How Lisa Earle McLeod Sells: Have a True North on How You’re Improving Your Customer

When she was attending the University of Georgia,?Lisa Earle McLeod?– at that time, a journalism student – made a decision that would forever change her life.

She went to the school newspaper, looking for a job. There were two options: a reporter, where she’d be paid $5 a story. Or, a salesperson for the school newspaper, where she could make far more in commissions.

She chose the latter. And she was an immediate hit – her second year on the job, she became the sales manager for the paper, and her team brought in north of $1 million in advertising sales.

Lisa hasn’t looked back since. She’s spent her entire career in sales, selling for companies like Procter & Gamble and Vital Learning, before starting her own sales consulting business, McLeod & More. She’s also one of the most popular sales instructors on?LinkedIn Learning?and the author of?Selling With Noble Purpose.

What has Lisa learned in a career dedicated to sales? Let’s dive in:

1.?What do you love most about selling?

Sales is the engine that makes the wheels of commerce spin. Plain and simple.

And so, for me, I talk about sales as a noble calling and a Noble Purpose. I see it that way because when you're successful in sales, three constituencies benefit in a huge way:

• You're helping your company. They can't survive without good salespeople.
• You're helping your customers. Because if you're successful in sales, that means people buying from you are as well.
• You’re also helping your own family. We don’t like to over-glamorize the financial success for a family; but having financial stability for your family is really important.

2. What's your sales philosophy, in 3 sentences or less?

Your Noble Purpose in sales is to improve life for customers. You don’t have to choose between making money and making a difference. Profit and purpose are connected.

3. Is there anything that makes your sales process unique?

I recognized years ago that when organizations say, “focus on the customer,” it’s very generic. In our company, and what we teach our clients, is that Selling with Noble Purpose goes beyond pleasing customers.

It’s about improving customers.

It seems nuanced. But changing the true north from a generic customer focus to a specific customer impact has been a game changer for us and our clients. Because it really is very different from just saying, “We focus on the customer,” to, “We have clarity on how we are making a difference to our customers and that's our true north.”

That changes things in sellers. Their brain changes, their behavior changes, and leadership changes, as well.

4.?What research do you do to prepare for a sales call?

One thing we are almost militant about is understanding clients’ strategic objectives. That goes far beyond knowing what your buyer wants from you on this purchase.

Understanding their longer-term business objectives – versus simply their purchase requirements?– is the only way to differentiate yourself. They share the purchase requirements with everyone, you want your solution to be tied to something bigger.

Because your buyer is always going to start with purchase requirements, as they've already distilled down what they believe they need in a vendor. So, the conversation is going to start there –?if you let it.

But if you can find their strategic objectives somewhere – and it’s almost always there – it gives you a different starting place for your conversation. And then, you are differentiating yourself from the get-go.

5.?What's your favorite discovery question?

How will (proposed change) impact you personally??

When you ask this question, your buyer often reveals their hopes or what might be holding them back. For example, they might say, I’m the one who is going to have to implement this and it’s going to be a challenge because of X.

This gives you the chance to get in front of that.

I should mention that this question needs to come from a place of authentic curiosity and caring. It’s not a rote, “let me act like I care” question. When you ask it from a place of caring, you forge a stronger authentic connection with your customer.

6.?Is there any habit you have that you believe helps you sell better?

Five minutes of focused prep before every sales conversation.

In a virtual environment, you move quickly from one conversation to the next. Giving yourself five minutes to look at the company website, look at the person’s LinkedIn profile, and really think deeply about who they are and what they might want to achieve puts you in the headspace to be authentic, fully present, and focused on the most important person – the customer.

7.?How do you use LinkedIn when selling?

Two ways.

In addition to looking at the profile of someone I’m meeting with, I like to look at what they’ve posted or commented on. It gives you a sense of who they are as a person.

Two – as a sales consultant and someone who trains sales teams, LinkedIn is the number-one place for growing our brand. Just as you are looking at your customers, they are looking at you.

When we share videos, articles, and our newsletter, people start to feel like they know us, and they do. It makes first meetings easier.

And follow-up meetings are deeper. I met with a vice president of sales I hadn’t talked with in two years, and he said, “I’ve been watching some of your videos.” He was better connected to me, and by viewing his profile and seeing his content, I felt better connected with him.

8.?What has been your biggest failure in sales and how did that experience transform you?

It’s hard to pin down one; there have been many. If I’m honest with myself, almost every failure I’ve had was usually the result of me getting ahead of myself, and not focusing enough on the customer’s goals.

Probably the worst one was when I did a call with a senior leadership team for a financial institution. They were really interested in me – I had talked to them in a sales meeting already and they love this idea of Noble Purpose.

Well, the call was first thing in the morning. I was tired and I didn’t wake up early enough to give myself enough time to plan or get centered; I went into it 15 minutes after I had rolled out of bed.?

I didn’t say anything stupid or awful, but I didn’t say anything exciting either and I didn’t land the deal. The lesson for me was, if a customer is going to give you their time, it’s your job to be ready and prepared. Never take it for granted.

That means doing your homework and being ready to have a discussion about their issues and challenges. If you’re just going to do a standard pitch, they can look at your website and get that. You need to be adding value in every sales call.

So I do my best not to let that happen again.

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