How to change your mindset to become a top performer

We show why deals are won or lost before you speak and how identity drives performance more than scripts or tactics. We share a practical method to close from hello, handle tests without losing authority, and swap approval seeking for win-win clarity.

• identity and internal state shaping outcomes
• buyers reading tone, pace and intent
• closing from hello through early alignment
• why buyers test and how to respond
• approval seeking versus win-win framing
• slowing down to project authority
• diagnosing with harder, deeper questions
• controlling process not outcomes
• addressing tension before it becomes objections
• making the sale about the client’s problem

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Welcome to the podcast!

Chapters

• 0:00 The Invisible Difference In Sales
• 1:10 Words Versus State Of Mind
• 2:31 Closing From Hello
• 4:35 Why Buyers Test And Push Back
• 6:52 Losing Authority Under Pressure
• 8:30 From Approval Seeking To Win Win
• 10:43 Diagnose Deeply And Slow Down
• 12:22 Control Process Not Outcomes
• 14:10 Sit On The Same Side Of The Table
• 15:38 Three Questions To Clear Fear
• 17:31 Face Tension Or Face Objections

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Most salespeople don't lose deals because they say the wrong thing, they lose them because of how they're thinking when they say it. Now you can give two salespeople the same script, the same pitch, the same product, and one will consistently close while the other keeps getting objections and will struggle. And it's not about confidence, it's not about talent, it's not about experience, it's identity. So in this podcast, I'm going to talk to you about the invisible difference between an average salesperson and a top performer and why no amount of tactics will ever fix the difference. So my name's Graeme Elliott from Salescraft Training, and if you find this useful, please remember to like and subscribe. So let's dive into this. So average salespeople generally believe that if they're not getting the results, it's something in the words they're using. They just need a different script, that there's something missing. Whereas top performers know that the real difference comes from the internal state that we're in when we present it to clients. So buyers don't respond to what you say. They often, or in fact, they will always respond pretty much all the time to how you're saying it. So what's the emotion that's coming across? So I'm going to dive into this a little bit more. So what's going on? What's the internal dialogue for an average salesperson? And you may relate to this. And if you're listening to this podcast and you do relate to this, that's all to the good because I'm going to give you some suggestions that will help you. So the dialogue will often involve phrases like, I hope this works, I really need this deal, I just don't want to mess this up. Whereas a high-performing salespeople has a really different internal dialogue. The kind of thing they're saying to themselves is, let's see if this actually makes sense. Now, if this isn't a fit, at least when I'm getting these information, or the goal is clarity. And in fact, what they're focused on is not the close, it's actually getting clarity about the solution that needs to be offered. So this is really important. This is some, this is absolutely fundamental, and this is where I believe a lot of salespeople go wrong. I've seen sales taught this way, and I think it's really bad because it's setting people up for failure or at least having a really hard time selling. And that's where we separate the close, and it becomes this section at the end of a presentation. And it really doesn't work that way because the most effective salespeople are those who start closing from hello. In other words, what you're there to do as a salesperson is to understand the client's problem and solve their and solve it for them. We provide solutions to people, we're not there to just sell things, we're actually problem solvers. We uh solve problems and we deliver solutions to clients. And if your focus is on the servant mentality, you're there to serve your client, then the whole approach you'll have to dealing with a client and dealing with a buyer is very different to somebody who's just there trying to make a sale. So this often is about chasing certainty, and that's what the average salesperson will try and do because they want to stay in control, they often feel vulnerable, they're aware of things they don't know. They may be maybe they are under pressure because they've not hit the numbers, their manager's giving them a hard time, or the CEO, or they're giving themselves a hard time, whatever it is. But doing it in the way that I've seen sales taught, where the close comes at the end, is really setting yourself up to at least have a very difficult time. By having the dialogue, by asking questions and having the conversation, you're basically offering certainty. And I'm gonna come and dive into this, we're gonna expand this a little bit more in this podcast, but I've got a really good analogy for you coming up. So let's just look at the psychology for a moment. So, why do buyers test you? And you certainly are gonna find that. And a buyer is likely to be at least subconsciously asking certain questions. So it might be: does this person get me? Do they understand me? Do they understand my problem? How are they responding under pressure? Because how we respond under pressure can point towards how the company will respond if there is a problem down the track. And will they fold when I push back? Is this someone who I can put a little bit of pressure on? Suddenly we're into discounting and all sorts of stuff. Why does a buyer do this? Well, you have to remember that from the buyer's perspective, you're a risk. So at some stage, they've got to make a commitment to somebody to solve this problem. And if they get it wrong, then this can be incredibly damaging to their business, maybe their reputation, both personally, professionally, and maybe as a as a business. So what a what a lot of buyers will do, and you can certainly expect this from um certain buyers for sure, is that they will play devil's advocate. They will see how you respond when you get objections, when you're thrown worst-case scenarios, just to see how you respond because they need to feel confident that you're going to step up if things go wrong. So, what will happen with the average salesperson when they get resistance, they feel like they've got to earn the deal. In other words, they start to get defensive, they might speed up the way they're talking, their explanations will get longer, discounts might come in, and basically they they lose authority. And this is classic, this is the case for sure when salespeople are under pressure to make sales and they feel they're heading a block. Now, in this instance, a sale won't fall apart because of logic, it falls apart because the salesperson is not managing the situation in a in a way that will make the buyer feel confident, and this is absol this is really, really important. So, how do you turn this around? What are the things to do? So, the first thing to remember is an average salesperson like that tends to be seeking approval. Now we know that people we we tend to buy from people that we like, but we can hold on to that too much, and we start becoming approval seekers, and that's where we get into all sorts of problems. So, for top salespeople, what we're doing in that situation, and when we approach a deal, is that we're actually deciding all the way through whether or not this is going to be a good deal for us and for the client. And this is because we're coming from a win-win scenario or we're looking for a win-win scenario. And I I've definitely worked for companies where they don't look at win-win, they're just simply looking to buy stuff. But of course, what happens if you sell the wrong thing or something that really doesn't deliver, that will come back to you. It'll impact your reputation, can be personally, it can impact the reputation of your business, and ultimately it can lose your sales. So you might get that particular sale, but that client is likely to be um somebody who needs a lot of post-sale support. You might even get the thing returned to you, you can get all sorts of problems. So it's really important that you ask the kind of questions that allow you to s to decide as you go through the process whether or not you're achieving a win-win scenario with this particular client and this particular offer. So when we're trying to seek approval, what we actually do is we create a subtle pressure, and that leads to bioresists because again, these are subconscious signals, but they're feeling a little bit pressured from somewhere about trying to make a decision. They may not consciously know where that's coming from, but it will lead to pushback. So, what's the alternative? Well, the first thing is to ask harder questions, get really specific, really get do a deep dive into what their problem is as far as you need to go to make sure that you can solve it. Slow the conversation down. Don't start talking faster, don't speed up, slow things down. Because when you slow things down, that leads to a sense of authority. And be willing to say no. This is one of the fundamental problems that a lot of salespeople have. They're afraid to say no, they don't know when to say no, and that's why we have a qualification process. So, although hopefully, when you get to this point, you've already gone through a qualification process with this potential client, you're still evaluating as you get into the detail, and there may well be something in there that is a showstopper for you. It means you won't sell, or if the client buys from you, they're going to have a problem. So it's really important to understand that, and that's why we that there is such an emphasis on asking questions. So basically, the thing you're doing here is rather than seeking approval, is to start to diagnose, go deeper. So the kind of questions you can ask, or the kind of statements to make, are walk me through whatever, what happens if nothing changes, and who else is affected by this. So all of this leads to the buyer explaining their problem in more detail, and the more they do that, the further you can go into that, the less likely your need to think about persuading them. It's not about persuasion anymore. As you go deeper, you're both ticking boxes basically. They're ticking boxes that you can meet their need, you're ticking boxes that you can meet their need. So that's really important. Now, the next thing to bear in mind here is chasing the outcome as opposed to focusing on process. So, again, average salespeople are going to really they're thinking about the sale all the time. It's just how can I close this? It may even be they're trying to avoid certain questions because they know they don't have the answer. So the thing to remember here is that top salespeople really want to control the process but not the results. So you can't write the order for the client, the client will make the decision, you you are not making that decision. So, what you do you have control of, you can control the clarity that you have, you can control the pacing, and you can control the questions that you're asking. And that's what I mean by process. So, again, if you follow what I've been suggesting on asking questions that allow you to go deeper, to tick more boxes on both sides, that will definitely work for you. So the way I like to look at this is that if you have somebody who is essentially pitching, it's as if you're on one side of the table and the client is on the other. It's almost adversarial, it's you versus them. It's you trying to overcome these objections to make a deal. Or if you become consultive, it's like you're both sitting on the same side of the table, and visually it's very different, emotionally, it's very different. The two of you are there, the two of you, I should say, are there side by side to basically resolve this problem. Again, we're problem solvers, so this is how you go about it. So let me um I want to take you back and think about something. It's just a little exercise you can do. Maybe if you're driving, hopefully it's not too distracting. But there's a little something you can do here, and that's to think back on a deal. It might be one that you're working on right now, that's probably easier to uh think about. And just ask some questions. So, first one is what am I afraid of losing in this deal? The second one, what does it feel like this deal means about me? And the third question is what question am I avoiding because it might create tension? And that might also be it could very well be tension in you because you know you don't know the answer. So the reason for asking these questions is to give you a little bit of clarity about where you might be having an issue or potentially setting yourself up for an issue when we when you meet with this buyer, because fear leaks into the tone that we use. And you may well have experienced where you've walked into a room, everything looks fine, but there you get a feel about it. There may have just been a big argument or something's happened. We pick up on non-verbal signals and we pick up emotionally. We're uh almost like a big receiver when it comes to emotions. We can feel that things aren't right, even if we can't specifically identify what's wrong. And if a buyer feels like that with you because you're fearful about whatever it might be that you've answered, then it will put up a red flag for them. So they don't know what's going on for you, but they know something's not right, and they'll tend to act on that suspicion, on that emotion. So it's really important that you don't come across as fearful. And again, this is where having a conversation, having questions are really powerful. If you avoid questions, often what will happen is that they will come up as objections later. So I take you through in um on consultative selling course, there's a whole process I'll take you through where you can deal with that issue precisely. And I'm not gonna say 100%, but I would say probably in the 90s a percent, it will eliminate objections if you just go through this process. So there is it's very important that you understand the right time to ask questions, the right time to close, all of that kind of thing. We'll go through that. And if you try and avoid tension, if something doesn't feel right with you when you're talking to the client, if you feel that there's tension there, it's really important to address it because if you don't, it will come up as an objection later. That there's if there's tension, it means something isn't right, something hasn't been communicated, and it's really important to get that out of the way as soon as you can. Okay, so um just remember for people who will consistently make sales, they are doing all of these things. They're not being put off by attention, they're not being afraid to ask questions. And remember, even if you don't know the answer to the question, and I used to sell a lot of technical gear and I didn't know the answers to lots of questions, I would just make a note of it and come back, and I just make sure I did get back when I said I would, and I would get an answer. And often I would get the client to write it down if it was particularly technical and I didn't want to risk getting it wrong, and also if the client writes it down and they get it wrong, then at least I've done my part. So do get really focused on that. So remember, don't make the sale about you, make it about the client, and doing that alone can take a lot of the pressure off. Because when it's about the client, it's about you understanding their problem. They feel like you're you're interested and you have a desire to solve their problem, and you're much more likely to get a positive outcome. The other thing to remember is that your competitors, unless they've been on my course, are probably doing the average salesperson thing. So, from a buyer's perspective, it might be a breath of fresh air when they meet a salesperson who is not just pitching at them, not just there to get the deal and walk away, but is genuinely interested in providing a solution that works. And that is not something to be underestimated. Okay, so that's it for this podcast. If that's been useful, please like and subscribe. Please let your uh friends know. And next time, we're going to be looking a little bit more at buyer resistance and why people push back even when they want to buy. And we'll look at again the difference between what the average person will do, the average salesperson, and what the high performing salespeople will do in those situations. Because this is where we really get control of the conversation with the buyer. So, thanks for your time. I will speak to you in the next podcast. That will be on Monday. So I'm here every Monday with a new podcast. I'll speak to you then. Bye for now.