#253 Relationships Are Not Built Overnight, But They Start With A Question

Notes:

If you are an introvert like me, you know that building relationships is not necessarily always an easy thing to do. We’re great at one-on-one interactions, but being in a group situation is a little bit of a stretch for most of us.

My guest for this episode is an introvert like me, but he is deeply fascinated with building relationships, especially in sales. He describes many critical points in the sales cycle as opportunities where we could witness “humans being humans.” In this conversation, we explore how we can build better relationships with the people who buy from us.

Brian Lewis is the Co-founder and CRO of Homerun Presales, the company behind the software Homerun, an end-to-end presales platform that modernizes presales and connects it to the organization.

Key Takeaways:

What a CRO is
What motivated Brian to start Homerun
Brian’s experience in shifting industries
Brian’s ideas on building relationships with customers
How mindfulness helps in being present in conversations
How Brian approaches his first meetings with potential customers
How to get customers to actually talk
Strategies for talking with customers who don’t seem too eager to talk
How to engage in small talk
How to keep customers talking when they have started to engage
The importance of providing context to your questions
Why the roles of everyone in a sales call should be clearly defined beforehand
How to work smoothly even with team members you don’t easily jive with
The process of building relationships with customers after the first meeting
The importance of taking notes during calls
Drawing a line between manipulative and helpful behavior
How the pandemic improved how sales are done
The benefits of meeting customers in person
How many meetings it takes to build a “real” relationship with a customer
Balancing the art and science of sales engineering

Quotes:

Along my career path, I sort of learned by doing that people buy from people. — Brian Lewis

I do enjoy talking to people. I’m not super extroverted. I’m a little bit more introverted. But I still try to enjoy the conversation. — Brian Lewis

I think being present in the conversation also just helps me think about, “Alright, who am I talking to, and why are we here, and how can we just be humans?” as opposed to anything else. — Brian Lewis

The primary objective for me is always just to get that person to talk and tell me what’s going on. — Brian Lewis

Although I don’t have a plan always, I know the things I need to ask. It’s just trying to find the right time to ask it and see if they’re going to offer it up or if I even have to ask it. That way, it is more of a conversation than a true Q&A. — Brian Lewis

Giving some context on where the question is coming from is an easy way to sort of ask some awkward questions or some very direct questions.

Build internal relationships before building external relationships. — Ramzi Marjaba

I think even one in-person interaction during a sales cycle makes a huge difference. — Brian Lewis

Yes, you could be doing other things, but it is an investment in the relationship. I think the context switching from “I had to go drive through traffic to go see them” to “I’m investing 20 minutes to get to go see them,” definitely changes the perspective a little bit. — Brian Lewis

The best learning that I’ve ever done is sort of just the learn by doing. I mean, take all the books and take all the learnings, but then when you actually apply it, that’s way better than anything anybody can tell me. So just do it. — Brian Lewis