The Yin Yang of Sales

The concept of Yin Yang stems from Daoism in China, an ancient religion dating back to 142 CE - nearly 2,000 years ago.

It suggests that all life has opposite or contrary forces that are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent. One can’t exist without the other.

So what has all this got to do with sales, you may be asking??

Here are 3 examples:

1. Give vs Take

In sales, we are always trying to take from our buyers. Take their time to have a meeting, take their money for a deal or take information from them on a discovery call.

Little thought is put into what prospects get in return. But the more you give, the more likely you are to receive, which Robert Cialdini calls the “Rule of Reciprocity”.

What can you give then?

Let’s take the example of a cold outbound email - most sales reps will ask for “15 minutes for a demo”. Be different - think about what you can offer that will help them in their job whether they buy your service or not. Here are two examples:

“Noticed you’re hiring SDRs. Interested in a playbook template to help your new hires onboard quicker?”

“Saw you just opened a London office. Interested in a 30 touch cadence that can help you attract more UK sales opps?”

Here I am offering content that can help them be successful with or without me. This is the impression you want to create.

2. Material VS Spiritual

This is where things get interesting. Every sales person is going to say “we can make you 5 x ROI” or that they will “save you 50 hours a week on admin.” But what is the higher purpose behind this? This is what at Growth Genie, we call the spiritual or COSMIC purpose.

Let’s take an example of a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). A CRO typically has a revenue target that his team needs to hit every quarter, which of course is important. Enterprise salespeople though, can earn more than CROs in commission, so often CROs are not there purely there for financial incentives.

A big thing that drives CROs and anyone that manages a department is seeing their team succeed - seeing salespeople become future leaders and being more fulfilled in their roles. This is an example of a spiritual goal beyond the material goal of hitting targets

3. Educate VS Learn

In any conversation, there is always a fine balance between educating and learning. As a buyer, I have been on many “discovery calls”, in which I am educating the buyer but learning little in return. The salesperson interrogates me to “qualify” if I am a good fit without giving anything in return.

But the other side of the coin is that to give a customized solution and to educate your buyer, you need to learn about your prospects first. Here is a good example of educating VS learning from a real conversation I had:

Me: “How many sales opportunities does each rep have at the moment?”

Buyer: “We are actually over target with 20 a month per person?”

Me: “That’s impressive. How have you managed to get 20 a month?”

Buyer: “Through Facebook ads. The problem is that 50% of the meetings do not show up. We send them follow up emails but it’s still not affecting attendance rates.

Me: “Ah so from Facebook ads. Are they required to put a mobile phone number on the form on the ad?”

Buyer: “No.”

Me: “The reason I ask is we find SMS reminders help reduce no-show rates but you'd need their mobile number. We find the average open-rate for an SMS is over 90% vs 20% for an email.”

Buyer: “Interesting. That may have a drop off rate on the form but would certainly decrease no-show rate."

This is a classic example of asking questions to diagnose a problem and then using that information to provide a potential solution.?This is educating the buyer to think a different way.

3 takeaway questions to ask yourself to find your sales balance:

Are my prospects learning from me and am I learning from them on each call?

Am I giving anything to my leads outside of the sales cycle or just constantly taking from them?

Am I just talking about ROI or helping them fulfil a higher purpose in their career?