Humility will win you credibility

"Show me you know me!"

I know you’ve heard of this phrase before. It’s in a ton of books, blogs and sales training material.?But, what does this even mean?

In B2B terms, this is usually referring to a salesperson’s ability to show a Prospect that they have done their research.

So again, what does that even mean? “Done their research?”

This is the thing about phrases like this. It often leaves salespeople wondering ok, so what do I do next? So in true Hannah form let me share an observation that I’ve made over my 14 year career.

Prospects do not want you to show them you know them. They want you to show them that you understand them.?

Prospects do not want to sit through meetings that go something like this...

Salesperson: Hi prospect, I can see that you’ve been hiring, opened a new office, had a new CEO come in place and you’ve released a new product.

Prospect: Yes, we have.

**crickets**

Don’t be this person. Please.?

So let’s get better and develop a new perspective on what it means to show a prospect you understand them. I’m going to use an analogy. If you have followed previous content from me then you already know that I’m terrible at analogies. Who cares, I’ll continue to do them because one day they will be magical. I digress, ok….

Getting your prospects to complete the puzzle

My son and I do a lot of puzzles together. A few weeks back we completed 4 puzzles. I was pretty impressed with how my little fella was able to piece things together. Then something happened that made our next puzzle session extremely difficult. He put all 4 puzzles back in the same bag ??. Ok it’s only a kiddy puzzle, but that was 240 pieces of Paw Patrol and I needed rescuing! To regain my sanity, I managed to find all the Paw Patrol character's faces in the 240-piece mess, and begin to form a picture of each separate puzzle again. I then found the full picture online (yes, my son also threw away the box with the images) and I was able to fill in the gaps.

Let me put this into context.

Prospects do not expect you to know everything. They do not want you to regurgitate their website or annual report. But they do expect you to come to a meeting with a few pieces of the puzzle - the most obvious pieces (what they do, how they work, who may be involved, what challenges they might have) so that they can give you the rest of the picture. Good Prospects will complete your puzzle.

By entering into a discussion with some intelligent assumptions based on what you’ve learned, you can take a humble approach like this...

...this is where I have reached so far and it seems like, it feels like, I believe that….but I think there are a few missing pieces, can you help correct me or fill in the gaps?

You will typically hear a response like...

"sure, yes you are right...yeah you’re on the right page... not quite like that, but I can see where you’re heading…."

Show me you know me by showing that you understand me. That’s how you win credibility AND deals.

I'm putting together something extra special in the next few weeks. You'll have to stay tuned...