My wife and I saw a movie last week called Hidden Figures. It’s about a group of African-American “computers”, who were really mathematician women working for NASA. When Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer) realized that a newly invented computer mainframe was going to put them out of job. She decided to make herself become indispensable to NASA by learning the computer language.
NASA hired her to be one of the lead project engineers over the programmers. She brought the other girls along with her as well and taught them how to program the mainframe. They would have been out of a job had they not put themselves in a situation where they have become indispensable.
How this applies to sales and how you can become indispensable to your clients:
- Treat others the way they would like to be treated.
Figure out how you can be indispensable to your prospects. What value can you bring to the table that people cannot say no to? Look at your clients and prospects and think about this one thing. Give people what they want and not what you want.
- Give them stuff they don’t know they need yet.
Think about what’s on the line for your prospects. What are some of the changes that you can foresee that may be coming down the pipe in terms of your industry, business or solution that you provide that can help them recognize things they could already do now to prepare for that so they can continue to make money or reduce cost. Consider account-based selling. If cold calling works for you then great, but if not try a better way to become indispensable by giving value.
- Take the initiative.
Share ideas and concepts. Try new things. Learn new stuff. Be a doer and always do your very best.
Today’s Major Takeaway:
Find out how you can be indispensable to your prospects, clients, company, and even to your family and friends. Be the person that brings value to the table every single time.
Episode Resources:
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
How to Win Friends and Influence Others by Dale Carnegie
The Challenger Sale by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon
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