Dear SaaStr: What one thing or characteristic do you appreciate the most in a salesperson?
That I matter.
This is a rare skill, and hard to hone:
- That I’m not just a transaction.
- That my concerns matter.
- That I won’t be abandoned the second the deal closes.
- That all my questions will be answered, even if it takes longer than it should.
- That One More Demo is OK to ask for, without pressure.
- That I don’t have to “get on a call” about everything if I don’t want to.
- That the follow-ups I get from you will all be about helping, not pressure.
- That the pricing will be fair, and the same others pay for the same usage. So I don’t have to stress about negotiating.
- That if I need to do a trial, or a pilot, it’s fine. Totally fine.
- That if I need 2 months to make a decision, not 2 days, you’ll still be there.
That I matter.
It means treating each customer like you’d like to be treated yourself. Like their money really matters. It means putting more time in than might seem to make sense. It means treating tiny customers as well as, or even better than, large customers.
Do it right though, and you close more.
And if times are tougher these days? Listen to their calls. Listen to your team’s calls. Do your reps all treat your prospects this way? Or is too transactional? Or too many games? Or all about price and next steps? Listen. Listen. And then go make some changes.
If you truly care about your customer’s problems, you’ll close more. A lot more.
I remember the first magical moment I had like this. I went to buy Salesforce for the first time. We only needed 2 seats, and I felt guilty about using up a sales rep’s time. But he made me feel like he had all the time in the world. He showed me I really only needed a lower end edition to use the API. He showed me how Salesforce really worked, for real, for a small startup. And he helped me figure out how to get into their partner ecosystem.
I bought that day, and have ever year since. Since 2006.
