CloserQ readers, instead of answering a question this week, I wanted to share a personal story. This week, I have been involved in two situations (one external and one internal), where I was overconfident in my position of strength and dealt with the individuals with arrogance vs. humility. In both situations the outcome was not beneficial to either of us as both sides became entrenched in our positions versus listening.
As I was evaluating how I could of handled the situations better, I read a recent post from Jerry Kennedy's blog on ‘Why be Humble?’. Below is Jerry’s post on the value of being humble. Jerry's answer is focused on selling, however, I believe it also pertains to managing. Note HERO stands for Humble, Ethical, Responsible and Optimistic. I will pick back
up answering questions next week.
Why Be Humble?
By Jerry Kennedy
After reading yesterday’s post, “What Is HERO Selling?“, my friend Skip Anderson asked the question, “Why is being humble important?” That’s a great question, and I’ll attempt to provide a satisfactory answer in today’s post. After you read it, let me know what you think by leaving your comments below.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you deal with a HERO salesperson is that he or she is humble. Actually, you won’t so much notice the humility as you will notice the lack of it’s opposite: arrogance. While many of the salespeople you are used to dealing with are, for the most part, arrogant know-it-alls, the HERO is noticeably different. How, though, is being humble an advantage in your sales career?
Well, think about that arrogant salesperson for a moment. How do you, as a consumer, feel when someone shows up at your door to show you a “better way” of doing things using their product or service, then implies that if you don’t buy TODAY, you’re an idiot? It puts you off a little, doesn’t it? After all, you were doing just fine before this so-and-so showed up, and you’re pretty sure you’ll continue to do okay without him and his widget. So then, here’s the question: how do your customers feel when you insist that your product or service is a “better way” of doing things in their business?
You get the point. Implying, let alone saying outright, that you know better than your customer is a sure-fire way to get their hackles up. This isn’t to say that your product or service isn’t a better solution for the customer’s need. You just can’t say that it is. You have to lead your prospects to arrive at that conclusion on their own. How do you, the HERO, do that?
Easy: you ask. That’s right: if you want to demonstrate that you are humble, just ask a lot of questions. Asking questions demonstrates to your prospect or customer that you trust them to know how to run their business and that you acknowledge that you’ve got something to learn from them. Let them do the instructing and you take the role of student. How does this help you sell your product?
By allowing your customer to do the talking, you are going to learn a great deal about them and their business. You’ll learn what they like and dislike. You’ll learn about what other solutions they’ve tried in the past, as well as why they are currently using the product they are. You’ll learn what they like about that product, as well as what they’d like to see improved. All of that information is what you’ll then use to build a solution that truly fits the prospect’s need.
Does this approach involve more work than trying to “pitch” your pre-packaged solution? You bet it does! Then again, nobody said being a HERO was going to be easy!
http://jerrykennedy73.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/why-be-humble/
'Good Humbling’. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give me additional recommendations and I want your feedback on Jerry's response. Shaun Priest at shaun@closerq.com.
As I was evaluating how I could of handled the situations better, I read a recent post from Jerry Kennedy's blog on ‘Why be Humble?’. Below is Jerry’s post on the value of being humble. Jerry's answer is focused on selling, however, I believe it also pertains to managing. Note HERO stands for Humble, Ethical, Responsible and Optimistic. I will pick back
up answering questions next week.Why Be Humble?
By Jerry Kennedy
After reading yesterday’s post, “What Is HERO Selling?“, my friend Skip Anderson asked the question, “Why is being humble important?” That’s a great question, and I’ll attempt to provide a satisfactory answer in today’s post. After you read it, let me know what you think by leaving your comments below.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you deal with a HERO salesperson is that he or she is humble. Actually, you won’t so much notice the humility as you will notice the lack of it’s opposite: arrogance. While many of the salespeople you are used to dealing with are, for the most part, arrogant know-it-alls, the HERO is noticeably different. How, though, is being humble an advantage in your sales career?
Well, think about that arrogant salesperson for a moment. How do you, as a consumer, feel when someone shows up at your door to show you a “better way” of doing things using their product or service, then implies that if you don’t buy TODAY, you’re an idiot? It puts you off a little, doesn’t it? After all, you were doing just fine before this so-and-so showed up, and you’re pretty sure you’ll continue to do okay without him and his widget. So then, here’s the question: how do your customers feel when you insist that your product or service is a “better way” of doing things in their business?
You get the point. Implying, let alone saying outright, that you know better than your customer is a sure-fire way to get their hackles up. This isn’t to say that your product or service isn’t a better solution for the customer’s need. You just can’t say that it is. You have to lead your prospects to arrive at that conclusion on their own. How do you, the HERO, do that?
Easy: you ask. That’s right: if you want to demonstrate that you are humble, just ask a lot of questions. Asking questions demonstrates to your prospect or customer that you trust them to know how to run their business and that you acknowledge that you’ve got something to learn from them. Let them do the instructing and you take the role of student. How does this help you sell your product?
By allowing your customer to do the talking, you are going to learn a great deal about them and their business. You’ll learn what they like and dislike. You’ll learn about what other solutions they’ve tried in the past, as well as why they are currently using the product they are. You’ll learn what they like about that product, as well as what they’d like to see improved. All of that information is what you’ll then use to build a solution that truly fits the prospect’s need.
Does this approach involve more work than trying to “pitch” your pre-packaged solution? You bet it does! Then again, nobody said being a HERO was going to be easy!
http://jerrykennedy73.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/why-be-humble/
'Good Humbling’. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give me additional recommendations and I want your feedback on Jerry's response. Shaun Priest at shaun@closerq.com.
Comments
Being humble is the very last posture I would suggest to a sales person,if adopted you open the door and vault of excuses for them not to do their job as professional. I don't want a sales force to think that they are a
person of the cloth, next thing they will be goodie goodie, this posture has no place in sales.
Being humble opens the door for the prospect to be in charge, you want the prospect to feel that he made the decision to purchase, but not as the expensive of you pride. A true professional should never be humble, I find this posture to be one that will lead to defeat. Shaun would you say that
you are successful because you are "humble" I doubt it. Would you suggest to your child go out and play sports to win but be humble, my definition of humble is a body when walking leaning over with head facing the ground.
Walking tall being positive and professional along with working smart is what I want in my people. If one of your people came back into the office from a big presentation and stating I don't understand why I lost the sale,
after all I was "humble".
Kind regards,
Bill Ford