Don’t Trade Your Personality for a Persona

Avoid this sales fail via sales pro and founder of UpYourTeleSales, Lynn Hidy.

This is the last blog in a 4 part series of Sales Fails where I asked the 4 brilliant and insightful sales experts in my Master Mind group to share their tips with me and the Sauce Agency audience.

From trainer and telesales guru, Lynn Hidy, founder of UpYourTeleSales, comes advice that aligns with one of the very core competitive advantages we teach, preach and coach to our clients: Differentiation.

When I asked Lynn, “If you could tell sales professionals to stop doing this one thing what would it be?”

Lynn’s response:

One thing sellers should stop doing IMMEDIATELY is discounting the things that are unique to them, as a person, that prospects and customers value.

The first thing people buy into BEFORE they purchase products or services is the salesperson. When I’ve interviewed customers and asked why they gave a salesperson their first chance at doing business together the responses are typically not about a company or what they purchased, rather they are about the person. Here are a few examples: humor, responsiveness to my questions, always a delight to speak with, understands my challenges.”

When all other features are comparable, customers choose the person they like best.

Sometimes, in our efforts to be professional, we put on a persona of who we think people want or expect to show up. We see this in sales, job interviews and even in social media.

No matter what you’re selling, your best chance of connecting and building a relationship is with your authentic, true self. Professional behavior is different than a dull or stock persona.

Personality traits that attract your customers include:

• Humor – your particular spin on good, bad or awkward situations
• Empathy – how you understand and relate to their situation or challenges
• Responsive – how you anticipate and prepare to meet and work with them
• Leadership – your willingness to take the reins, coordinate resources and lead people
• Consideration – for others and their insights, talent or challenges
• Resourcefulness – bringing more than your own solutions to the party
• Style – your personality via your swag, swagger and aesthetics

Don’t lose what makes YOU special, it could be your best competitive advantage!

Thanks this week for the insights of Lynn Hidy, one of my fantastic Women Sales Pros colleagues.
Lynn Hidy helps sales executives catapult their inside salespeople into sales mastery. The foundation of her inside sales training practice, UpYourTeleSales LLC, starts with building new skill sets in your team and systematically increases results through behavior reinforcement.