“People don’t buy because they understand you, they buy because you understand them.” – Brian Hicks in today’s Tip 1662
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Brian Hicks on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Brian Hicks. Brian’s passion is helping people in whatever way he can and that passion has provided him with a meaningful and winding road of professional experience. Here he is:
Brian Hicks: Hey guys. So I had a conversation recently with a founder of a company who is a new client of ours at Belkins. He started an engagement with us where we do prospecting for him, and we start setting up outbound appointments. And he wanted to get some guidance and some consultation around how to handle these opportunities. Because outbound leads and outbound opportunities are not the same as inbound. Not every opportunity that you have is created equally. The conversation was really fruitful, and so I wanted to do a video, and I wanted to share with you some of the tactics and some of the strategies that I use when taking outbound opportunities.
The first thing that you deal with with outbounds is that we put our product or our service on their radar. They might not be coming to you because they have a need right now. They might have gotten some messaging that resonated with them, and so they want to have a conversation so they’re open to it. And sometimes they can be on the defense when they take the call. Well, they might want you to pitch. They might have a clipboard that’s like, all right, I need to know this about you. Tell me about what it is you guys do. How can you guys do this for me? And one of the biggest things that I do is I control the narrative. And the way that you do that is by asking meaningful, thoughtful, open-ended questions.
So I wanted to give you guys some tips on how I do that.
One of the first questions that I ask when I take an outbound opportunity is, what motivated you to take this meeting with me today? That question in itself will get them talking, “Oh, your SDR was really good” or “Oh, we have a need specifically around XYZ problem.” They will start talking, and I just shut up and I let them talk. I let them get it out. And it teaches me a ton about them and their need and what specifically they are looking for by taking this meeting.
One of the other things that I reference when taking outbound opportunities and one of the other questions that I ask is, So what are you hoping to get accomplished today? What are you hoping to get accomplished by the time this meeting is over? If this meeting goes perfectly for you, what does that outcome look like? Just to understand what they’re hoping to learn about what it is we do. This information will help you, if you’re listening, frame up the conversation so it’s meaningful.
At the end of the day, people don’t buy because they understand you, they buy because you understand them. And so your ability to open up that narrative, to open up that landscape and that dialog and get them talking, will position you in a better place to diagnose their problem and to prescribe a solution. What problems are you dealing with now? Why isn’t this happening for you now? What challenges have you experienced? These types of questions will help your prospect understand that you’re there to help them. They will start to grow trust. They will start to see you as an expert, and they will give you all of the answers to the test in terms of what it is they need. And if you and your company and your product can solve their needs, if you can solve their problems. This will help you align when it comes to discos. If you’re taking introductory calls, this will help you ensure that those calls are meaningful regardless of the outcome.
I hope this has been valuable. Let me know if you have any questions, but happy selling.
Scott Ingram: For a link to my interview with Brian Hicks on Sales Success Stories and to connect with him directly on LinkedIn, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1662. Once you’ve had a chance to listen to that, be sure to come back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!