She is the author of the bestselling book Sell More. Faster, and is listed as LinkedIn's top sales influencer. She is Startup Canada’s Woman Entrepreneur, Success Magazine’s Most Aspirational Blogger, and is one of the top sales leaders to follow today. Kim says the best salespeople focus on helping people, not just closing the sale. To close the sale, a salesperson must first ensure that he understands the client’s pain, acknowledges it, and only then should present a product that could help solve their problems.
Kim also shares her thoughts on how sales has evolved, especially with the rise of Zoom calls and working from home setups. Sales meetings today typically are shorter, and much more condensed, which is markedly different from traditional boardroom meetings that would take more than an hour or so. Despite this, Kim says building rapport and connecting with the client is still as important, but they have to begin before the sales meetings even begin. With COVID-19 forcing people to convert their homes into office spaces, Kim also addresses the issue of burnout in sales teams. Similar to her approach in sales, Kim encourages sales leaders to adopt a more emotional approach and work to ensure that people are connecting with each other, even as they work remotely. Kim also encourages her team to “Respect the rest,” urging them to completely shut out work during their downtime or vacation.
HIGHLIGHTS
Focus on helping people, not closing the sale
The person who asks the questions owns the conversation
Focus on the pain of uncertainty: expectations vs reality
Create rapport before the meeting
Virtual selling needs to be more detail-oriented
The Great Resignation: Addressing burnout in sales teams
Ask more emotional questions to connect with clients
Success is the freedom to do anything, whenever and however you want
QUOTES
Kim: “Stop focusing on the sale. Focus on helping people. Like connect with them, just meet with them.”
Jordan: "It comes back to this point of you're a busy human, let me take time off your plate and let me understand if there's any need, if there's any pain there that we can actually help with and solve. And let me then present the specific cases versus the 20-page deck that may be totally pointless."
Kim: "Virtual selling takes more discipline, not less. Your process needs to be established. It needs to be documented and written down. And it has to be something that everyone has to follow. We cannot leave it up to the devices of what traditional selling did."
Kim: "The idea of ‘Respect the Rest.’ Like when I'm on vacation, I don't want my team to be working nor do I want to work. And so I instill upon them that, like, I don't see that as a hero move. I see that as selfishness. And so I'm like, no, if you're on your vacation, be on your vacation."
You can learn more about Kim in the links below.