A couple of years ago I read a book that shifted my thinking around what constitutes prosperity and running a successful business. The book, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, led me to embrace the term ‘conscious’ in the business sense and eventually I coined ‘conscious selling’ as a framework for results.
What I read around business ethics generally was inspiring and intriguing but, at a higher level, I felt something was missing.
There was a lack of discussion around the sales function, specifically the ‘capital’ part of conscious capitalism and how the sales landscape has turned upside down over the past decade, completely disrupting the sales role.
Assessing assumptions
Firstly, whenever I mention conscious selling to people, there are a couple
of assumptions they make as to its meaning: the first is that people are not unconscious and therefore are with us in mind, body and spirit.
As a direct result, these people are able to perform their roles from an energetic perspective.
The second is that people have a consciousness that aligns with their levels of competence. They are aware and can adapt to the skills and mindset gaps impacting their results.
Both assumptions clearly have their place but there is another meaning to the word ‘conscious’ in the context of business – it is the desire and intention to sell on purpose, to align and adjust to what is important in the cut and thrust of this money-making role.
A huge part of this is understanding the importance of earning money.
If you want to make an impact and you want to light up your world or even the wider world, you need to be able to pay the power bill.
Asking the right questions
Let’s go back and apply the concept of ‘selling on purpose’ to the role of the salesperson and respond to the five key questions of conscious selling.
How many salespeople are conscious when doing a deal?
Those who have the energy and foresight to be present to the conversation, who use what I have adapted as the ‘third eye’, poised for intuition, intention and insights.
How many salespeople are conscious of what their ideas, products or services mean to the end user?
It is those who have the ability to adapt their conversations on the fly, realising business conversations are not about what you sell but the emotional difference you are selling.
How many salespeople are truly aware of the responsibility they hold?
It is those employees who understand the ‘problem behind the problem’.
Put another way, these employees know how their deal or sale might save a business from going under, might help their client stay afloat, or might have a ripple effect on the greater community.
These salespeople take their role seriously and see it as part of a larger whole.
How many salespeople understand that two degrees of separation is not just a cliche´ but is a truth, and that we are all connected?
We are just one mouse click away from being seen for the value we provide others, online and offline – and the opposite applies too.
Conscious sellers are those open to adjusting their old beliefs in order to provide that value.
How many salespeople can comfortably lose sight of their commission, detach from their need to close and instead offer a solution is truly right for the client, the company and themselves?
Those who have the emotional intelligence to bring a ‘whole-of-self’ approach to the market are able to align themselves to common values.
Vulnerability, transparency, and engagement are attributes that conscious salespeople have in spades and when authenticity, relevance and intention ooze out of them, it creates huge deposits of goodwill in the minds of buyers.
Finally, it is those employees who are not afraid to test their beliefs for a fairly-negotiated win-win scenario because their need for respect is stronger than their need to discount.
We know the sales environment is changing just as the world is changing around it and we are relentlessly bombarded with the message that the buyer is changing also.
When taken on board and acted upon, conscious selling can create huge forward strides. Consciousness leads to change, and change is what we are all really selling.