3 Steps to Greater Authenticity in Your Customer Relationships
Be more authentic. It’s a charge and aspiration for each of us. Be more authentic with ourselves and our teams.
Salespeople and other customer-facing employees can also benefit by being more authentic with customers. But what does it mean to be authentic? Being authentic is first and foremost about staying true to our values and not wavering in the face of adversity or pressure to hit external metrics or goals. It also requires expressing vulnerability, standing behind your words, and connecting with people in a more meaningful way.
I believe that great leaders and salespeople are built from the inside out. The path to becoming more authentic starts with a commitment to being more authentic followed by introspection and hard work to practice greater authenticity in your work and life. To get started, consider the following three steps.
3 Steps to Increase Authenticity with Your Customers
Step #1: Commit to Greater Authenticity in Your Customer Relationships
Becoming more authentic starts with a willingness to change. Many salespeople struggle with the notion of being more authentic with customers. For most, it’s safer to stand (or hide) behind your company’s value proposition, sales collateral laden with features and benefits, and customer testimonials. Those are important, sure. But, authenticity will allow deeper connection and enduring results with customers. Being authentic means expressing even just a bit more of yourself and being vulnerable. This is scary to many people. I know it was for me. Compounding the fear of change is a strong track record staying focused on product features and benefits and keeping anything personal out of the customer relationship. But as Marshall Goldsmith famously said, “what got you here won’t get you there.” If you want to provide enduring competitive advantage by boxing out the competition, being more authentic is key.
Step #2: Understand What Authenticity Means in Sales
The next step is to cultivate greater understanding of what being authentic means to you. It begins by creating self-awareness of your core values and strengths.
Reflect on Your Core Values: Next, identify your values and what matters most to you. Most people have a general sense of what those values might be–honesty, integrity, achievement, and growth are common values. Yet, most people struggle when pressed to articulate their core values and how they inform the way they live and work. To gain clarity into your values, reflect on the most important moments in your life–your biggest achievements, painful life lessons learned, your most important mentors, and the stories your family and trusted colleagues tell about you. What did you learn from those key life moments? What are some common themes across all of the stories? Write down the words you would use to describe those stories and the lessons learned. Those are your core values.
Identify Your Key Strengths: Next, identify your personal strengths or the things you do well. Take time to write down your strengths, but focus on those that help you achieve results as a sales professional. Strengths such as communication, influence, competition, strategic, futuristic, connector, and others. Also, ask your colleagues, friends, and family to list your strengths or words they would use to describe you in a professional context. Take both data points and create a list of your top strengths. As you do, be sure to avoid “strengths envy” and focus on those that are true to you. Remember this is about becoming more authentic and not trying to be the version of yourself you (or others) think you should be.
Narrow Down Your Values and Strengths: Before proceeding to step 3, narrow your core values to a set of 3 and do the same for your strengths.
Step #3: Start to Use Authenticity to Deepen Customer Relationships
Now, it’s time to activate the intention and reflection from the first two steps. Start connecting more authentically with customers by doing the following.
Use Values to Guide You: Values act as a beacon to help guide our most important decisions as well as the tactical choices we make many times per day. Values also guide our interactions with customers. Unfortunately, many people deviate from their values when faced with pressure and stress. Authentic salespeople stay rooted in their values and use them even when facing the pressure of making quota and achieving other individual and team goals. For example, if you truly subscribe to a “customer first” approach, don’t let the end of quarter pressure cause you to float a one-sided deal to a customer that meets internal benchmarks, but fails to deliver on customer needs. Likewise, as you face a key decision in your work with customers, look at each decision through the lens of your values to ensure the decision is in alignment with what matters most.
Take Time to Make it Personal: Sales, or any business activity, is an interaction between human beings. Yet, many salespeople lead with the logo on their business card or company polo shirt to focus “sales” conversations on intellectual property, product/service features and benefits, and why customers should buy from company X. In place of the latest white paper, have a human-to-human conversation with your customers; research and ask about their hobbies and interests, what their kids are excited about, and what makes them tick. Just as important, share your own story; your career journey that highlights your values and strengths, how you got into sales, and why you are so excited about the mission and purpose of your company. Take time to make it personal and show your customers that you are more than just a logo, slick sales sheets, and PowerPoint decks.
Be a Real Person, not the Cardboard Cutout Version of Yourself: One of the mistakes I made early in my career was being the version of myself I thought I should be – the “smart” Accenture Darren, the UC Berkeley MBA Darren. Over time, I have learned to put those monikers aside and be the person I want to be. One who is hell bent on achieving my own personal “why”, vulnerable in assessing my strengths and growth areas, and committed to personal growth and growth of my clients. As a sales person, you can connect authentically by dropping what your business card and LinkedIn profile say and share what matters most to you. Doing so makes you more real, connects authentically, and will bring more joy and fulfillment to your life and career.
Say What You Mean and Mean What You Stay: Don’t make false promises. Don’t fail to disclose hidden costs, deal terms, or missing features. If you state emphatically that you are committed to your customers growth and success, don’t run away as soon as you have a signed purchase order or after a customer renews for another year. Look for ways outside of the transaction to support their growth; make introductions to possible partners and customers, share articles to help them be a better leader, and connect them with internal experts who can share a wealth of best practices. Ideally, use your values and leverage your strengths to make those interactions more authentic.
Being more authentic with customers will deepen relationships and build trust. But, it takes time and courage to engage more authentically. Take the first step by trying out the three steps above. As you do, be sure to acknowledge the results of being more authentic as well as the fact that you are trying. Doing so creates a positive feedback loop that will help you be more authentic over time. Good luck and enjoy the process of building authentic customer relationships that will turbo-charge your long-term success. I bet you’ll also find it to be more fun and a better way to live your life.
Next Steps to Greater Authenticity
Are you ready to shed the old models of selling and start connecting authentically with customers? If so, start by identifying and anchoring to your leadership values.
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