I was having a conversation with my friend a few weeks ago and we were talking about how everyone is different with the way they sell their services. I mentioned to him that not everyone is the same and everyone has their own process. But one thing is for sure, clients and customers can see right through bullshit.
Of course they agreed with me. But it got me thinking about this subject some more. I started thinking about the process of building relationships and how selling is exactly that, building relationships.
When you step into a room of people you’ve never met, how do you approach that situation? Do you put on a front and act differently than who you truly are? Or do you listen quietly without muttering a word about what you do. Or maybe you do the logical thing and be yourself?
I can’t stress how important this really is, especially when building relationships, handling business development or managing projects.
When someone is spending money on your services, they are dialed in on vetting you as a person. Then they will consider what you are selling. They are going to make sure you are exactly what is going to meet their needs. Most importantly they are going to make a decision based on how comfortable you make them feel.
If you ask anyone in the world, “Would you like me to be myself or act like someone completely different to win you over?”, I guarantee they will say be yourself nine times out of ten.
People love authentic and original people, they don’t want a robot. Why do you think all these companies are pushing the personalization aspect of their customer service? I’ve seen more bank commercials talking about how they have real people responding to their customers needs. Discover is a big one that has commercials about having people exactly like you. Their pitch is, “We treat you like you treat you”, catchy huh? They are wanting to build an emotional connection and relationship with you. When you are friends with someone do you talk to that person more? Do you feel comfortable sharing things with them off the record? Yep.
The point of this post is that I’ve worked with people who are not themselves and it is always a negative effect on others. I’ve not once experienced a positive situation when someone is acting completely different than who they truly are. Being yourself makes you better at what you do, without a doubt 100% of the time.
Do you agree?