PPB January 2019

W e often forget that the act of selling is about creating a preference to work with us instead of our competitors. Mindshare equals wallet share, and the intangibles that follow are a large part of what creates this preference. Likability And Rapport For a very long time we said of salespeople, “You need to be known, liked and trusted.” And for that same very long time this was true. Now it is only partially true. You also need to create economic and strategic value and have insights and ideas that benefit your client and their business. If you are going to displace your competitors, a large part of that decision will rest on whether the contacts who own this decision have positive feelings about working with you in the future. Those expectations will be shaped by the early meetings where you share your insights and build a consensus. Imagine this scenario. There is one salesperson you like. You can easily see working with them on a daily basis, so much so that you would hire them to be on your team if that were possible. A salesperson from another company is smart, but you wouldn’t want to work with them every day. If you have a choice of doing business with someone who is likable and with whom you have rapport, Eat Their Lunch Win customers away from your competition by creating a preference for them to choose you. by Anthony Iannarino all other things being equal, you choose the person you want to work with, especially if it is over a longer term. Rapport matters because relationships matter. There is one other area of likability: there is a major difference between being likable and “needing to be liked.” Having a pleasant personality is one thing, being a people pleaser is another—and detrimental to your success. Needing to be liked makes people avoid difficult conversations and conflict at all costs. Being likable means you 80 | JANUARY 2019 | THINK