Issue 06: Being vulnerable in Sales

Conveying confidence is, of course, an important part of your sales approach. You want to feel credible within your domain and you want to show that you are confident in your roadmap + ability to execute.

That being said, when building trust with enterprise buyers, there are moments when you can and should be vulnerable. After all, the best enterprise buyers are transparent and authentic. And this means there are moments of the deal cycle when you’re not feeling the most confident and when you need help from your champions and sponsors to continue building deal momentum.

What are some common phrases I’ve used to express vulnerability while still making progress on the deal and on building trust with my prospects?

During first call:

“It doesn’t feel like there’s an urgent need for something like our platform so is it safe to say we should revisit this down the line?”

This phrase conveys you don’t want to waste your prospect’s time and your time. It’s a great way to call out the elephant in the room while disqualifying the lead.

After the demo:

“It didn’t feel like the group was engaged during the demo. What was the backchannel chatter like and what can we do to adjust for the next meeting, if we choose to continue down the evaluation path?”

Saying something like this on a separate call after the demo builds trust with your champion and makes them feel like they are truly collaborating on the deal with you.

After a tough negotiation call:

“Your procurement officer was really stuck on $X. That’s way outside of the bounds of what I can likely provide and I’m concerned we’ll lose this partnership based on price alone. Is this truly a non starter and is there anything you can do to help with the internal conversations on your side?”

This phrasing would be used with your champion or sponsor to get to the true root of why the buying side’s negotiator is being so rigid around a certain price point. If you’ve built-up a trusting relationship throughout the sales process, your champion will give you proper guidance when you surface this type of vulnerable thinking. Note that in the phrasing you’re also conveying a firm line around discounting and how difficult it will be to bend that line.

Try these phrases out and if you’d like more consistent advice + discussion around startup sales concepts & tips, I’ve opened-up the next 100 founders to join my founder-led sales community, Zero to Hero, for FREE! Hope on board here and join our first virtual event next Tuesday, “How to confidently executive founder-led sales”🙂 

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