EXTRA EXTRA

A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group

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“I’m not built to do sales.”

So many founders silently carry this self-limiting belief from sales call to sales call. It was a story I told myself a lot, in fact.

But the stories we tell ourselves often aren’t true. You know, stories like, "if I catch the next subway, I'll be three minutes late max," or “scrolling before bed definitely won’t give me anxiety or stress dreams.”

We tell ourselves we couldn’t possibly be good at sales, and that story just isn’t true.

Last week, we tackled the myth that you should build first, and sell later. Now, let’s pull apart two more misconceptions about which kind of founders can successfully lead sales.

Myth: Good salespeople are extroverts.

Lots of founders feel like they don’t match the extroverted caricature of a sales rep. But it’s just that – a caricature.

I went to college with a guy who was incredibly quiet. Let’s call him Tim. He was just one of those guys who you’d see sitting with his friends listening, but not saying much.

After graduation, he and a few of his friends – who were all quite gregarious – got sales jobs at the same software company.

As it turned out, Tim blew them all out of the water and was the top seller at the entire company for years. He surpassed his quota quarter after quarter.

At the time, I was perplexed. “Out of all those guys… Tim is the sales genius?!” But now it all makes sense.

Effective sales comes less from being chatty or extroverted, and more from actively listening to your buyers.

Gong, the revenue intelligence software, analyzed millions of sales calls, and consistently found that top performers listen more than they talk. Specifically, the "golden ratio" for sellers is talking 43% of the time, and listening for the remaining 57%.

The best sales reps didn’t just listen more. They asked better questions and built a stronger rapport. These reps closed more deals, whereas reps who spoke too much – especially for more than 65% of the call – had lower win rates.

With early-stage sales in particular, it’s critical that we get prospects talking so that, even if we don’t close them, we can learn about how they see the world.

I believe introverts have a natural advantage in hitting the golden ratio – often more so than extroverts who might instinctively fill silences and overload prospects with product info. That certainly seemed to be the case for my old friend Tim.

You don’t need to be outgoing to be good at sales. It’s far more important that you listen closely and prioritize your curiosity about your customer over hearing yourself speak.

Myth: Sales requires persuasion.

Many founders imagine that some level of persuasion must be required to get buyers to take a chance on their early product. This is a dangerous misconception, as it can steer you toward gimmicky tactics rather than genuine connection, which makes closing deals harder than it already is.

Sure, we want to ask the prospect questions that help them recognize and communicate their problems and pains. But we don’t ask questions so we can manipulate or persuade them to buy.

The true purpose of running a curious, early-stage sales conversation is threefold:

1. To understand if the prospect’s problems and perspective are a good match to what we’re building
2. To gather insights that can inform and improve our product approach and our messaging
3. And most importantly, to identify if we can genuinely help them

Magic happens when you drop the impulse to persuade, and embrace service. With this shift, we transform sales from tactical maneuvers and Hail Marys to straightforward, honest collaboration.

Taking a service-oriented approach feels so much better for both the seller and the buyer. Prospects can feel efforts to persuade, manipulate, or cajole. They can smell it. Conversely, they will feel your genuine interest in making their life a bit easier, and that feeling of respect and care will go a long way.

The more we imbue the entire sales process with an attitude of service, the better your sales calls will feel, and the more prospects will pull themselves towards you and your solution – if they’re a fit. And, if they’re not a fit, no amount of persuasion will turn them into a satisfied customer. You didn't want them to buy anyway. I promise.

Over the next few weeks, I’ve got two challenges for you to noodle on:

1. How much are you listening to the average prospect? How might you approach your next sales call differently to get closer to the golden ratio?
2. How can you be even more service-oriented in your next sales call?

I’d love you to play around here and notice what feels different. Then, email me with what happened! I want to hear it all.

See you in two weeks for the final entry of this series!

This is Extra Extra, a newsletter about the tactics and mindsets that drive early sales. I’m Caroline Fay, and I’m an exited social impact founder that’s spent my career launching and selling new products. I help non-traditional tech founders build sustainable, recurring revenue.

Caroline Fay

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