Salesperson or Servant?
For the salespeople used to hearing ABC, SPIN, and other acronyms you might be wondering what in the world Saku is talking about 🧐
At Finders Seekers, our company leadership culture could best be described as servant leadership – focusing on others first, sharing power, and helping everyone develop into the best version of themselves. Well, servant sales is based on the servant leadership methodology. Read on to find out what it means to us!
What do the 10 concepts of servant sales mean to us and our partners?
1. Listening
💡 For Finders Seekers
Our “sales calls” are not the traditional pitch – we believe in active listening. In traditional sales meetings, salespeople listen in order to figure out the right moment to start their pitch. In servant sales, the aim is to listen to understand. We focus on asking the right questions to understand our partners’ goals, dreams, challenges, and more!
💛 For our partners
Our partners generally don’t feel they’re being sold to. For our meeting to be successful, we want to leave them feeling like we have gained a deep understanding of their current situation, and have arrived at some shared learning. Only through thorough conversations can we truly understand the key challenges our partners are looking to solve. Instead of treating the symptom, we aim to understand the cause.
2. Empathy
💡 For Finders Seekers
Empathy is one of the cornerstones of our work – we always speak our minds with the best intentions at heart 💛 For us, it’s super important that our partners feel we understand their situation, problems, and challenges. By demonstrating that we can put ourselves in their shoes, we end up with the best results. Sales also acts as an unofficial “internal happiness manager” for our consultants, so it’s empathy all’round!
💛 For our partners
When we show empathy, the connection and conversations become more meaningful. The main goal, empathy-wise, is to leave our partner with the feeling that even if we don’t start a business relationship today, the conversation was still very valuable and gave us food for thought.
3. Healing
💡 For Finders Seekers
In order to heal, we must understand. For us, this ties in with the first two points, listening and empathy. You can think of it like going to the doctor – if you fracture your wrist you’re going to need something different than if you have the flu. In order to fix the problem, solve the challenge, or heal the pain, we need to look at the full picture and make our diagnosis case by case. Each case is unique and should be treated as such.
💛 For our partners
Healing involves helping our partners solve their organizational challenges and reach business goals, but there is also healing on a personal level. What does our individual counterpart need, what do they want to achieve, and how can we help them get there? As bold as it sounds, we truly believe that working with us also boosts employee engagement and wellbeing. One of the most frequent comments we get from our partners is “it’s so much FUN to work with you!”
4. Awareness
💡 For Finders Seekers
Awareness for us covers a few different levels. First, are we aware of our partners’ needs, and what they’re looking to achieve? Second, are we aware of everything we could do to help? The range of solutions we have to offer is so broad that sometimes we know we can help, but also know there’s someone at Finders Seekers better equipped to talk about that solution – so maybe we should have another meeting where one of our specialists could take the conversation further.
💛 For our partners
We aim to increase our partners’ own awareness of their situation, broaden their perspective, and offer tools and methods on how they can improve. In practice, this can look like suggesting creative solutions for their problems: “You’ve always done A, but have you thought about B? How about C? Other companies are actually combining D with E, is that something you’ve considered?” or “I would suggest continuing doing A on your own, but also testing out C with us, it could really be a valuable addition to your situation.” Whatever the situation, there’s generally something an external point of view can add.
5. Persuasion
💡 For Finders Seekers
Being salespeople, we of course can’t forget the SALES part. Our job is to ensure we persuade the right partners to start working with us – this means we have structured sales conversations to determine the right time and the right type of partnership with the companies we speak with. After all, winning the right deals ensures our consultants stay engaged too 😎
💛 For our partners
At the end of the meeting, our partner should have a clear idea of how they can move forward. We make sure to help them gather all the tools and arguments they need to build a compelling business case and get the ball rolling on their end.
6. Conceptualization
💡 For Finders Seekers
Without a joint vision, we’re just another recruitment agency. But, with our vision to help our partners win the tech talent game, we can work together to conceptualize a joint future. A future where our competitive advantage becomes part of our partner’s core strategy in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent.
💛 For our partners
One size does not fit all when it comes to talent acquisition strategies and magnetic employer branding. That is why we envision, together with our partners, what the future should look like for them. We ask smart questions, challenge established thinking, and invest time in conversations before becoming partners. This ensures that once we embark on a partnership we have a shared vision, and that vision is clear to everyone involved.
7. Foresight
💡 For Finders Seekers
R&D is part of our DNA, and we’re constantly A/B testing our new concepts. This means that we find or build solutions to challenging problems our partners are facing, and we’re continuously piloting innovative initiatives to find the best solution. We communicate with our growing team of experts and continuously learn from each other. From a salesperson’s perspective, the key to being a servant is sharing all our foresight with the team on a regular basis. It’s also equally important to know what’s happening in current projects to be on top of the game and continuously evolve one’s own thinking.
💛 For our partners
Not only do we share learnings within our own team, but we also do so with our partners. This ensures that they don’t make the same mistakes as others have in the past. Our partners can trust that they get a modern approach to solving complex problems. Sharing wisdom is part of our value proposition as a strategic growth partner.
8. Stewardship
💡 For Finders Seekers
We like doing sales and we take pride in doing sales the Finders Seekers way. This is the core of being genuine. As we truly enjoy our work and believe in our process, it’s natural and easy to guide others forward.
💛 For our partners
We want to put our partner’s mind at ease. We take notes, we make sure the next steps are clear, and we do all our operational tasks diligently and in a timely manner. Communication is key to good stewardship.
9. Commitment
💡 For Finders Seekers
Commitment starts from within, from the core values to the ways we do things at Finders Seekers. We’re very committed to our own team’s development and well-being, offering opportunities to learn and grow, and making sure that people are happy and reaching their full potential. We are not afraid to try new things – sometimes we fail but always we learn.
💛 For our partners
We’re in it for the long haul. We’d rather work with fewer partners, but work closely and grow together. Our oldest partners have been with us from day one, and throughout all our partnerships we’ve ensured their growth – helping them become Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding experts in the long run. We always aim to support both the organization and the individual we are working with, with our ultimate goal being we won’t be needed anymore. You’ve grown wings, now fly on your own!
10. Building community
💡 For Finders Seekers
If you truly want to serve your partners, you need to help them find the best solution for their needs – for us, this sometimes means suggesting another service provider who’s a better fit (or can help more urgently if our consultants are currently fully booked). To do this, we invest a lot of time getting to know other people and companies in the industry, making connections, and learning about the best services out there.
💛 For our partners
Our partners can rest easy knowing that we’re looking to find the best solution for them, whether it’s our service or someone else’s. We also suggest our partners’ solutions to other companies we discuss with (whether it’s during another sales meeting or talking with a business acquaintance), thus helping to extend our wider community to them 💡 We’re in this together – it’s us and them, not us vs. them.
Next steps for our servant sales journey
Servant sales is an exciting journey we have embarked on at Finders Seekers. It challenges us every day. In servant sales we are never ready, we’re constantly evolving together with our colleagues and partners. Servant sales is a fresh and in our opinion the nicest, most effective way to do sales. This being said, servant sales is hard! It’s difficult to live and breathe the 10 concepts discussed here, and it takes enormous hours of work and effort. But the feeling when it all works is totally worth it!
In our next servant sales blog, we will talk about how to leverage the ROSA model in sales. Stay tuned! Don’t know what ROSA stands for? Check out this article on how ROSA is leveraged in coaching.
To dive deeper into servant sales, follow this Customer think article -link to read on.
Follow Saku on LinkedIn to keep learning more about servant sales 💛
Did you like what you read about the way we do sales?
Would you need help with attracting, hiring, or retaining talent? If so, get in touch with Saku (saku@findersseekers.io)