Naked Sales: How Design Thinking Reveals Customer Motives and Drives Revenue

"ask plenty of why questions to make sure you understand the motivations of the people involved. Never assume you prolleng know these. Be on the lookout for passion! When you hear the tone or pace of their voice change, or, if in person, you see how much they care about something, you must ask prowm, them about it: "It seems as though this step causes you and your team some friction; why is that so important to the entire proce6s here?" Warning: don't make the mistake of assuming that just because you've encouraged the interviewee to share a specific story, you can hit cruise control and lean back in your seat. Great storytelling is a two-person dance. The storyteller needs a great listener to bring their story into the light of day. This is where your supercharged curiosity converts an average discovery session into an amazing conversation. Sharing a personal story takes effort, and it's revealing, which can make people feel vulnerable. They need to know you're in it with them so that they'll feel safe enough to share the juicy details you need to understand if you're going to do great discovery."

"Having worked with hundreds of sales professionals, we've found it's easier to get-and remain-curious to the extent we practice noticing four specific Design Thinking prompts in the course of discovery. As we do this, it's astonishing how quickly we become expert observers. These prompts can be readily found both in new accounts, as well as in existing accounts we're seeking to grow. And these prompts are EVERYWHERE-just waiting for us to call them out. They're a powerful antidote to our habitual mindsets; they help us fight the gravitational pull of converging on a solution by expanding our focus and our conversation with the client. The more we start to notice, the more we see, and this leads to bigger, more authentic conversations. Here are those four prompts: surprises, hacks, passion, and inconsistencies."

"It all goes back to the model of desirability, feasibility, and viability. Feasibility and viability can't be ignored; you're in business to make money after all, but if you can't speak to desirabilitywhat clients care about with an authentic point of view-you're at a competitive disadvantage. As a sales manager, there's a big payoff to be had by focusing on what's desirable and interesting to your sales teams and their clients. We don't need to convince you that numbers matter. We do want to hammer home that these other things matter even more because they're ultimately what drive the numbers. Just as we've cautioned the salesperson in this book, don't let numbers be your Achilles' heel as the sales manager."

"It's a cyclical process because trusted relationships are timeless. Acceleration leads back to discovery for another possible deal. Every step is designed to move you forward. but there is no end. Good discovery leads to interesting insights, which can help you accelerate toward solutions. That leads to even more discovery, more insights, and bigger solutions. We separate the three phases to distinguish the three mindsets, but our model is nơnlinear. You're never done with discovery, insight, or acceleration. Even when you're accelerating, you're still doing discovery and gathering insight. You're always building this perpetual motion to move your client forward and, yes, make your number."

"Insights also offer value to the extent they inspire us. As we connect dots along the journey of our discovery, our growing insights keep us intrigued and motivated. They can even point us in new directions as we connect more dots. Ideally, our insights inspire our customers by revealing a novel point of view to them, even if it's considering something they hadn't reviewed for a while and elevating Its priority. Typically, the power of an insight correlates directly to its degree of "non-obviousness." The less predictable your insight, the more likely it will be considered valuable by your client."

"Under the pressure to perform, our seemingly successful habits can turn us into revenue drones-we're good at spotting things from a distance, but we're still missing what's important on the ground. As such, we kill the creativity required in a disruptive market. To survive, salespeople need to shift from experts to collaborators. This means learning to understand customers well enough to codesign solutions for their ever-evolving needs. We're no longer living in a seller-buyer world. Success in this new world is achieved by sitting on the same side of the table."

"Whenever someone mentions a process or tool they use to do their work or accomplish a task, ask them to show it to you. Have them walk you through what they do, step by step, while you ask questions, either in person or via screen- or video-sharing. Someone might tell you they have an excellent reporting tool with great functionality. Ask them to show it to you. Maybe it's just an Excel spreadsheet. Unless you ask them to show you, you'll never know. They may have a hack with which they're more than comfortable."