About This Episode

So often in sales we’re focused on winning, scoring the deal, and getting out of it what we want. But the person on the other side of the deal is thinking about winning, too.

And if you can help them score a win, you’ll probably score one, too.

Tip Moore believes that winning starts with connecting — you’ve got to connect with the client to truly understand how to help them. So, how do you do that?

Well, that’s what I invited Tip to talk about on the latest episode of The Sales Engagement podcast. Tip is the Enterprise Sales Director at Pushpay. These are his thoughts on connecting with clients to find the win.

What’s in It for Me?

Tip Moore remembers one of his college sales classes where the professor was talking about “WIIFM.” You know, the idea that every value proposition starts with thinking about what’s in it for the customer.

In that moment Tip realized he should always be thinking about others that way — always asking, “what’s in it for them?”

It takes a change in mindset to start thinking about the other person, especially in sales. Instead of thinking about what you can get out of the deal, you’ve got to focus on providing value to them.

What are they going through? What problems are they dealing with? And how can you help them solve those problems?

Those discovery questions are key. But you’ve also got to establish trust.

People aren’t comfortable with being discovered unless they trust you.

And just because you’re thinking about helping the other person score their win doesn’t mean you can’t be thinking about scoring yours.

It just means you’re doing it a little differently. You’re choosing to get to that win by connecting with the other person to figure out what they truly need and how you can solve their problems.

And what if you don’t believe you can solve their problems? Well, you’ve got to be willing to walk away.

When It’s Time to Walk Away

Let’s say you’re buying a car.

Someone walks in and says, “we want great gas mileage and something that’s easy to park in the city.“

You’re not going to try to sell them an SUV. And if you sell SUVs, you need to walk away — your product is not a fit for their needs.

The mark of a good salesperson is being willing to walk away from a good deal because you don’t believe that it’s genuinely providing value for that customer.

Sure, that seems like a terrible idea.

But think about the long-term. If that product turns out to be a bad fit for the client, they’re not going to be satisfied. They’ll tell their friends and colleagues. And you’ll be stuck cleaning up the mess.

On the other hand, if you redirect them to something that might be a better fit, their trust in you grows. They’ll still talk about it to their friends and colleagues — but it will be good talk. And you won’t have a mess to clean up. If anything, you’ll probably have more leads — people like a salesperson who has their best interest in mind.

If you don’t think that your product will provide value to your prospect, you probably need to be willing to walk away from that deal.

Developing the Courage to Walk Away

A lot of us want to be able to walk away from a deal.

But the consequences we might face if we do so often make us stay.

We worry about losing the revenue or the income, missing our quota, or about what our boss might say.

One of Tip’s mentors once gave him a great piece of advice: you’ve got to be comfortable with getting fired.

Why?

Well, if you’re not comfortable getting fired, that means you’re comfortable with compromising your integrity.

So, maintain your integrity. Don’t be willing to compromise if you don’t believe the sale will truly add value for the client.

You’ve got to be willing to get fired.

If you’re at a place where you’re constantly pushing deals over, knowing it’s not in the best interest of the client, then you probably need to take a stand or go somewhere else.

Always make sure you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say, did I do the best for the client in the long term.

And if you do, you’ll probably find that you rise to the top anyway.

Because when you put the client first, they trust you. And they become an advocate for you. They’ll tell their friends and colleagues about you.

Develop and maintain your integrity.

It’s the ultimate win.

This post is based on a podcast interview with Tip Moore from Pushpay. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast.

If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.

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