How do you show up to sales meetings?
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been leading the recruitment process on the Actionable Consultant Program (ACP). For context, the ACP is a community of professional consultants who license our Actionable Workshops material for use in their own practice. (Applications are currently closed, but there is a wait-list for our April session)
For whatever reason, we had significantly more applicants this time around than any session we’ve offered in the past. And maybe that changed something for me. Since we capped the new cohort at 12, and we had over 50 applicants to the program, I could afford to be more selective. Which meant I went into the conversations (39 of them to date) with a more discerning eye. I spoke about the program candidly, answered questions without any sort of rose-colored tint, and did my best to encourage applicants to hold off or spend their money elsewhere if I truly felt that was in their best interest.
And more of them wanted to be a part of the program (percentage-wise) than we’ve ever seen before. Not only that, but the people that are resonating with the program are the absolute best candidates we/I could have hoped for.
I’d like to say it was a brilliant sales job. (It wasn’t). I’d like to say that I’ve become better at explaining the program (possibly).
I do however, also have to come back to the fact that I was myself. I was genuinely engaged in the conversations, without an ulterior motive or specific agenda. We both knew the program existed and that they were interested enough to spend 30 minutes discussing it. We both knew it had a price tag and that the value to the individual applying would have to be greater than that cost for them to want to move forward. But I didn’t want them to move forward if I didn’t believe it was of value for them.
Any good sales person knows this, but it’s worth repeating (because I’d lost touch with its power) – Authenticity, honesty, and a genuine interest in the other person’s betterment remains the best (and I would argue “only”) way to sell in the 21st Century.
So why do so many sales people out there continue to laugh at jokes they don’t get, grovel for business or otherwise act un-authentically?
I’m not saying I’m better, as I’ve been guilty of the lot on many occasions. I am saying that I got it right this time, and it’s paying massive dividends.
I can’t wait to see what this group of ACPers does with the program.
