Lean into difficult conversations with clients

If you're in sales (and whatever your job title, if you want to generate insane value for yourself, your organisation, and your clients, you're in sales) then you've probably felt the knot in your stomach when a potential client wants to talk to you about something and you're not sure you've got the answer (or you are sure that you don't have the answer).

Sales is about confidence, and one of the most reliable sources of confidence is certainty. When you're feeling uncertain your confidence drops, which makes most people (of which I'm certainly one) avoid sales conversations which vary from the usual script.

This is natural. It's understandable.

And it's a mistake.

In my experience, there's nothing more useful for developing sales capability than insight and information gleaned directly from clients. Therefore, I'd suggest that nothing will teach you more about your potential to deliver massive value to the market than a client who has a question that makes you uncertain. These are the conversations that will give you a new perspective on the problems you can help solve, and expand your awareness into potential new solutions and new offerings that might become your next big cash cow.

If there's one thing I know about people, it's that for all our diversity, the issues we struggle with are common to many. Like the one visible rabbit in the field belying the presence of hundreds more in the burrows below, if you find a single person with an aspiration to pursue or an issue to solve, you can be almost certain there's an effectively unlimited number of other people just like them, looking for similar assistance.

I love comedian Steven Wright’s quip that “Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.”

That experience almost always comes from a tiny display of courage. Next time a client conversation puts you out of your comfort zone, lean in. The information you gather and the insights you glean just might open the door to a commercial opportunity you would otherwise gain no awareness of.

Your clients are your best mentors.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash