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How professional do I need to be?
I just wrapped up a day shadowing another AE who is doing well on a different team.
They speak to their prospects completely differently than what I do.
I’m sure Will would call it banter being British like me.
They seemed to connect at a much more emotional level than what I do.
What is everyone’s thoughts on being professional or being a mate.
I get away with banter as a lot of the time, by the time I speak with a prospect they’ve consumed some of our content and so there’s a level of rapport there.
I think you need to use your emotional intelligence on this one.
At the top of the sales process you mirror the prospects level of communication and friendliness.
I will outwardly tease people or be self-depreciating when it comes time to close a deal though to get them over the line –
“OK, so it seems like you want to make this happen. Are you nervous about having to stare at my ugly mug for the next 12-months? Or is something else stopping you from getting signed up today?”
After a couple of calls it’s absolutely fine to be a little more playful with people.
Email and text communication though is different. It’s more difficult to read your intention when it’s just text and so I rarely banter on those platforms.
I like to stay professional, especially in the beginning, so that when I “break character” and speak frankly them it has impact.
I try to just be myself, a slightly filtered version though. I’m not a formal person and I am reasonably blunt but not rude.
I try to treat my prospects as my peers, realistically we are on the same level.
Years ago when I started I was overly professional and polite, but at that point I thought that the business owners or managers were somehow above me so I had to seem professional to be at their level. But now I think I am at their level and 99% of people are just people, they might have some sort of title but that doesn’t stop them from being normal. My experience may be different, I am based in a regional area and I have managed teams & a business before.
Now in saying this I don’t just go in cracking jokes like I am at the pub and saying controversial things.
hopefully that helps.
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