The Selling From the Heart Blog

How Soft Skills Can Help You Earn Hard Dollars!

How Soft Skills Can Help You Earn Hard Dollars!

August 12, 20248 min read

"When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain."

Mark Twain

As we start off our time together, I ask you to think about your clients, as this quote serves as a reminder that love thrives in an environment of emotional authenticity.

By leading with your heart, you start creating the environment for deeper connections and more meaningful relationships.

Embrace vulnerability, listen actively, and enjoy the beautiful journey of love.

My sales friends, whether you want to believe me or not, this has direct impact to increasing your revenues and profits.

Let's continue to play on this quote...

When you bait with your heart, this is suggesting being open, authentic, and willing to express your true feelings.

Fishing for love with your heart involves taking risks.

This means being willing to face rejection or disappointment. This may just open the door to genuine affection and connection. My friends, this about aligning your head and your heart.

Use your brain to navigate the practical aspects of your relationships, such as compatibility and shared values, but let your heart guide your emotional engagement.

I encourage you to embrace the journey of discovering connections without overanalyzing every step or playing mental gymnastics. Allow yourself to feel and enjoy the moments that come your way.

Discover why soft skills will yield you hard dollars.

I am here to inform all of you, the faster you get to the heart, the faster you get to what matters to your clients and future clients.

Our first mirror moment:

Could a loving a heart be the pathway to client knowledge?

Could a loving heart be the key to monumental sales growth?

In a post-trust world, where trust is being questioned at alarming rates, it's become more critical than ever before for you to be transparent, human, and connect at an emotional level with your clients.

Your clients must be valued, respected, involved, and their views must be heard.

Those of you who lead with heart are better suited. By this I mean, you have the wisdom, capacity and wherewithal to positively inspire you clients to transform their businesses towards the next level of growth.

Heartfelt salespeople commit themselves to make tomorrow a better day for their clients.

Nelson Mandela eloquently said,

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination".

Intelligence and compassion together create a powerful force.

True strength lies not only in what you know but also in how you care for others. By cultivating both your intellect and your compassion, you can create a more just and harmonious world.

I ask you to think about your client relationships... Are you getting some clarity into what I'm cooking up here?

You see, heartfelt salespeople prioritize sustainability over short-term gains. They aim to build enduring and authentic relationships, as opposed to focusing solely on transactions.

Transactional thinking gets salespeople replaced.

Heartfelt salespeople recognize the importance of building genuine connections with their clients. This has them going beyond transactional interactions as they strive to understand their customers' needs, desire, and challenges.

With intentional listening and empathy, they create a foundation of trust, mutual understanding and respect. This approach allows them to establish long-term relationships built on authenticity, care and compassion for each other.

By cultivating trust and delivering consistent meaningful value, you begin creating a foundation for long-term success.

This approach not only leads you to repeat profitable business but also generates monumental amounts of referrals and recommendations. All this contributing to your sustainable growth.

Discover why soft skills will yield you hard dollars.

In a sales world riddled with all about me, selling from the heart creates the foundation known as all about we.

Selling from the Heart is a lifestyle.

It's not a fad, it's not a fly by night sales tactic, nor something you flip the switch on/off.

Emotionally secure salespeople are truly original. They are creative thinking, genuine, sincere, thoughtful and just plain ole give a rip.

Selling from the Heart professionals push the boundaries of conventional sales methods.

In working with their clients, these professionals encourage creativity, openness and mutual involvement. In turn, this provides the freedom to innovate inside various layers within their client base, yielding trust, confidence and cohesion.

Leading this lifestyle means you're carrying yourself with purpose, personal accountability, and a deep commitment to do what's right.

Integrity filled selling keeps you at the top.

Click here to order my new book, gain access to the private podcast

OPEN YOUR HEART, OPEN YOUR SALES

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

By cultivating emotional awareness and fostering empathy, you can enrich your relationships, enhance your creativity, and navigate your client relationships with greater insight.

In relationships, understanding what lies beneath the surface can strengthen bonds.

Listening to feelings and being attuned to unspoken needs can build relational bridges and close any so-called gaps.

Here's your second mirror moment:

What do your clients see when they look into your eyes?

To sell from the heart, your heart must be right.

Simply stated... hurt people hurt more people; confused people just confuse more people.

Here lies the conundrum... when many in sales come from a selfish point of view, they can never sell from the heart.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others”

Philippians 2:3-4

By valuing others and considering their needs alongside our own, you can foster stronger relationships, create more supportive communities, and lead lives that reflect empathy and compassion.

This approach not only benefits those around you but also enriches your own life by creating a more connected and harmonious client community.

A selfish-hearted rep is someone who thinks first and foremost of self. They are consumed by self-consideration. They only find satisfaction when their needs are placed at the front of the quota attaining line.

When salespeople lead with the wallet and not the heart, it comes across immediately in their body language, voice, and facial expressions.

When this self-interest becomes extreme and overrides the consideration of others (think about your clients), it will ultimately lead to negative outcomes, strained relationships and inconsistent sales.

Sowing the heartfelt seeds of your clients by building harmonious relationships, will reap you sales results beyond your wildest imagination.

Please hear me out on this one... You must come at this from a pure place. If not, you will eventually get called out on the carpet as being an empty suit and rightfully so.

Isn't the goal to help your clients function better, do their job better, and to build long term relationships?

If you can agree to this, then you must get your heart in the right place.

SERVING DRIVES CONNECTION

“Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.”

Bill Johnson

Who are you honoring and serving? Stop and reflect on that one for a moment.

It's hard to honor and serve with a selfish heart.

As stated in James 3:16 ESV,

"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice."

When these traits are present, they lead to chaos and unethical behavior.

Maybe James 3:16 should be plastered on every sales wall, just saying.

If you're not bringing your heart to what you do, if you cannot get passionate about leading where you are, then I must ask you... Why are you in sales? Is this the right place for you?

If you want to build meaningful and purposeful relationships with your clients, then you must connect at the heart level.

Vulnerability becomes your strength. It allows you to connect with your clients authentically, empathetically and with compassion.

Your heart matters the most. Your words, your messaging and your actions create a signal that you really do care about your clients. You see them for who they really are, and not a means to quota attainment.

If salespeople talk the talk, they must walk the walk.

Those salespeople who can inspire others through kindness, flexibility, support and empowerment, connect in ways that many in sales become envious of.

These heartfelt professionals always have something uplifting to say. They make their clients feel comfortable around them. They make them feel secure enough to open up with their business concerns and issues.

When you treat your clients with compassion and truly give a rip about them, they will never forget you.

When you genuinely care about your clients and prioritize their needs, you create memorable experiences that foster loyalty and trust.

SOFT SKILLS DRIVE HARD DOLLARS

Salespeople, you're in the relationship and people business. Humans are messy. Relationships are messy. What are you doing to develop these skills?

Leading a heart healthy sales lifestyle is all about people and relational skills. It's the behaviors you use when interacting with other people.

This my sales friends becomes the missing link to your doubling your sales results.

I believe committing to working with your head, heart and hands will create unbreakable bonds with your clients.

You will soon notice:

  • An improvement in client engagement

  • Innovative ideas flowing between you and your clients

  • A collaborative client community based upon trust and loyalty

  • Improved client retention, referrals and bottom-line sales results

  • Long-term and stable partnerships

  • Sales sustainability

Working with your head, heart, and hands is a continuous journey. This requires ongoing self-improvement, learning, and adaptability to meet the evolving needs of your clients.

By integrating these three elements, you establish strong connections and cultivate meaningful relationships, withstanding challenges and the test of time.

Maya Angelou brings this home,

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."

Care, compassion and heart are what will drive incremental and monumental sales results.

Isn't this what you want?

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.

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