The Good Seller. Who is s/he?

We all have the mental picture of the negative ‘typical’ Seller stereotype.
· biased,
· self-interested,
· doesn’t listen,
· untrustworthy,
· commission-breath,
…and so on.

If that is a Bad Seller, say, what is a Good Seller?

My colleagues and I couldn't find a definition so we figured we'd create one.

The Seller Code, a set of values and behaviors encapsulating a spirit of ethical and transparent selling, is the result.

It is a counter-narrative to the negative stereotype.

Check it out if you haven’t already. Even better, join the conversation in the LinkedInSeller Code Group. The Code is open source and subject to change.

The Typical Seller

This is a positive article, so I won't dwell on the negative stereotype; however, to eliminate it, we should quickly explore why it is so persistent.

With countless volumes published on how to sell and billions spent on sales training and coaching, why do sellers and selling have such a lousy reputation?

S/he’s a ‘typical Seller’ is hardly a compliment, much less epithets like ‘you should count your fingers after shaking hands with him/her.’ Or ‘s/he would sell his/her own mother’ I’m sure you’ve heard others.

How did we get here?

Probably thanks to the snake oil Sellers of the 19th century who traveled from town to town, peddling their wares from the back of horse-drawn carts. Promising miracles:

'Trust me; I have just the elixir (a.k.a. solution) for what ails you" (sound familiar?)

They usually only delivered disappointment and, sometimes, genuine harm.
That being so, why were customers continually sucked in?
It happened, because we humans default to trusting. Yes, we're gullible.

Duped

As Timothy R. Levine of the University of Alabama describes in his book ‘Duped’, the need to trust was a survival mechanism that enabled us to collaborate to create communities and thrive. Without trust, we wouldn’t have evolved far at all.

Levine suggests a near-universal human tendency to operate with a 'truth-default' mindset. We uncritically accept most of the messages we receive as 'honest.' He calls it the ‘Trust Default Theory’ (TDT).

And it explains why, as a species, we are quite gullible and easily duped, as the title of his book suggests.

Consider the unfortunate people through history accused, vilified, pilloried, jailed, hanged, dunked, burnt, etc. because of the wacky beliefs of their peers. Beliefs they never questioned. And still today, vast populations of apparently educated people are duped into believing the wildest porkies.

The TDT Paradox

So, if indeed we default to trust, why do we default almost exclusively to not trusting Sellers?

And for that matter politicians and increasingly other authority figures? But I digress.

We can thank another survival mechanism, ‘Pattern Matching’. When our knuckle-dragging ancestors saw Zog taken by a sabretooth tiger moments after hearing a rustling in the bushes, the experience seared into their memory as a pattern. The next time they heard rustling (trigger), instant pattern-match (response) and they bolted (result)!

You no doubt recognize that as a habit response, which it is.

Today’s Buyers have a pattern imprinted in their brains that Sellers are not to be trusted.

Solution: Change the pattern.

Here’s the paradox: We do want to trust, but that gets trumped by the negative Seller pattern.

So, how can we overcome that?

The Good Seller

I don’t know that ‘Good Seller’ is a recognized term. Nevertheless, I'll use it as a label for Sellers who quickly gain trust, as opposed to those who don't. And...

Most importantly, Good Sellers sustain excellent win rates.

Here's how they do it...

Their primary goal is to become trusted, not to sell.

Say what?

When Sellers are trusted, Buyers are keen to engage with them and share insights that enable the Seller to be of value (think doctor/patient dynamic). That then sets the Seller up as the person they want to buy from.

Good Sellers create environments in which people buy.

Thanks to TDT, gaining trust is easy. That is, provided you bottle your selling urge! Trust grows quickly when that is your focus, much more quickly than expected.
Unfortunately, and this is the challenge for Sellers, losing trust is even easier. And worse still, it happens more quickly. And so...

‘Typical’ Sellers, quite unwittingly, lose trust fast!

Here’s why:

The ‘Trust Equation,’ devised by David Maister, Robert Galford and Charles Green, authors of the book, ‘Trusted Advisor’ illustrates it beautifully:

The more you do the things above the line, the more you grow trust. Conversely, the more self-interested you are, the more you undermine trust. If you doubt that, consider the people you trust.

Do you trust people who continually go on about themselves, or are you more inclined to trust those genuinely interested in you i.e., listening to you?

Exactly.

Now, let’s consider selling. Talking about yourself and promoting your company, products, solutions, etc. is the definition of self-interest. And so, there’s the fatal flaw in the traditional sales dynamic.

Seller stereotypes, virtually as soon as they open their mouths, start undermining trust and head downhill!

No wonder Buyers don’t want them back again.

The Cure?

‘Selling’ needs a paradigm shift from a traditional pitch-centric activity to a trust-centric i.e., serving (being of value) activity.

Here’s the thing. Trust is much like a game of Snakes and Ladders. The things that grow trust above the line are like rungs of ladders. Do the right things and you inevitably and steadily grow trust. However, acts of self-interest that destroy trust are the snakes. Land on a snake and you go downhill fast!

Reflect on your own experiences. You probably find that most right-minded people do the ladder-climbing things naturally. It's the self-interest snake that derails your trust! And so, again, don't behave like a 'typical' Seller and you won't be seen as one.

The Strategy that Works

Don’t agonize over growing trust! You do that intuitively.

Instead, rely on the Trust Default Theory (TDT) and avoid losing trust. Engage Buyers in conversations about them, not you. Just do that and you will become trusted in as few as one to three interactions (meetings). Display zero self-interest and you will grow trust. Guaranteed. That's TDT!

As soon as the first interaction, you will eliminate barriers to getting to Buyers. Don't become distrusted and they’ll want you back!

In summary, interact with Buyers in their language, not yours. Explore their perceptions of value, the business outcomes they want, how they see themselves achieving that, and what they believe they need to do so.

Then, collaborate with them to create their solution described in their language (not product-speak).

Now, here’s a challenge for you. You should be able to complete that process without ever mentioning your product. Seriously, zero product-speak.

When they confirm it is a solution, then offer your product/service to match.

If you’re unsure how to do that, DM me and I’ll give you some tips.

And don't forget to join the conversation in The Seller Code Group.