?” “If you're looking back 6 months from now, what has to have happened for you to feel really happy with your progress?” (Digging deeper.) “How so?” Don't ask a digging deeper question if you're not curious about the answer. When people feel understood, you build trust. And in a world of similar products, trust is why people choose you. Seller’s don’t have the answers. Buyers do. The seller’s job is to draw them out. Learn the gentle art of making others feel understood here: https://lnkd.in/eVfUevmz

I used to think that being in sales meant talking. Until I realized that the more I zipped my lip, the more connected I became—and the happier my pipeline was. The backbone of any successful business transaction that won't churn stems from three words: 1. Choice 2. Consent 3. Alignment Jason Lew perfectly captures this philosophy: "The essence of sales is permission, curiosity, and the evaluation of desire." So much of what’s failing in leadership, hiring, sales, marketing, customer success, and product (all forms of sales) is the assumption that we know the other party's truth, leading to talking at them and hoping something sticks. I've learned the hard way that asserting my authority to be the controlling, "smart and useful" one in the room often backfires. I wholeheartedly agree with Jason's advice (his Get More Clients newsletter is 🔥): "Explain less and instead, ask more questions." Use the urge to explain as a signal. Ask yourself: Am I conversing with the other person or talking at them? And lean into curiosity. My favorite way to do this comes in the form of three little words... Tell Me More TL;DR: We're all in sales when we work with others. By being genuinely curious about the other person (not a discovery "step" in a lame process), it's funny how they become curious about us. And our need to sell disappears.

I had Nick Glimsdahl on the Negotiate Anything Podcast and we were talking about skepticism in the world of business and sales. The conclusion we came to was that since many of us feel like we are constantly being marketed to, we shut down much faster when we sense this happening. This is a frequent occurrence for those in the sales industry. Potential clients start to feel like the only reason you are being friendly is so that you can sell them something. So how do we overcome this skepticism? By breaking predictable patterns. So, here’s an example: Let’s say in a typical sales interaction, you would begin by offering some free advice or asking them about some problem they are having. There’s a high likelihood that many of the people you speak with will assume that you are only offering to help them as a tactic to eventually persuade them to purchase something. This only increases their skepticism and blocks their willingness to listen to what you have to say. In this case, the predictable behavior would be doing just that. Simply asking questions with the goal of turning the conversation towards a sales pitch. So here is something you can do instead. Be genuinely generous, not strategically generous. Create goodwill in the relationship by helping people without expecting something in return. Then, follow your genuine curiosity with authentic advice. One thing Nick likes to say in situations like this is: “Regardless of which company you decide to go with, [Product X]  would be a good decision because of….” It’s the consultative sales process that helps you to be seen as a trusted advisor. Once they realize that you are offering advice without the expectation of anything in return, it makes them more likely to trust you. Ironically, this increases your odds of securing them as a client, in the moment or at some point in the future. #Negotiation #Sales #Business