The Importance of Empathy in Sales Management: Insights from Alan Versteeg, Global Chief Revenue Officer at Growth Matters

Getting to Aha! with Darshan Mehta

In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Alan Versteeg, Global Chief Revenue Officer at Growth Matters. Join them as they discuss conveying customer value, the use of generative AI, and the role of empathy in sales. Alan also touches on the future of sales, and the role of sales managers.
Alan Versteeg is an engineer turned sales management expert with over two decades of experience in the sales industry. He is the Global Chief Revenue Officer at Growth Matters, who aim to drive sustainable growth in businesses by embedding practical sales execution disciplines. Previously, Alan was the founder of HiredResults (2011 - Aug 2013), and served as the Master Affiliate | South AfricaMaster Affiliate at Frontline Learning (2011 - 2012).
KEY TAKEAWAYS
👉 Alan emphasizes the importance of customer insights in driving business success and shares his frustration with the lack of focus on sales managers in training and development programs. He believes that without investing in sales managers, no amount of training or enablement can have a sustainable impact on sales performance. When asked about the top three characteristics of an effective sales manager, Alan highlights the importance of understanding the broader role of driving customer value, having a passion for unlocking potential in others, and the ability to remain steadfast in the chaos of the sales environment.
👉 Discussing the topic of customer value and how to convey it to salespeople, Alan explains that value is about relevance and closing the gap between customer expectations and experiences. He suggests that salespeople need to be continuously focused on understanding what value means to their customers and engineering systems to close that gap. Darshan and Alan discuss the Socratic method of selling, which involves asking questions to guide customers to insights and deeper understanding, and agree that this approach is effective in establishing a connection and solving customer problems.
👉 Alan believes that empathy is the most important human trait for a salesperson as it enables them to step into the customer's shoes and understand their needs and challenges. Empathy fosters curiosity and customer-centricity, which are essential for building strong relationships and driving sales success. He emphasizes that if people want to connect with you, they show interest in you, and empathy is about understanding what others are going through. Alan adds that objection handling is a lack of empathy, as empathy can prevent objections from arising in the first place. They discuss the concept of “noble intent” and how it can be trained to improve empathy. By focusing on the right mindset and meaning, salespeople can build empathy by asking good questions that lead customers to insights and show that they care about their world.
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And connect with the host and guests here:
Darshan Mehta on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehta
Darshan's Twitter - @ahainsights
iResearch Website - https://iresearch.com
Alan Versteeg on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanversteeg
Growth Matters website: https://www.growthmattersintl.com

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Previous guests include: Kristin Luck, Shep Hyken, Whitney Dunlap-Fowler, Randy Krum, Gerard Ibarra, Jamie Flinchbaugh, Katie Anderson, Rebecca Brooks, Brooke Sellas, Dan Gingiss, Phil Irvine, Dan Fleetwood, Nicholas Zeisler, Katrina Noelle, Laura Beavin-Yates, Kalil Vicioso, Mo McKibbin, Bryant Leech and Louie Gravance.
Check out the 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Welcome to Getting to Aha!
• Making Good Decisions with Gerard Ibarra, Author of "Good Decisions, Better Outcomes”
• The Simplicity of Leadership with Katie Anderson

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