uncovering pain without being intrusive
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Brooke Greening: you have an enormous power when someone is trying to tell you what their problems are, what their pain points are, or use that for good and help them.
Or you can totally manipulate that situation and make them do really harmful things to themselves, to others.
So the very first piece is you need to have a heart to serve your potential clients and customers. That needs to be like the ground level of what we're doing when we're in sales that we're serving them, meaning we are trying to understand what their pain points are so we can help them to decide, yes, we're a good option for them, or no, we're not a good option for them.
If we can truly come into every single conversation with the mindset and with the heart that. Here to be able to see if I can help you and if I can, great. We're gonna talk about that investment. If I can't personally, who else can I bring to help solve your problems?
Scott Greening: Welcome to another episode of Sipping Matcha and helping you make more sales. Where our sales coach and matcha drinker Brooke Greening will be joining us in just a moment to answer a soul penetrating question today. We got an exciting question coming up for you all today, but we would love that. This is our episode reminder and request for you to jump into the conversation and share your questions with us, and you can do that at buildingmomentum.info/matcha.
We'd love to, to hear your sales questions and provide some answers and strategies to help you move forward and make more sales. So, let's bring in Brooke and see is it. I think it's iced matcha today.
Brooke Greening: It's hot, so of course it's iced matcha. And my fun little beach mug.
Scott Greening: Here we go. We're still loving the summer vibes here and doing that.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: So let's get to our question today..
So here is the question. And it's, it is a little like we're diving the depths here today, but how do I uncover customer's true pain points without being intrusive? Right? So I know that you encourage people like, Hey, you, you need to find out what's really going on, not just mm-hmm. Surface level.
Pain points, but what's really going on that's driving somebody's interest in buying and that, and so that starts to get a little uncomfortable for some people, and one of your clients was saying, okay, this is great. I get it, but I don't know how to do that without being intrusive.
Mm-hmm. It is so true because we've all been there where people.
Are trying to find our pain points, but it feels unauthentic and it also really frustrates us when they spin it and then they're using it to make, to corner us into buying from them and to feeling stupid that we're not buying from them. And it just feels really gross. And so instead of us doing that, we swing all the way to the other side and we say, I don't wanna have anything.
To do with that. So it's a great question because we've all been there where we've had that happen to us, and we don't wanna do that when we're talking to our clients and our potential customers. Yeah.
Yeah. I know. We were on a sales call, I was on a sales call several months ago or that and the guy was doing his thing and we're talking about the product and it wasn.
It probably wasn't going great. And that to begin with. And he didn't seem to really read the room, and so we were already disengaging. And then he was like, all right, so just tell me your, like sales numbers and what's your, and he got like super specific and super like into the nitty gritty of our business.
And it was just like a, eh 'cause he was, it was in the context of Hey, if you give me this number, I'm going to show you how no matter like what it is. Like you have to buy from me. And so he was being manipulative mm-hmm. With getting these super specific kind of personal questions at a moment in the sales conversation where we were like warning, warning, no, no thanks.
And that that, yeah. That definitely sealed the deal on that day in Not a good way.
Brooke Greening: No, that's absolutely true. And I so appreciate this question because as you and I were talking, I come from the other side and I've, when I am uncovering customers' pain points and problems, I never feel like it's intrusive.
I never feel like this is wrong, and we're gonna talk about how to be able to do that. But that goes back to my counseling and my master's in counseling and what you learn from the very beginning. Is you have an enormous power when someone is trying to tell you what their problems are, what their pain points are, or use that for good and help them.
Or you can totally manipulate that situation and make them do really harmful things to themselves, to others. So it's for your benefit. And so the problem is not what are their concerns and how do we understand that. The problem comes in of what do we do with the answers that they give us? And so that is a great thing to be able to think about as we keep going because it's not intrusive.
To be able to understand their pain points. It's intrusive when we manipulate them with what the answers are.
Scott Greening: Yeah. I think like in all of life, whether it's with your friends, whether it's at the doctors whether wherever it is, when you're confident that people have your best interests at heart mm-hmm.
You actually want them to really understand you and Yes. And being able to share and communicate those things actually is validating and makes you seem, makes you feel seen and all of that. But when people misuse that mm-hmm. You can cause pain and bad experiences very quickly. Yeah.
And so I think I agree with you. I think a lot of people just think, oh, because my experience has been the unethical, just call 'em sales bros, call 'em, whatever. Sure. I'm going to say whatever, do whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna make this sale that Then they're like, oh, I can't, I just, I'm not gonna talk about.
What really needs to be talked about.
Brooke Greening: Yeah. There's a huge ethical line when you start talking with people in regards to the problems that they're facing. And when you have that right in front of you, you don't worry about that you're being intrusive or manipulative because you know what that line is.
And I, I think that's where it gets confusing for people because they feel like they might not know what that is.
Scott Greening: Yeah. So, okay. How. We've got some good, like big principal don't be a jerk. Don't ve manipulate people, don't prey on their pains for your own right own benefit. How do we do that though?
We still need to discover these true underlying pain points. How do we do that in a way that's ethical and helps us make more sales?
Brooke Greening: Yes. So the very first piece is you need to have a heart to serve your potential clients and customers. That needs to be like the ground level of what we're doing when we're in sales that we're serving them, meaning we are trying to understand what their pain points are so we can help them to decide, yes, we're a good option for them, or no, we're not a good option for them.
If we can truly come into every single conversation with the mindset and with the heart that. Here to be able to see if I can help you and if I can, great. We're gonna talk about that investment. If I can't personally, who else can I bring to help solve your problems? When you come into the conversation with that mindset, that's when people will start to trust you, and that's when you don't have to worry that this is going to go into a manipulative direction because you've already determined in your mind, this is how we're gonna lead this conversation.
So that's the first thing. You have to have a heart to serve.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And I know like for us, our faith informs that and helps us with that. But the reality is that we interact with a lot of kind of service provider type businesses and most of those people that are involved with that, yeah, they got into, they wanna make money, they wanna have a good living, they wanna provide for their family, they wanna do really well, but part of their motivation for getting into those businesses was also because. They wanted to serve people. They wanted to, yeah. To truly help them. They wanted to help
Brooke Greening: them.
Scott Greening: And so it's, it probably for most of our listeners, it's not a foreign idea. Oh yeah. A heart of service.
Maybe we lose sight of that occasionally, but it is a really important place to start.
Brooke Greening: Yes. And then the next piece is we are seeking to understand, we are asking questions to understand. We are not asking questions so that we can then spin it and push people into a corner and make them to do something or manipulate them or make them feel like they're an idiot for not buying from us.
Those are methods in sales. I don't agree with them. I don't coach them, and you don't have to do them at all. You are trying to understand. So the reason why we ask questions is not because we're trying to get into the nitty gritties of their life and uncover all of the nasty things. It's we're truly trying to understand what pain points are you actually having.
And so what that means is they're gonna tell you something and then you're gonna ask clarifying questions to understand more, not to turn it around against them. That's the second piece.
Scott Greening: Yeah. So we have a heart to serve. We want to seek understanding, and I know like you encourage people to even take notes, as you're talking and that, and I know you're kind of old school and do that and actually write notes. There are like recording or AI transcription. Tools than that you can use, and those are helpful. The kind of the caution that I would just give with that is those are typically helpful after the fact.
And so if you're like, actively listening within the conversation, it doesn't help so much to be able to go back and say, oh, you, you said this, or this idea keeps coming up. Let's talk a little bit more about that. Because you're seeking understanding. Mm-hmm. So taking notes a good thing
Brooke Greening: is really important.
Pen and paper Yes.
Scott Greening: Might actually even be, not that you can't do the other but doing both might be a good fit for you. So what's the thing. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Well, the other thing
Brooke Greening: is I was just working with another client and she was just sharing Zoom, like she still does a lot of calls on Zoom, but she was also sharing what do I do when it's in person?
Like now we're actually doing in person more. So COVID happened all of online, but it's good. You wanna be able to have those conversations. And so that's where that comes into play. Unless you're gonna be like, excuse me, I'm gonna hit record, or. Not the AI glasses or whatever, but you, it's just that human piece of you're listening and you're paying attention to what they're saying.
Scott Greening: Hey there, momentum Builders. It's Scott here from Sippin' Matcha and helping you make more sales. We're so glad that you're part of our podcast family. If you're finding this content valuable, could I ask you to do us a favor? Would you leave a review on your favorite podcast platform where you listen and connect with us at?
We'd love to, to hear your feedback, to connect with you, to see your comments, and it would help us get the word out about this podcast. Have a great day. Let's get back to the episode
Brooke Greening: And then, so you're always listening to understand. So you're listening for, I'm frustrated with, this isn't going well. Ah, I've talked to other people, but like you're just like any other type of conversation you'd be having with your friends, with your family, you're listening for where they're hesitating, what they're frustrated with, because if they're sharing any of that.
There's always more to it. So that's the first piece. You're the second one you're seeking to understand. And then the third one is we just ask permission. Don't encourage you to just dive right in and say, hi, my name's Brooke. I'm with Building Momentum. I help sales. I just wanna know what keeps you up at.
When you're thinking about your business, well that's awkward. That's too pushy. That's too invasive. We're not doing that. We're asking permission. So when they start sharing something that's frustrating to them, we bring it back. We restate what they said and say, Hey, is it okay if we talk about this for a minute?
'cause it seems like this is really important to you. And I just wanted to know, what did you mean by da da da da? Ask permission. And I've never actually had someone say no.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And so we've have a heart to serve, seek understanding ask permission. And when you do this some really great things can happen.
And I know for you, you sold in and probably one of the highest, like emotionally charged lots of landmines. Type of sales situation mm-hmm. When we were selling in the senior industry and assisted living care facilities. Remind me, tell me a story you said, I know, whatever it's, I, it's not a home, but,
Brooke Greening: no, no, go ahead. What,
Scott Greening: whatever the correct term is what? Tell me a story about how you did this and what that was like and how you were able to get like really personal with people, but in a way that was appreciated and got to the real problems.
Brooke Greening: Yeah. Almost every conversation was that because there were so many emotions involved, but one where I was talking to a daughter and we were sitting across the table and she was just visibly upset and she was frustrated and like we had tissues in the room because we knew thing like this is a highly emotional, overwhelming time because by the time they're trying to figure out.
For them to move out of their home that they've had for 20, 30 years into our communities. That's a huge decision and there's a ton of guilt involved. And she was just like, this is really hard, and was talking about why it was really hard. And then she said something just really quickly and she was like, and not everybody's on involved, not everybody's on the right page.
And so I listened for a few more minutes and I said, Hey. I'm just gonna ask you a question and see if it's okay if we talk about this. I know you're saying that this is overwhelming and it is, it's incredibly overwhelming when you've told your mom, you're never gonna do this. You've you are completely exhausted because of how you're caring for her.
You're kids are off in school, like you're just completely just pressed on all sides. But you said. That not everybody is on the same page. Do you mind me asking, what do you mean by that? Who is not on the same page? What are you, what's going on in that situation? And it was a brother in California. Who was the financial power of attorney, and he didn't think any of that was necessary.
And there was always a brother in California who didn't think it was necessary. I don't know why they're all out in California. I was in Illinois at that point. But it allowed us to start having the conversations of how can we be able to help you through this? Because he's gonna need to be a part of this.
Because when you're the financial power of attorney. You make those decisions, it doesn't matter that the healthcare power of attorney is the one caring for their mom and trying to figure everything out. The financial power of attorney is going to be the one that makes this final decision. So we had to be able to bring him in and helping her to know what is that going to look like, what questions does he have, where are his hesitations, and how can we help so that people can be on the same page.
And in the end we were able to figure that out where at the time it came, where their mom did move in and they just both wrote really sweet thank you notes of thank you so much for helping us think through this and working through this. This is the best decision for us and we're really glad we were able to work with you to help us with this.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And it wasn't intrusive. I think that's the power of doing this ethically, doing it with a heart to serve. Mm-hmm. Doing mm-hmm. This of, when you listen to people, when you ask questions in a, in appropriate way when you're seeking the help mm-hmm. That then they're grateful for that and Yeah.
And you helped them through a process. You made the sale. And they weren't unaware that you're the salesperson and, yeah. No, not at all. Said. Thank you. This was really helpful and really meaningful for that. So if people are listening and they're like, this is great, I wanna have those type of conversations, but I don't know how my conversations are going.
What could they do? What's a resource that you have for them? How could they take a step towards unlocking what may be happening in their conversations?
Brooke Greening: We have created a sales conversation assessment because it is really hard to know what your customer is feeling. I guarantee you, your customer knows exactly what they're feeling and they know exactly what they're thinking about how this conversation is going, but you may not be able to see that.
And so it's about a three minute assessment and it just starts walking you through. Our service framework of what we teach in regards to how to be able to have these sales conversations where we're truly focusing on serving them. We're truly trying to understand what their pain points are and then how we're able to help them with what we have to offer, or if we can't, who else we can send them to.
And so that's what you can do. You can just take the service sales assessment, and it's going to give you insight on how you're leading your sales conversation.
Scott Greening: Yeah, and people can access that at buildingmomentum.info/assessment and take that three minutes. It might take four or five. But yeah, no, it's a pretty simple assessment and
it gives some clarity to you on how your conversations are going. It helps you have the types of conversations that we've been having today and there's elements all throughout the sales conversation that can set you up for success with these types of things from the beginning to the end where people will buy and say thank you, and you can see how you're doing.
Again, that address is buildingmomentum.info/assessment. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. On sipping, matcha and helping you make more sales.
Brooke Greening: Bye-bye.
