Authenticity in a Scripted World: How Do YOU Do It?

[dejuan.brown]

So I came across a list of ‘Best Practices’ to ensure authenticity in conversations. The first suggested using personal anecdotes, then there was advice about more active listening, which are both great points. My initial thought revolved around just being spontaneous. It made me wonder how we navigate what seems to be a very fine line between being genuine and following a “protocol of professionalism” in sales.

Personally, I find that while guidelines can help, nothing beats moments that catch both parties off guard (I suppose these are pattern interrupts of a sort), leading to genuine connections. But I know not everyone feels this way, and there are solid reasons for both approaches. We’ve all faced moments where we had to decide between “winging it” or sticking to the plan.
Some things I’ve found effective in the quest for authenticity:

-Using personal stories vs. focusing solely on product details.
-Admitting you don’t have all the answers vs. always trying to provide a solution.
-Addressing the elephant in the room or glossing over potential product limitations.

What do you think? In sales, is it better to be a master process-follower or a master improviser? What’s been your experience, and how do you strike the right balance?

[Rupert]

I like the term master improviser, @dejuan.brown. I’d go more with that than process-follower.

Process has a time and place. A good demo probably has a fair amount or process. Getting a deal through security, legal, etc. certainly has a lot of process.

But I’m all for striving for authenticity in a customer conversation. It matters immensely that they understand the version of me outside the seller role. I want them to know a bit about what I’m passionate about, what my opinions are, and what it’d be like to sit down and grab a beer with me to watch sports. What’s most important is that I want the same from them.

Sure, I want to know their pain points and a sense of their budget. But if we can’t relate on a personal level, then there’s only the two dimensional aspects of the product and the deal to fall back on. That’s not interesting enough for the long haul ahead in enterprise.

You asked how to strike a balance. That comes down to more improvisation, IMO. Let’s say you kick off a call and find yourself bullshitting nicely with a customer. You know you eventually have to pivot to business. But there’s an art to transition. No one likes to feel scolded for small talk, so you have to guide the conversation at the right moment. And you have to think ahead to call-backs you can have on what you’ve talked about at the beginning.

Wave their personality (and yours) into every conversation. Build your interest in them by bringing what you know of them into the conversation more and more. Do the same with yourself.

The more you know, the more improvisation you can bring to the process parts of the cycle.

One thing I like to do is build a series of slides specific to the customer. I take some prospecting findings, bring in some competitor data, and then create some slides about why my solution will fix their pain. I create a narrative in slide deck form, but never show the customer. Those are just for me.

What I’m doing is building a process-driven narrative, and then mastering that material so I can improvise on the fly.

That way everything I’m talking about feels fresh off the cuff. It’s not from a slide deck full of text and visuals. I take all the data (the personality stuff and the business stuff) and turn it into a natural conversation.

I can always follow up with slides later. But, for me, the conversations are the heart of any deal. I like to keep those as human as I can before we dive too much into the process.

[dejuan.brown]

This is solid stuff here, @Rupert - thanks so much for sharing!
“Process has a time and place” - exactly right - there’s enough process to go around in a deal cycle, isn’t it?
I love your perspective on being known *outside the role to some degree. People do business with people- and showing up as your authentic self humanizes the relationship so that it’s beyond just a transaction. I think it’s important to have a clear perspective, POV and even some stances, especially those you recognize as counter-intuitive.
“You know you eventually have to pivot to business…” YES! This has been a real challenge for early sellers I work with. That business pivot from rapport-building and small talk. My general rule of thumb is that if I’ve researched well enough, even the small talk can have a business bent. Namely, founding my rapport building in some of the insights I’ve gathered during my research.
“Wow, I’m super about your career trajectory - marketing at a start up, product management at a mid-size company and now CRO at a growth org. Were these chance moves, or are you one heck of a career chess player? I’d love to hear your career story.”
Rapport-building with natural seques into the business at hand are awesome, IMHO.

“The more you know, the more improvisation you can bring to the process parts…”
Bingo - I think you and I agree that good research opens the door for greater authenticity.
Winging it, or over reliance on a canned deck, can rob you and the prospect of a great experience -

Appreciate your insights!

[greg.nishihira]

Great post @dejuan.brown!

Honestly I do not have much more to add other than I fear sales has lost its edge in being “audible ready” and have become way too mechanical.

Yes, there is a time and place for a process, but to be 100% reliant on a process is a flawed approach.

At the end of the day, we are a people business…product just comes along for the ride. As I am learning more about The JOLT EFFECT, this could not be more relevant.

[dejuan.brown]

Great point, @greg.nishihira! I’m in the exact same boat as you.
I’d even go back to Pink, “To Sell is Human…”
Reading that book a decade ago helped reframe how I looked at our great profession.

I STILL need to read JOLT, because I’ve heard so much about it - but ultimately, you’re 100% spot on. We are in a people business. No matter the industry or vertical, decisions get made by people.
Love the “product just comes along for the ride” sentiment.

How do you practically maintain your ‘audible readiness,’ and live out your people mantra, within a sales cycle?

Does it begin with your first interaction (email, linkedin request etc), and do you have some general rules of thumb that help you keep that at center?

As an example, I believe that emails, linkedin posts, voicemails, Vidyard videos, and face to face interactions should all be in the same voice. There should never be a time when someone meets me and wonders “wait, are YOU the person who wrote me that prospecting email?”

[steve.gardner]

I agree @greg.nishihira . It is a great post.
I believe the goal is to build trust with whom we meet, which will drive how we manage the meeting/conversation.

@dejuan.brown I love your bullet about admitting that we don’t have all the answers and that our product or service can’t do everything. The worst way to build trust is by telling a customer that we do it all. In pre-meetings with internal resources, I am shocked by the fear and unwillingness of people to be upfront and direct about what we can and cannot do. The customer will always find out, and we can’t build trust if we are unwilling to be transparent.

I always start with them and their company and have them validate that we understand their pain. When someone sees that we are authentically attempting to understand them, they will, in almost all cases, help us with what we may have missed, given the time and genuine effort we have put into helping them succeed. We also discuss areas of pain that may not be on their radar, and challenge them with how they might fix their issue/s without turning the conversation into a product pitch.

I believe you have to be both a good process follower and a solid improviser. The trick is to prepare well and know when to change course during the meeting.

[ben.fanjoy]

DeJuan, thanks for posting such a thoughtful topic… one that feels incredibly important given all the emphasis these days on automation, efficiency, the rise of AI.

Striking the right balance between following the process and being a master improviser has probably been my biggest hurdle this year in breaking into sales. I feel like having a process to fall back on is key when you’re in a slump and for maintaining consistency, but I have to say that my passion comes out way more when improvising and thinking of more creative approaches.

I think it’s an incredibly important balance to strike when it comes to champion building, because you need a genuine connection and trust but a master process-follower will do more to make the buying process easy for your champion.

[dejuan.brown]

Thank you, @ben.fanjoy!

You make a great point about AI, automation & efficiency here too.
I agree, these developments and trends have an interesting effect on sellers, right?

As with any tool, we do well to be mindful of what they do for us, AND what they do to us.
In the quest for great processes to equip and enable our champions, AI can be a great ally.

For example, I’ve leveraged it for high-level industry/company research, mutual action plans, frameworks etc - which enable me to spend the lion’s share of my time really aligning and connecting with my champions and other stakeholders at a deep level.

In this way, I’ve *nearly automated much of the necessary process, giving me additional flexibility in the areas that are positively impacted by improvisation.

I appreciate the challenge, especially coming into the industry initially. There seems to be so much process that it can be a struggle not losing your “youness” in an effort to dot i’s and cross t’s.

I feel that - and experienced it for a LONG TIME as well. Recognizing that your passion has room to breathe in the context of improvisation is awesome, and is a major key.
Your passion is contagious, and strikes your clients at the emotional level.

And we know that the mind justifies what the heart desires
The balance is not easy at all, though I think there are some practical steps to help lean into that passion, while not shortstopping the necessary process to actually get a deal done.

I’d love it if you could make it to the roundtable on this topic- what you already know will be great adds to the conversation, and some folks who have already commented here will likely have some awesome actionable insights that might also help. You AND me
Thanks for the comment too!

[dejuan.brown]

Thanks @steve.gardner!

The willingness to be upfront with your own solution’s SWOT analysis has proven a powerful way to build trust, and proactively address hidden elephants in a cycle for me as well.

I think it’s interesting that so many will encourage sellers to ‘disqualify quickly,’ but simultaneously conceal things that might be deemed deal breakers for buyers.
Being up front and transparent is the way -
I think one challenge in this area comes when we treat questions as if they were objections.
“does your solution integrate with X?”
“Well, we can do XYZ” (Huh?)
If the answer is no, that’s the most appropriate response, right? Asking why that’s important, or if that’s important has often lead to us finding out it’s not - but was just a question LOL
Fighting against it as if it’s an objection erodes the trust we’re speaking about.

“I always start with them and their company and have them validate that we understand their pain.”
I love this, and agree wholeheartedly.

I’ve said that it’s critical that we research enough to have an informed POV to bring to the table - for either confirmation or correction - either of which is great!

The theme I’m gathering from some of the comments here is that good preparation is the chief enabler of improvisation.

I think of comedians who have their material so down pat, flowing in and out of script is effortless for them. I imagine it’s the same for great musicians. Having the foundation set well allows us to veer off and return home because we’re clear on ‘home.’

The piece you mention about knowing ‘when to change course during the meeting’ is interesting as well.
What, if any, cues do you look for to let you know when it’s time to transition- either from the initial rapport building or elsewhere in the conversation?

Thanks for chiming in! Really appreciate the insights.

[steven.schneiderman]

I think there is a lot of focus on perfecting a two-minute pitch. While that’s important to set the stage during an intro call, being human is far more important. You need to be relatable and relevant at the same time. You need to be able to have a personal conversation to be your authentic self and also be agile enough to pivot on a dime to what you sell. This takes practice. I like role play, either with someone else, or simply talking to myself, playing both roles. I think recording yourself on video is important. Record your Zoom or Teams call with camera on and watch your body language, listen for your tone, look at your eyes/gaze, smile, are you a nervous talker, do you take breaks and give the customer a chance to share/talk, are you using silence as a tool, are you asking good questions that can’t be answered with a yes/no response, are you showing a genuine interest in the other person and listening to what they are saying or are you jumping to solutioning?

Strongly suggest Dale Carnegie Course in Human Relations. Teaches you how to talk about anything off the cuff, feel more comfortable speaking, and a million other things too long to list here. I’ve taken the course, taught the course and reread the books often.

[jack]

I’ve found that while sales need to be process-driven meetings need to be dynamic,
I always start with the desired outcome and back into an agenda.
Beyond the agenda, I try to develop 3-4 hypotheses coming into a call, but I know I need to be comfortable operating in the unknown. As long as I recenter on my desired outcome, it doesn’t feel like I’m winging it.

[dejuan.brown]

I like that @jack: “Sales needs to be process-driven, meetings need to be dynamic.”
That’s a great way to put it!

One of the things I’ve changed over the last couple years is framing the “agenda” as “objectives.”
I’ve found that slight nuance to be helpful in framing the meeting as oriented around desired outcomes.

It’s minor, but has really freed me up in some meaningful ways to keep the dynamic nature of the meeting.

I love the hypotheses route as well - in your experience, are you developing hypotheses of value, hypotheses of need/pain, some combination - or something different?

[tim.hartwell]

Excellent words being used in this thread. “Dynamic” and “Objectives” stood out to me.

When you have clear north stars, it’s easy to drive the conversation toward those (and follow up on the key points.) Objectives keep things concise and drives momentum. They can be process-driven, but meetings are always better when there’s definitive focus.

When you have north stars in sight, it’s much easier to get loose and let your personality shine. It’s when you go into something with a LACK of focus where even the best personality in the world can’t add value to a customer meeting.

Without process, it’s going to be a wash.

[greg.nishihira]

Thanks @dejuan.brown. Great question!

Honestly, I am not sure how to answer this question. I have been struggling to appropriate answer this question and have come up blank. So here you go!

I hate to use experience and “street smarts” to explain “audible readiness” but that is the only way I can describe it.

I see many sales professionals are so locked into the process believing it will bring them to the promiseland, and if it doesn’t, they can fall back and say “Well, I followed the process.” As we all know, a sales cycle is like a roller coaster…all kinds of ups, downs, twists, and turns.

Now, how do i live out my people mantra…that is much easier, be real…be authentic and back up ever thing you say with action.

[ben.fanjoy]

Totally agree about having AI help with the necessary processes to free up more bandwidth for creativity.

Signed up for the roundtable! Looking forward to it.

[dejuan.brown]

Thanks so much to ya’ll for showing up today!
I wanted to also drop in some thoughts to expound on some of the pillars we chatted through.
I hope it’s helpful and would love to keep the conversation going!

Authenticity isn’t monolithic. It stands on three foundational pillars: Self-awareness, Transparency, and Consistency.
It’s the trinity that keeps us true to ourselves, transparent with our clients, and consistent in the things we do.

Improvisation vs. Process:

Authenticity often brings to mind spontaneity and genuine reactions. But how does this align with our well-defined sales processes? Striking a balance between improvisation and process can be the key to authentic yet effective interactions.

Personal Storytelling:

Stories resonate. Sharing personal anecdotes isn’t just about being relatable; it’s about building bridges of understanding and trust. It’s the age-old art of connecting through shared experiences.
I once heard it said that sales is confidence transferred across a ladder of trust. No better vehicle of transfer than stories.

Honesty + Transparency:

Authenticity thrives on truth. In sales, this means being upfront about our products’ strengths and limitations. It’s about setting realistic expectations and fostering long-term trust. Hunting for risks and potential areas that we don’t fit. That’s not a bad thing, ya’ll

Being “Audible-ready”

In an age of constant distractions, being “audible-ready” means being present, attentive, and responsive. Think “improv - as YOU” It’s about truly listening and adapting to the conversation, ensuring genuine engagement.

Bringing out your Passionate Side:

Passion is catchy, ya’ll. When we’re passionate about our customer’s problems and potential solutions, it’s evident. It’s about showing genuine enthusiasm and belief in what we’re selling.

Working Backwards from a Desired Outcome: (Objectives over Agendas)

Authenticity is also about intentionality. By envisioning desired outcomes, we can reverse engineer our approach, ensuring that our actions and interactions are both genuine and purpose-driven. Flexibility is sort of built in in this case, IMHO