A big part of being successful in sales is ditching your ego. It's a lesson I have continually learned the hard way, but always for my eventual betterment.
As humans, I think it is pretty normal to naturally want to be the expert who can solve all of their problems - especially in sales where I have a solution that will do just that! The issue with being an "expert" instead of a "trusted advisor" is the fact that things are always more profound to a person when they feel they discovered it themselves, thought of it themselves, said it themselves, rather than being told it.
Unsuccessful salespeople push people in buying. Good and fairly successful salespeople use questions to pull someone into a solution they have a good idea they need, but usually at a discount or some other concession. The jedi salespeople do neither of these. They use questions that have the prospect leading the way and follow the prospect to the destination of the sale (and do a much better job than myself at it). I'll break this down more in another post soon.
When recapping what we've learned about goals, challenges, solution requirements, metrics for success, and more, I've always found The Mantra that I was taught in Command of the Message to be the most effective way to deliver back the information the prospect gives you in a concise way that makes them feel understood. Sometimes, based on call flow or time constraints, there isn't time to recap each section fully, and we're put in a position to instead make a more general statement to summarize what the customer told you.
When this happens, it's important to speak in terms of them, and still use the words that they used. If they hear what they said and that I listened, what I should hear back is "that's right". If that's what I am hearing, the client still feels in charge of making this change happen, as though I feel they are competent to make the right decision, and that I understand their pain and what they perceive to be the remedy.
It's not the worst thing in the world, but what I want to avoid is restating it in my own way or interjecting what I believe to be the best idea, causing them to say "you're right". I may be right, but if it comes out of my mouth it's a suggestion and if it comes out of their mouth it's a fact to them. I prefer to deal in the facts stated by the customer as they seem to have a much more profound effect and put your champion in a position to feel empowered to fix the problem they are now owning (and happen to understand a lot better if discovery went well).
