The common boast among salespeople is, “I may not know the answer, but I know where to get it.” It’s a great statement of credibility for young salespeople, and even for experienced veterans, when confronted with an unusual technical challenge. It’s not a great answer to use as a crutch throughout a career. If there is one thing better than knowing where to get the answer, it is knowing the answer itself.
It is the difference between merely being a likeable salesperson versus a sales leader with credibility. Robert Cialdini, psychologist and author of “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” notes that two factors must be present to acquire the authority of credibility. They are trust and expertise.
His book is worth the read for all business leaders and has been translated into dozens of languages. The implication of his work on credibility is proof that sales leadership requires much more than possessing a good personality and becoming likeable to your customers. Likeability is of course vital and a key component of trust, but it doesn’t create total credibility until expertise is displayed.
In his book, he cites the example of physical therapy staffers at a hospital who lamented frustration because patients were not completing their post-visit exercises for successful rehabilitation. He noted that patients were well aware of the credentials possessed by their doctors but had little understanding about their physical therapists’ backgrounds. (Today, physical therapists are required to earn doctorate degrees as a prerequisite to practice.)
Cialdini suggested that the physical therapists make one subtle change in their environment by posting their credentials in plain sight on their office walls. The results were dramatic and resulted in a 34% increase in patient compliance. Analogously, this implies that salespeople who want to increase their credibility must demonstrate their authority which, unfortunately, won’t come in the form of a diploma.
Unlike physical therapists, doctors, lawyers, accountants, tradespeople, and a host of other professional categories, salespeople do not become certified for trade proficiency. Instead, the authority they earn is determined by the level of trust in their expertise established with their clientele. In other words, it means knowing your stuff.
There are essentially two ways that salespeople can demonstrate authority with clients. The first is obviously knowledge of their products and applications. The second is by providing sage business development advice upon which their buyers can rely.
In the first case, this means diligent self-study. I’ve worked with too many salespeople, often manufacturer representatives, who know less about their products than the information listed in their company brochures. It is the responsibility of salespeople to read the brochures and study their product specifications, options, and applications diligently. The salesperson who waits to be spoon-fed product knowledge is guaranteed to fall behind.
In the second case, i.e., providing sage business advice, the best salespeople are not only product experts, but students of their clients’ businesses. Top performing salespeople understand ways they can help their customers market and sell their services, create operational efficiencies, and in general help to become better contributors to their client success.
I’ve often been asked by salespeople why they need to know all the subtleties of their clients’ businesses. Obviously it matters when providing products. More subtly, the benefit resides in their ability to become consultative contributors to client success. In other words, top sales leaders provide advice to increase the profitability of their customers, which often has nothing to do with the products the salesperson sells.
It’s one thing to know where to get the answers. It’s another thing entirely to build a library of knowledge that enables you to have answers at the ready. Become a better student of business. The sooner you become a better student of business, the sooner you will become a teacher of it.
Rick Davis is the Sales Education Leader for ABC Supply and the President of Building Leaders. You can buy his books or learn more about his online sales training platform at buildingleaders.com.