The Most Powerful Four-Letter Word in Sales
I'm not a natural born sales person. Sales found me through way of ultimatum. I was a Registered Representative at one of Canada's Big 5 Banks and was filling in for a maternity leave. I was told if I wanted to stay on the team, I'd have to start bringing in business. I'd have to become a revenue generator, rather than a cost centre. Never one to back down from a challenge, I started trying to sell. With zero formal training I did what all rookie advisors do - cold outreach. Cold calls, cold emails, cold LI requests*.
In the beginning, picking up the phone made me ill. Pressing send on those first 30 emails made my palms sweat. What if they hang up on me? What if they say no? In those days I took everything personally, and stewed on rejection for days. I was also very attached to outcomes. Nothing about this approach was sustainable or enjoyable. Repeatable? Sure. Effective? Not really. Because I was attached to the outcome of each of my sales conversations, I found myself telling and justifying rather than asking questions. I was nervous when I'd transition into the pitch, and it reflected in my results.
Determined to master this skill, I started working with a sales coach. She was equal parts brilliant and terrifying and gave me the most salient sales advice I have ever received:
Don't be attached to the outcome. Be attached to the act of inspiring people to take action.
This changed everything. I started asking prospective clients more questions to find out how they made decisions, what was important to them and what was holding them back. Pitches were replaced with powerful invitations. When people were no shows for appointments, I'd reach out with a polite email to the effect of 'your loss' and I'd move on. Most importantly - I had zero attachment to whether they said yes or no. I knew that all I could do was show up, provide value, ask good questions and make powerful invitations. If someone didn't want to accept that invitation? NEXT. If someone responded rudely to one of my outreach emails? NEXT. If someone hung up on me? NEXT.
Attaching yourself to outcomes kills your sales game. Attaching yourself to the act of inspiring people to take action is a game changer. After this small shift I went on to earn the nickname the Cold Calling Ninja from my fellow rookie advisors and brought in three quarters of a billion dollars in assets. Revenue generator, what?!
I often hear people say sales is a transference of confidence, or energy. It's also a transference of power. You are empowering people to take action, often action they desperately need. So transfer power, but don't abdicate it. If you show up, build relationships, provide value, ask good questions and make powerful invitations and people still decline? NEXT.
*PSA To all my advisors out there - THERE IS A BETTER WAY. Having gone through advisor training programs at 2 of our country's top financial institutions it blows my mind that advisors still rely on some of the most archaic business development practices known to humans. It also blows my mind that none of these institutions give current or adequate training around sales and business development when it is a critical job function for advisors. None of the world's fastest growing companies employ cold outreach techniques anymore. If you'd like to learn more, send me a message!
