I’m often challenged by people that have begun the journey of implementing First Approach. Perhaps “challenged” is the wrong descriptor. Doubt and disbelief are probably more accurate.

This doubt usually presents itself when it is suggested that a first sales call should never be about selling. The greatest resistance comes from those who have been selling the longest. Why? Because most classical sales processes focus on things like “qualifying” or conducting a sales “discovery meeting” etc. At the very least, “a sales person should be prepared to add value when they arrive.”  “A sales person will always be selling” I am told. So to suggest that you would like to meet with a new prospect for any reason other than to sell is hard to swallow. The longer the person has been selling, the more ingrained this dogma.

Many believe it wouldn’t be honest to propose a sales person could want to meet with a new prospect for any reason other than to sell them. They are correct of course, if in fact that is their intent for meeting. And why wouldn’t it be? That’s what we are, sales people. We sell.

First Approach is big on authenticity, salespeople conducting themselves with honesty and credibility. The suggestion that a sales person would want to meet with a new prospect for any reason other than to sell would in fact be dishonest if the intent was to sell. Where is it written that a first sales call requires selling?

Sales professionals are always taught to be the authority, the expert, the one who will bring value and insight to the client, not the other way around. Again, this canon has been embedded into most sales people’s noodles from the day they began selling. Problem is, this approach is seldom well received. Moreover it rarely addresses what is probably most important and topical to a prospect on any given day. That, as in what is important that day, is a highly fluid dynamic, a moving ball, if you will. It is most always about which ever problem or fire happens to be de rigueur that day. In other words, impossible to predict.

What if we were to change seats at the table? What if we took the time to tap into something even more valuable than dumping our product or service message into a new set of ears? The brain that lies between those ears.

The truth is, a sales person can never be as knowledgeable about a client’s world as the client is themselves, nor will they have a high probability of being able to address a client’s pain on that day, the moving ball. Prospects, new clients, usually posses a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, insight and, information that any sales person would be all the richer to know. Sales people can be and are experts in their field, but there is no greater expert on the client’s field than the client themself.

If you want to be more successful in your sales career, and you want to meet more new and interesting clients, try modifying your approach and ask yourself the question … what can I learn from them, the prospect, rather than what can they learn from me?

If you buy into the concept that clients offer value through what they know, then you should have no problem approaching someone new for the purpose of learning from them. If that is genuinely your agenda, then you can leave selling to another time. Chances are, you may never attempt to sell this new client. You may discover that there is no fit. You may identify that you’re unable to offer value and if so, so what? You’ve met another client. You’ve added a new relationship to your contact base. You have grown your relationship capital.

B2B sales, particularly as the average transactions become bigger and bigger is a marathon, not a sprint. It is virtually impossible to sell anything in a first meeting. Unfortunately, that’s how most of us have been trained.

Me? I ask new prospects if they would be willing to help me. If they would spend a short and reasonable amount of time with me so I can pick their brain, learn from them, absorb their wisdom. And guess what, when I get the meeting, that’s exactly what I do. I listen. I absorb. If they ask about me or my product, I am willing to engage but that is never my intention or expectation and I never initiate that discussion.

The result? I meet new and interesting people all the time. Sometimes it’s just a quick chat. Sometimes the meeting can last significantly longer than originally scheduled. Sometimes I leave with a new relationship. Sometimes I leave with a request to follow-up with this new person. And sometimes, I get a specific request to start my sales process. The final result?

My business grows.