☠️ Buyer vs Seller -> Teacher + Student
+ Memes From Caspian Lewke
The Account Executive Bootcamp is now open! There’s only 30 spots remaining, so use code VIP at checkout for a massive discount before it’s gone.
Today I wanted to go over briefly one of the most powerful topics that will be covered in the AE Bootcamp, and one that I very much regret not learning sooner in my sales career. It is the concept of Social Paradigms.
We are constantly governed by social paradigms, the unwritten, unspoken rules of how we behave with those around us. We’re in one right now, as author (me) and reader (you). If you’re phone rang right now, you’d have no issue picking it up and interrupting the reading. But if we were on a Zoom call and I was speaking, you wouldn’t pick up unless it was something serious. And even then you’d most likely excuse yourself to check your phone, otherwise it might offend me as I’m speaking to you. That’s because you and I know how to behave without anyone explaining to us when the social paradigm shifts from author/reader to speaker/listener.
Some social paradigms are positive, some neutral and some are negative. The social paradigm of buyer and seller is a negative one. It is one of conflict and competing interests. There is a buyer who wants something, is often gaurded/skeptical, and doesn’t want to make a bad decision. And there’s a seller who also wants something, wants to maximize the exchange to their benefit, and often knows more than the buyer. Those competing interests make the paradigm one of conflict, which is why so many people can recall a bad sales experience and few can recall a good one.
Your ability as a seller to shift the social paradigm from one of conflict to a more neutral or positive one like teacher and student or advisor and advisee is critical to your sales success.
For more on Social Paradigms and learning how to unexpectedly delight buyers, check out the Account Executive exclusive bootcamp!
🎉 Meme
I convinced Caspian Lewke to supply me with memes for the newsletter. Please give him a follow on LinkedIn and a shoutout if you find his stuff as funny as I do.
Me getting ready to make my first cold call of the day 😬
Events & Updates
I joined hyperbound.ai as an advisor. I love what Sai and Atul are building. Basically it’s AI buyers to practice with, but these AI bots are no joke. I got roasted by their bot Jane on a mock cold call and it was very realistic 😅
No sign up or email required to try it. Check it out for yourself and see if you can beat the bot (only 15.2% of calls lead to a meeting).
You may have noticed every newsletter I ask a poll question at the bottom to learn more about the +10,000 subscribers (of which about 6,700 read it). Here’s what we got so far:
The majority of folks prefer I add a 1-5 minute short video to every post.
71% of you are open to having a featured guest every once in awhile (the first will be my friend and elite outbound seller Jed Mahrle)
Two thirds of you are okay with me posting frequently but not on a schedule (my goal is to post 3 times a week).
An overwhelming majority (93%) said they’d be open to joining a live stream if I did one. Maybe on YouTube & LinkedIn Live?
Almost half want me to cover better discovery techniques, while the other half wants to cover demos and prospecting. I’ll try to discuss them all!
As you can tell, these polls are extremely helpful for me, so I humbly request you take the 2-6 seconds to respond.