Welcome to another episode of Connect and Convert or

small business owners can learn insider secrets to accelerate their sales.

Hi, I am Dennis Collins and I'm joined by my partner today.

Say hi.

Hi.

I am Leah Bumphrey.

Hi, Leah.

Good to have you back.

Thank you.

Today we're gonna talk about curiosity.

Curiosity, the salesperson's secret to success.

So Leah, what makes you curious?

Are you a curious person by nature?

I.

I am, I am, I actually started my work career as working in

the newsroom as a reporter.

Whoa.

And that requires a lot of curiosity.

You've gotta really wanna know, you gotta be able to ask questions.

And it has to be because there's, there's a, there needs to be a genuineness.

There's no different than a than in sales.

If you really want to know about your client's business, what

makes them successful, what's going on, what's possible?

Even if it has nothing to do with work, if you are just a curious

person, life is just more interesting.

Isn't it though?

Well, I gotta tell you, uh, uh, a little insight into my upbringing,

my family, my early family life, uh, curiosity in my family.

Too much curiosity.

No bueno.

No good.

Not allowed.

That's not polite.

Son.

You don't ask those questions.

That's none of your business son.

Don't ask about that.

That's private.

That's creepy, nosy.

And then there was always that I never understood this curiosity killed the cat.

I don't know.

That's, what does that mean?

That's kind of, I have no idea.

But anyway, you know, kid, that's

kids have a natural kids, children have a natural curiosity and it's

not, malicious, and it's not self-serving.

They just want to know.

I remember -you'll get a kick out of this- I remember sitting on my Uncle Bill's lap

and I had heard that, that he was rich.

I'd heard this somewhere in conversation somewhere.

So I wanted to see his wallet.

Uncle Bill, show me your wallet.

How much money is in your wallet?

Just for a kid who's four or five, what does that mean?

Right?

So I wanted to see what was in there while my parents almost,

oh my gosh, almost died.

Yes.

And it was, I, I remember that as a, Oh, you're not supposed to, but why?

Why is that a bad question?

Why can't I ask that?

I wanted to see what being rich looked like.

I love that.

No, money in my family was never discussed, ever, uh, ever, ever, ever.

We never knew how much our parents earned.

They never asked me how much I earned when I was out making a living.

It was just not a topic, but in sales.

What if you have an aversion, a lack of curiosity about money,

can you succeed in sales?

Well, today we're gonna talk about that and some other issues.

What role does curiosity play in sales?

Um, what can you do with curiosity in a sales conversation?

Uh, can you be too curious?

Is it possible to get a little creepy curious?

So stay tuned because we will reveal today.

What does science tell us is one of the most reliable predictors of sales success?

We've got that for you.

We'll also, we'll cover this and more, but first, stay tuned.

Also, we have for the entire episode because we're gonna have our

questions, you ask and we answer.

We're going to have our breakthrough challenge.

We are going to challenge you with the possibility of earning a free

seat to a Wizard Academy future class, and we'll talk about how this stuff

actually works in real life, real-life examples of what we talk about.

So, but first let's talk about Wizard Academy.

I was there not long ago.

It just is so.

Uh, invigorating.

Walking the campus, everything on the campus.

Leah is symbolic of something.

Everything has a meaning.

And then you go to class and your brain explodes.

Explodes in a good way.

I.

I'm sure you've had that same experience.

Absolutely.

I don't think you can walk through the academy without being curious.

What does that mean?

How come, why?

Yes.

Roy Williams, one of his, one of the questions that he advises to

ask children, we're back to kids in curiosity, is not, do you want, what?

What do you wanna do when you grow up?

But ask kids what they're curious about.

That will give you insights into, into how you can help them.

Kids business, the academy.

It all comes together.

Wizard academy.org.

Do yourself a favor, check it out.

Look at the list of classes for 24 24 and sign up.

You'll be glad you did.

Hope to see you there.

So Leah, let me ask you, have you ever heard the expression, uh, play like

you're the dumbest person in the room?

Have you ever heard that?

I have.

I have.

Uh, how do you feel about that?

I.

Well, you know, it goes against everything we believe.

'cause I want you to think I'm pretty smart, Dennis.

I don't want to sit there and have you wonder what the heck's

with the gal in the corner.

I, for one, do not like to play the dumbest person in the room.

Uh, you know, maybe it's our per our social style types, you know?

Mm-Hmm.

We need to be dominant.

We need to be in control.

I hate it.

But guess what?

What if you act like you're the smartest person in the room, what happens?

What happens?

And you Well, and and that's how you alienate people.

That's how you start talking down to people.

That's how you start telling them.

That's how you stop being curious because you already know everything.

So it's all about defining terms.

What does it mean to be the dumbest person in the room?

What does that actually mean?

Yeah, it's just means ask questions.

But you know, the funny part is you're not

the dumbest person in the room.

The, the key word there is you pretend to be or play as if you

are the dumbest person in the room.

Okay.

Have you, you've heard this before, learner's mindset.

What, what does that mean to you, Leah learner's mindset?

Uh, well, I mean that, I've also heard it expressed

as being in humble student mode.

Yes.

That's another good one.

What can you, what, what can you learn?

You're not, you're not poking somebody to show them how stupid they are.

You're actually tapping into them to find out what, how can you make me better?

What should I know about this situation?

That's a great way of saying it.

Yeah.

I've always heard it as learners mindset.

What is learner learners mindset is I, I don't know, you know, things that I

don't know, and I'm, I'm going to ask you the right questions to unlock that.

I'm going to unlock your knowledge, what, you know, how does that help in sales?

The more you know, that's the more you know how to help, right?

Yeah.

Uh, if you assume, if you go into a sales conversation and assume that you

know everything, the client's gonna say, well, I know what you're gonna say.

I've been through this a hundred times.

And you don't ask the right questions.

You don't listen.

You have, I'm the smartest guy in the room mindset.

Which you probably are smarter than them in your chosen field.

What does that get you?

That gets you a no sale, no sale.

Curiosity, on the other hand, proper curiosity, proper amounts

of curiosity gets you a sale.

Okay, so let's talk about.

What does this look like in real life?

Okay, Leah.

So why don't you think of a brush-off or a stall or objection.

Just throw one out to me.

Something that a salesperson might hear today when they're out there.

Doing sales.

You know what?

Our budget is just tapped out in that area.

Yeah, we're gonna be sitting down, we're gonna be talking about it, but

maybe, maybe next fiscal we'll be able to sit down and talk about things.

You know, I got that Leah.

I totally understand.

This is a tough time of the year.

It's tough to understand how business is gonna go.

Most of my clients feel the same way, but, could I, could I ask, uh,

can you tell me a little bit more?

I, I wanna learn a little bit more about what you just said.

Well, we have a process that we have to follow, you know, and,

and, you know, we don't wanna have, uh, just, you know, making decisions

here, here, and here and here, but we sit down, we talk with all the decision

makers at once, see the, see what the priorities are, and then we decide from

there where we're gonna put our money.

Got it.

That's a smart process, uh, most of my successful clients do the same thing.

Uh, I'm curious though, what options do we have with that in mind,

knowing your process, uh, what would be the best way to work with you?

Well, uh, you know, I'll give you a shout when,

when we're, when we're ready.

I will give you a call and, uh, when we're ready, you know, we'll set up some time.

That's great.

I I really appreciate that.

Uh, can you give me an idea of timeframe?

What is your level of urgency?

Uh, how quickly do you wanna move?

Uh, I'd like to understand your urgency.

Well, really not feeling urgent at all.

We're pretty happy with the solutions we have in place right now, Dennis,.

Uh, yeah, once we have, you know, if we, if, if there's a bit of a splash fund, if

we have some other opportunities there.

Then we'll, we'll look at expanding what we're doing.

So maybe, you know, next quarter give me, you know, give me till then to give

you a holiday and we'll go from there.

I'll be happy to call you next quarter.

Uh, just one quick follow up question.

Uh, you mentioned you were pretty happy with the solutions that you already have.

Okay.

Help me understand, can I get some more insight on that?

Well, I mean, I have, you know, my, my team of people and

I haven't had any complaints, Dennis.

So as long as I'm not having complaints, I'm happy.

That's gotta mean they're happy, right?

Yeah.

Yep.

I understand.

We don't like complaints and happy is good.

Uh, let me ask you this, let me follow up with this.

How.

Could it possibly be better?

What could be better?

Well, it can always be better Dennis.

You know what it's like these days?

Yeah.

I'm sure you we're not the first people.

I'm not the first one to tell you that we're, you know, it's a

struggle to find the right people.

To keep the right people.

We wanna make sure, I mean, that's all, it's all, we're a, we're

a customer-driven organization.

If we do not have people contacting us, then it doesn't matter

who I have, I can't help them.

But if they contact us and I don't have somebody, what am I gonna do?

Yep.

Uh, big, big issue.

I hear it all the time, uh, that's one of the reasons we're talking.

I believe I can help.

Um, how can we help you unravel this puzzling situation?

How can we help?

I.

Well, when we get our information, as I

say, then we'll sit down.

I mean, I, I honestly Dennis, I don't have a good feel for what

it is that you are even offering.

I mean, this, you and I are just talking right now.

Preliminary.

There might be an opportunity, but, uh, you know, you were recommended

to me, but I don't know how it would fit into what we're doing.

Okay.

Could I make a suggestion?

Uh, why don't we set aside, uh, a few minutes.

Maybe 10 to 15 minutes in the near future, and I will be happy to walk you through

what it is we do because we have helped thousands of businesses just like you and

just like yours to solve this problem.

Would next Tuesday at say four o'clock be okay?

You know, you gotta be curious.

Dennis, let's, uh, why don't you call me Tuesday morning and we'll see

how the day is, is, filtering out.

But yeah, that, that sounds like it just might work.

I'll be happy to call you Tuesday morning.

Look forward to it.

And thanks for your time, Leah.

Thanks.

Dennis.

I don't know what I just bought from you, Dennis, but I'm curious.

I'll let you know.

Uh, what do you think of that?

How did it feel from the customer side?

Well, it felt like a conversation.

It felt responsive.

I never once felt that you were pushing me or that you were, you know, that you

were discounting my, my lived experience.

And that's huge.

'cause as soon as you do that, you're outta the woods.

Or in the woods.

Did you, did I feel, did it feel argumentative or

confrontational or, uh, salesy or pushy?

You know, what you were wondering And again,

what are we talking about?

Ah, curiosity.

We were wondering, you were wonder, you felt wondering.

Yeah.

You were wondering, I was wondering too.

You were curious too.

Well, what we just demonstrated was curiosity in a sales conversation.

Okay, so here's, here's the problem.

You know, I listened to hundreds of hours of recorded sales calls, so I've

got a lot of a big database on this.

Here's what happens, a question is asked, okay?

Okay.

An answer is given.

And there's no responsiveness to that answer.

They go on to a whole nother set of questions like it's some kind

of a template they're following.

What did I do with you?

I listened to your answer, and I crafted my next question

off of your answer, did I not?

That's right.

That's right.

You didn't know necessarily where you were going.

Had no idea where I was going.

Knew where you wanted to get there, but not the, how you hadn't mapped out.

I, I felt like everything you said was in response to what I had said.

Your curiosity.

Yeah.

Sparked my curiosity.

Right.

And that's, boy, that, that's beautifully said.

That's a perfect sales conversation.

My curiosity as the salesperson sparks yours enough that we set an appointment.

Yay.

Perfect.

So I'll, I'll call you next Tuesday and let you know what you bought.

Okay.

Excellent, excellent.

Okay.

And now as promised, what does science tell us about?

Sales success, a lot of stuff but regards curiosity.

A recent HBR Harvard Business Review study found curiosity was the most

significant predictor of sales success out of 90 other attributes.

Curiosity was linked to asking more questions, and here's.

The big deal follow up questions.

Don't stop with one question, and the follow up question has to be responsive

to the answer the customer gave.

One more.

A LinkedIn study.

Seventy-four percent of buyers chose to work with salespeople

who demonstrate curiosity.

They take curiosity as a signal that this salesperson is engaged, they're

listening, and they will meet their needs.

I always like to give you the science behind it.

Okay, so this week's challenge.

This week's challenge.

Improve the quality of your questions, improve your active listening

skills, improve your follow-up questions, make curiosity work

for you in a sales conversation.

Remember the format, ask a question.

Actively listen.

Ask a follow up.

Okay?

Let us know.

How did it go for you?

Dennis Collins at WizardOfAds.com and your email.

Leah, tell us your email.

Leah Bumphrey at WizardOfAds.com.

Give us a shout.

Let us know.

Because honestly, we are curious.

We are very curious.

We are curious.

One last thing.

We always promise to answer a question you ask.

We listen.

Okay.

We respond.

Leah, what's our question for today?

You know, we had one question from last week, and Dennis,

it's from a new, someone new in uh, or just starting out a sales career,

and they wanna know what is the one thing they can do to make a difference

and impress their sales manager.

They've never been in sales before.

They are all over the internet looking at all kinds of videos, including ours.

What would you suggest is the one thing that they, they do

to impress their sales manager?

Hmm?

To impress a sales manager?

Well, having been a sales manager for a portion of my life, what impressed me

most is, is someone who delivers, who takes responsibility, who doesn't make a

bunch of excuses, who takes and accepts responsibility for their own performance.

And of course.

Sales management is performance-based.

Okay.

And also what would impress me is if they asked for active coaching, Hey

boss, I need coaching in a certain area.

I know that I have a weakness over here.

I know I have a weakness over there.

Coach me or, uh uh, get me coached up.

On the stuff that I don't do well, that would impress me understanding

their strengths and weaknesses and coming and asking for help.

It's okay to ask for help.

Does that make sense?

That is real-life advice.

That is fantastic.

For sure.

Well, that concludes this edition of Connect and Convert.

We come every week with a new episode.

Be sure to listen.