Confidence vs. Arrogance

Have you ever met a salesperson who was arrogant, obnoxious, and “never” wrong? Sadly, I am sure we all have. In sales, confidence is essential, and sometimes that quality can be misconstrued with arrogance.

When it comes to selling professional products and services, you need to have a deep understanding of your product lines; undulating from a high-level overview to a drill-down into the most nuanced details as the conversation dictates. However, you also need to understand that you do not know it all. You simply can’t. There is just too much information out there, and if your prospect suspects you are diluted enough to believe you do, that will turn them off. I have seen salespeople who will argue with their prospects or patronize them by always saying something to the effect of “oh yes, we can do that!.” And taking notes, forget it. Warning, you may be dealing with someone more concerned with their ego than providing you with authentic answers.

Simply admitting things like, “that’s interesting, I haven’t heard of that before, I will look into it.” Or, “yes, I am aware of that feature, it’s not quite ready yet in our offering, but we are investing in getting there.” This type of humility and honesty builds trust with your customers. It shows them that you are a straight shooter, concerned more with evaluating if there is a mutually beneficial partnership rather than hitting your numbers.

I recently saw someone try to pitch a C-level executive. She asked the sales professional a tough question about his product’s capability on a particular feature to test him, and his answer was brilliant. He said you know what, that use case is quite difficult, and we are just not quite there yet, but we are working on the challenge.” She smiled coolly and looked back at him and said, “I’m glad you said it was hard.” He ended up winning the business.

That said, having a little humility on your knowledge and the solutions your offering can provide doesn't give you an excuse to be lazy. We’ve all seen the salesperson whos “a natural” and doesn’t need to be bothered with the details or documentation. That is simply another permutation of arrogance. If you can’t answer your prospect’s question, be honest about it, and then make a note to research so you can be ready to address them the next time you speak.

Do you trust a waiter who doesn’t write down your order, I don’t. 9 times out of 10, they come back to ask you something again, or the meal comes out wrong (you said no lettuce on the burger, there it is). The same goes for salespeople who are too proud to take notes or document things within a sales process. He/She will “just remember” to follow up, send that email summary of outstanding questions, schedule that next call, and remember that the prospect had many unique needs. Wrong. There is no salesperson “natural” enough that they don’t need to pick up a pen and follow a process. Your CRM is your best friend, use it. If you don’t sooner or later, a client will call or reference a prior conversation, and you honestly won’t even remember their name. Don’t be fooled by arrogant salespeople who think they have beaten the system. They haven’t.

Confidence comes from doing hard work, learning your craft, and believing in your product. Not from having all the answers or skipping the tedious parts of the job. Let offering value be your guide and put in the work, your prospects, your colleagues, and your wallet will thank you for it.