How developing trust results in sales success with Harry Spaight

Welcome to The real Life Buyer podcast. Today we delve deep into the intersection of sales mastery and the world of Purchasing, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Business. Join us as we explore the transformative power of authentic sales techniques, featuring thought-provoking conversations with experts who bridge the gap between these domains. Discover how empathy, trust, and genuine connection can drive business growth, all while maintaining integrity and purpose. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, our podcast equips you with actionable insights and strategies to excel in sales, cultivate meaningful relationships, and make a lasting impact in your industry. Tune in and elevate your sales game today.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Today I am pleased to introduce Harry Spaight.

Harry became the Founder of “Selling with Dignity” in January 2021 and in November of the same year he launched, and continues to host the podcast, “Sales Made Easy”.

Harry resides at West Palm Beach, Miami and wears many additional hats, these include being a Hi-Lite Sales Coach, a Director of Sales at HGI Technologies, an author, speaker, Mentor and a volunteer for “Score”.

To learn more from and about Harry see below:

Website:     https://sellingwithdignity.com/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/harryspaight/
Twitter:       https://twitter.com/HarrySpaight1
LinkedIn:    https://www.linkedin.com/in/harryspaight/

ABOUT THE HOST

My name is Dave Barr and am the Founder and Owner of RLB Purchasing Consultancy Limited.

I have been working in Procurement for over 25 years and have had the joy of working in a number of global manufacturing and service industries throughout this time.

I am passionate about self development, business improvement, saving money, buying quality goods and services, developing positive and effective working relationships with suppliers and colleagues, and driving improvement through out the supply chain.

Now I wish to share this knowledge and that of highly skilled and competent people with you, the listener, in order that you may hopefully benefit from this information.

CONTACT DETAILS

@The Real Life Buyer
Email: david@thereallifebuyer.co.uk
Website: https://linktr.ee/thereallifebuyer

For Purchasing Consultancy services:
https://rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk/
Email: contact@rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk

Find and Follow me @reallifebuyer on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads and TikTok.

Click here for some Guest Courses - https://www.thereallifebuyer.co.uk/guest-courses/

Click here for some Guest Publications - https://www.thereallifebuyer.co.uk/guest-publications

Transcript

Harry Spaight  00:03

Welcome to The Real Life Buyer podcast. In this podcast, you will hear interviews with business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors and technical specialists in their field. These professionals will hasten your development accelerate your career and broaden your business know how, now introducing your host Dave Barr, interviewing with a purchasing twist.

Dave Barr  00:25

Hello, and welcome to The Real Life Buyer. In this episode, I am pleased to introduce Harry Spaight. Harry became the founder of selling with dignity in January 2021. And in November of the same year, he launched and continues to host the podcast "Sales made easy". Harry resides at West Palm Beach, Miami and wears many additional hats. These include being a Hi-Lite sales coach, a director of sales at HGI Technologies, an author, a speaker, a mentor, and a volunteer for "Score". I believe a buyer and a seller need to form solid relationships based on trust, respect and empathy. And so I'm extremely curious to discover the sales teachings Harry shares with his students and colleagues to gain the best outcome for both parties. So without further ado, I welcome Harry on to the podcast. Hi, how are you?

Harry Spaight  01:20

Hey, Dave, it's great to be here from not so sunny Florida today. But it's awesome to be here, sir.

Dave Barr  01:27

Excellent. We're looking forward to this, I always love chatting to sales people. So you've got a tremendous history, probably quite a diverse history, when people hear about it. Can you share some of the journey the significant events, perhaps particular crossroads that have led you to this particular point in your life?

Harry Spaight  01:46

Yeah, absolutely. So thanks, again. My journey is where I am today started really in the mission field. So my wife and I served as missionaries for helping others learn to read and so forth, spent a couple of years in the Dominican Republic, we left that lifestyle, and we wanted to raise a family. So I got involved in sales, I took my communication skills, if you will, and I applied them to sales was not so easy to make that transition because I realized things about quota and first pressure, I didn't understand what a boiler room was for making phone calls. So I had to learn all these cool things about selling in a corporate environment with quotas and responsibility and so forth. But then, after failing for a number of months, seeming like there was no hope for me, the script, the switch was turned as learn to sell coming from a place of service by being myself, which is really applying all the stuff I learned in the mission field and this awesome book I'll hold up "The greatest salesman in the world" from Og Mandino, and I lived by that book for the first year anyway. And after 20 plus years of selling leading sales teams becoming a VP of Sales for a fortune 500 company, I decided to write a book, right during the whole COVID thing to help people who are not great at sales, who are not pushy, who wanted to be better and grow a business. And I said, you know, I can help those people. So that's what I did. Was that fast enough?

Dave Barr  03:24

That's quite, quite as you say, a transition from being a missionary, you're there, we're there to help people support people guide people have lots of empathy with those people. And people don't necessarily put those words or use those words to be say when we discuss a sales person. So that's quite a transition. So you spent 10 years or so a decade in, in what you were thinking a couple of years in the Dominican Republic, if I remember rightly, lovely place to be quite nice holiday destination. So mine going there myself. But so when you made this transition you obviously from what you've said found it quite tough. So how did you go about applying the principles of putting others first developing trust and being a genuine listener into creating a successful and authentic sales approach?

Harry Spaight  04:14

Yeah, so the the mission field was a number of years and we got to go to places like St. Petersburg, Russia and Germany. And so one of the things where we are in countries that did not necessarily speak English, they some people spoke a little bit of English, but we really had to really focus on the listening. So it became natural is that when people were speaking, you know, as in broken English, or we're trying to speak and broken Spanish, that the listening was a huge factor. So I just assumed that everyone in sales was a good listener. I mean, because I sold pretty much alone but I mean, I had a team and some characteristics, but I led the sale. So I would be the one communicating primarily with the prospect, and I just assumed everyone else was a great listener. But what I learned over the years as I got into sales leadership is like, didn't you just hear what the prospect said? Did you hear what the client, I kept asking these questions? What did you pick up and people were telling me things that were just really at the surface, there was so much more that were said, by not what was between the lines, so to speak, what the body language was. And those are the things that I just brought with me into sales. And I could really relate to people that relatability, I believe, is what led to my success. It was not because I had this tremendous business acumen, I didn't have it, I did not really know the technology that I was selling, I was learning. But I was by far short or big an expert, or people far more advanced than I was that were my competitors. But I kept winning these deals is really significant deals. And I believe it was really that relationship, that communication, understanding what people wanted, and then delivering, delivering on the simple things like someone will say, Dave, you probably have seen this once or twice over the years. Some salespeople, they set an appointment for 9am. They show up at 905. And they don't even apologize, they think 905 is close enough. To me. That was appalling. Right? If it was one minute up, it was nine, it was no apologies. So just showing up on time doing what you say you're going to do, and being committed to what your truth is. And then being a great listener, and communicator all leads to great success. And so in selling, what's your thought on that?

Dave Barr  06:42

I absolutely agree. I want to hate it when people don't turn up, they don't have the courtesy of ringing in advance, say, Hey, I'm stuck in traffic, or whatever the case may be is okay, I'm 510 minutes late. Yeah, that is just common courtesy because they don't know what you've got planned after the meeting. The other thing I find frustrating is the lack of preparation of salespeople before meeting. So the amount of times I've met with people who really don't know anything about me not taking the time, perhaps even to look me up on LinkedIn, as an example. So to know, perhaps some background. So I think it's always good to know the person you're speaking to, and to take some time to understand what the company I'm representing does for me is, is pretty poor, you know, you just come in, as you mentioned, to pitch to sell what you have completely disregarding anything that I may need, or want or be searching for. So I totally, totally agree with what you've said, you know, just want to add the fact that their lack of preparation, the lack of consideration, are two major factors that really people need to bring in. And obviously apply when they go into have a meeting is only courtesy.

Harry Spaight  07:53

Yeah, you really hit the nail on the head I just had Liz Sol's is an author and sales strategist on my podcast. And he said, Why would a person buyer whatever the role is meet with a salesperson, if they're not going to get any, any value from it? If it's just a pitch, why would they meet if they don't want to be pitched if they're not in the market for something, someone in sales needs to think of how they are going to provide value so that the person can invest in that time? If they don't see the value? They're not going to make the time investment? Yeah, simple as that?

Dave Barr  08:33

Absolutely. Now you touched on a couple of other , shall we say traits that people perceive and that isn't always the case. But you tend to think of salespeople as I think use the word pushy, maybe even self serving. So you are now training people to obviously represent your company or your company's interests. How do you help them to overcome that kind of stigma, that expectation that buyers have so that they kind of adapt and adopt a more empathetic and customer centric approach when they're going about their selling techniques?

Harry Spaight  09:08

Yeah, it's really the point where buyers are so inundated with sellers whether it be on LinkedIn like you message message mentioned, we all get DMS they get we have spam likely on our iPhone is calling us we block callers once we find out a number right overseas, it's all over the place emails. So we're really inundated all of us are and I simply try to help people who are selling whether it be an entrepreneur or a salesperson, is to put yourself on the other side of the desk. Like what we're doing here. Do you like to be pitched to? And I've yet to find someone say yes, I love to be pitched to. No, nobody does and yet we see it over and over again. So understanding that that nobody that likes to be pitched. You know, understanding too, that buyers are under a lot of stress, they have regular responsibilities other than meeting with salespeople. So respecting their time, showing empathy, recognizing that they've got other things on their plate, and maybe we're not the priority. And so we're calling emailing its like, where's my deal? You know, are you going to do this or not? And people get frustrated on the sales side of things I see all the time. And it's like, they're so frustrated, because the buyer is holding off. And I simply asked, Well, do you do the same? Don't you ever do the same, you say you're gonna do something to buy something and then you get distracted, other things come up in your life, other priorities. Same thing happens with them. It's not like they went from nice person to being a mean person, they just have other responsibilities. And that's where empathy comes in. So now you can you can think through this more like a human being than a person who's just selling looking out for their own interests. How does that ring sound with you? Yeah, absolutely.

Dave Barr  11:02

The some of the examples of people that have sold to me or tried to sell to me include getting out a laptop and going through a presentation, you know, they they have a video they want me to see, they have, you can see the scripts that are dripping off the page in front of me now, what they are they haven't done. And what they usually don't do is if I'm inviting them to come in and have a chat, I would expect them to want to understand about the problems that I'm interested in what the problems that I want resolved, and to then to focus on the solutions, potentially, they can offer based on the on those problems. But you'd be surprised on how many don't even want to know what the problems are. They just want to get their point of view across what their wonderful product or service does without understanding where my needs are, where my requirements are, and that I find quite challenging and frustrating, really, it's all about that preparation again. But when they come into the meeting, it's engaging in a conversation, being a kind of human being and say, I'm here to help you if I can, can we discuss your issues? That opens up things far better than just a drone on with a PowerPoint really does.

Harry Spaight  12:15

So good? Can I ask what question you would like to hear from someone in sales? To start off a conversation? 

Dave Barr  12:23

Firstly, I do expect there to be some general chitchat, a bit of a bit of humanity? Hey, great to meet you talk about you know, things are in a how long you've been here, what kind of things do you do can explain to me a little bit more about X, Y, and Zed? I've done some research. So you open up a bit of dialogue, a bit of chat, you know, perhaps some interest, you know, so you're actually talking to each other as to individuals, not necessarily a salesperson, and as a buyer. But then as you said, go into the fact, well, you know, I'm representing a company that does X, Y, and Zed. But before we talk about what products I have, can we discuss any particular issues you have in this area with your perhaps your current suppliers? Have you got things that you would like to improve? Or there are the gaps in the portfolio of products that you currently buy? You're looking for solutions to particular problem. Those are the sorts of questions that invite me to speak and have a dialogue with them, rather than me, sitting back, and then instructing me informed me and educated me on the wonderful things that their products and services do without any understanding or comprehension, of what I'm looking for.

Harry Spaight  13:28

Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's so good. So understanding you as a person a little bit how long you've been with the company, or even today, because so much is available on LinkedIn, you could say, well, I've seen you've been with the same company for 20 years, this must be a great place to work. Exactly what has kept you here so long? What's the culture like you start going into the human side of things, and you're having a conversation, and now there's back and forth going on? And a few minutes pass? And then you know, sometimes you just kind of let it go. And you say, Well, this is so good. I'm really building rapport here. I'm gaining trust. And then you know, now you can have a conversation where you can transition. Say, so what's what's been on your mind lately with, you know, whatever with challenges or the way the market is or way the economic situation is? What's going through your mind these days. And now you got a whole conversation going on. And you think if you could just sit back in the sellers role, and just listen, and you know, years ago, I take full responsibility, Dave, is that I would try to listen until they would bring up something that I sold. We just can't do that anymore. Because it is selling is different than it was 20 years ago. Again, 20 years ago, not everyone was getting spammed every minute of the day. People actually could look at salespeople and say things like So what's new out there? They're not doing that anymore. Really? Yes. So just having that conversation and seeing where it takes you and recognize that not everything needs to happen in one conversation. Yep. And I think that's a huge mistake that people make whether you're new in sales, or you've been in it forever, you tried to bring from understanding what the prospects challenges are into a presentation. Right low. So let's transition. So the reason I'm here is I've got these 30 slides and a video for you to watch. It's like, how does that transition, understand what the person's challenges are? And then if you run out of time, you say, this has been great. I've learned a lot about you. I've got some ideas I'm mulling over how about we set up another conversation a couple of weeks from today. How does that sound? How does that look for you? Right? And so now it's people vs. Scripts and pressure and weirdness. Yeah. I mean, yes,

Dave Barr  15:58

Absolutely. You say you're you're empathizing, you're understanding the problems. And hopefully, you can find a way to create value to help me solve my problem. And once you're helping me solve my problem, then, obviously, what this is a guy that is taking the time to help me to serve my company, I'm going to be quite interested in seeing what other things he can do to help me to open the door a little bit more. Now I possibly going to ask, well, what are the products do you sell? I could invite them in to share even more than they would have done if they just gave me the sales pitch, as you say, to have a secondary meeting, a third meeting, it just develops and blossoms the relationship.

Harry Spaight  16:39

Yeah, exactly. So if you're, you know, as a buyer, you're buying something that's relatively expensive. You know, it's not just a widget for $1.99. But it's something that you had to make an investment in with a company and the person you're speaking to, would you ever do that? On one conversation? If you didn't know who this company in person, were? Would you do that one conversation? Say, I trust you here? I'm going to make a big investment. Yeah,

Dave Barr  17:05

you'd be it'd be pretty surprising if it did. Yeah.

Harry Spaight  17:09

If your name was like Jobs, and you had a company like Apple behind you. But that rarely, if ever happens,

Dave Barr  17:16

It's impossible, really, certainly of any significant value. If you're buying some basic widget, and you have an immediate demand you need it served straightaway, then, yeah, possibly. But otherwise, certainly not.

Harry Spaight  17:28

Yeah, right. I need some napkins for the dining room or something. That's one thing.

Dave Barr  17:34

Exactly. Is Christmas Eve, and you're in trouble. You need to buy something quick.

Harry Spaight  17:40

Yeah, brilliant.

Dave Barr  17:42

So what we've talked about is obviously, what are classes a meaningful exchange, where you're sharing ideas, you're developing the relationship. And hopefully, you're trying to make some some positive impressions on both sides. So the, you know, the buyer lets the seller in and the seller is hopefully helping there to be some solutions on the table for future development and dialogue. So that's really great. I'm glad we were quite aligned there, from an example point of view. And I'd love to hear stories and to hear when applying those principles and techniques are so if successful, could you sort of roll back in your memory and pick up a couple of examples where perhaps you've had a or you've been made aware of a really tough client, and you never sell to them, or whatever the case may be, but you've gone in and you've transformed the opportunity into something that's real. Have you got any examples of how you did that? And what the consequences of that were? 

Harry Spaight  18:41

Oh yeah, there's there's a few of those situations. So one that I mean, so a simple thing that comes to mind that I think people can apply as a story is where they're trying, you're trying to follow up with a buyer. And salespeople in general, they get very, they get tunnel vision. And they just want ask, where do we stand? Where's the order? Is the paperwork ready? And they say all the same things, 50 different ways, and it gets annoying. So what I've done over the years is I learned that buyers are pretty smart. And they know why we're getting in touch with that. We don't even need to ask for it. All they need to do is see us see our number or my name on the phone. They know why we're calling. So they will typically turn that down if they're not ready for us or if they're not ready to make a decision. They know we're there. So what I've suggested to people over the years is surprise the buyer and tell them you have something for them that you were thinking of them because you were thinking of them and then share something that's beneficial for them that's completely unrelated to the say out. And what will happen is they will frequently hear, I've been meaning to get back to you, you've been on my plate, this is on my plate, right? And then you're sending me this newsletter or this community event or something that's completely unrelated buyers still make the connection. And that has happened on numerous occasions where sales reps get frustrated, buyers just disappear. They surprise them with something that's unrelated. And then they get the sale, which is really fun to watch. It's just human psychology, I think.

Dave Barr  20:38

Yeah, yeah. I think another good thing that I find quite positive is when a salesperson calls me with no particular purpose in mind, other than just to make contact, how are things going? Are you happy with the service that we're providing? You know, is there any problems in in, in the accounts, you know, ask questions around to make sure that they and their company has served you well. Or maybe it's just a touch base, as an individual saying, you know, thanks very much for the business, love to know how things are going, you know, how everything's going well with you, how's the wife, or whatever the case may be, just to keep that personal engagement.

Harry Spaight  21:17

So you just remind me, I used to make calls like that on Friday afternoon. So Friday afternoon, every everyone in the world sales is pretty much checked out mentally, they may be still going through the motions, but I thought, I'm still gonna make some calls, I'm still gonna talk to people. Because I viewed it as my own business in sales. It's your you don't get paid unless you sell stuff. So I viewed it as like an entrepreneur, it's like, this is my business. I have to work and bring in results. So I would call people on Friday afternoon and ask them, you know, small talk, right? How's everything going? I just want to make sure everything's going well, what's going on this weekend? And people will say to me, what are you calling from the golf course. And he resists like this running joke that I would now have customers that would say, well, here, he calls me on Friday afternoon from the golf course. And that kind of banter. Just you know, you know, those people aren't going anywhere. Yeah. Because now your buddies, and that's just the, you know, a simple thing to do is make some calls to people that are your clients are ready on a Friday afternoon, ask them about the weekend. Tell them you're thinking of them. It's gonna go a long way.

Dave Barr  22:30

Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, we all know that both sales guys and purchasing guys have targets to hit, it can be quite often perceived as a numbers game, you guys need to hit certain amounts of sales and marketing and so forth. And the buyers, clearly, you've got to make sure the delivery is right, the quality is right, the price is right. Now, of course that, you know, makes it more challenging, shall we say? Because there are timelines against those parameters. So how do you help your sales guys balance the need for results in a timely manner? With the long term goal of building? We talked about genuine relationships when they're under pressure to hit the numbers?

Harry Spaight  23:11

Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And it's a real thing. But you can't sacrifice the relationship to hate your number. When you do and you make it about yourself. You're really at risk. I lost a client one time. I mean, it went really south, someone I've been doing business with for years. And I had a partner involved. It was a big deal, several $100,000 at this partner involved, and they wanted to push for the deal to happen before the end of the year. I actually told the customer I said, Look, I can't stop this train. It is so far over my head. So many people were involved in his from senior positions that they wanted to really do whatever they can to get this delivery for this pretty significant deal. Customer just said, well, we'll take care of it from here. You were still good, right? Because that was what I was concerned about. But even still, it was just I brought in the monster. And that just was uh, you know, the relationship recovered to some degree, but it was never the same because I brought in this monster that just wanted to bulldoze a deal. And they didn't care really what the customer wanted. And it was unfortunate. So that stuff happens. So now you've got a customer that's not happy. They did not take delivery. They went with a competitor and now you have to fight to do business with them again. And over getting the deal in one week ahead before the end of the year. This This is madness. So wherever I could I would fall on the sword. Tell the little white lie yes, we've been trying to reach the customer. There. really busy. And it's like they told me a couple of weeks ago, there's a there's no way that we're going to take delivery. So you respect that and you fall on the sword. And just, you know, that's what you have to do sometimes to protect the relationship. So yeah.

Dave Barr  25:15

That's interesting. And I guess, certainly in your career, you've encountered, obviously many objections, you've encountered resistance from buyers. And that's probably been something that has plagued you from the day you started selling. I'm curious to see how you help your students, the people that you work with navigate some of those objections, while still maintaining the trust and rapport with the client. What's the tips and techniques that that you share with people around you to help them?

Harry Spaight  25:50

Well, is so great, I'm chuckling because I'm thinking of years ago, I used to think I was so great at overcoming objections. And then I went into a situation I even wrote about this in the book is that I overcame this unhappy clients objection, like, I had absolutely no empathy. I was performing. I mean, I had a sales rep with me, it was his account, I was a sales leader, I was, I was taking everything in and just coming back with we're gonna take care of that. But to do this, I was masterful, and then we left the account, I'm high fiving, the sales rep, it's like, we're gonna get this deal and six figures is a nice deal. And then he gets a call from the customer and says, I don't like that guy that you brought in. So that's what I realized is like, Oh, I guess I need to look in the mirror, I didn't look in the mirror right away. Because I blame the customer for being a jerk, I think something along those lines. But then I realized that the way I handled that situation was I it was all about me. My ego was there, I had no empathy for the person's problems. And so I learned that overcoming objections is not necessarily a great thing. It's, I look at what I wrote about in the book, I removed the word objection, and just said, these are concerns. And when you look at it as buyer's concerns, you now have a more empathetic way of looking at it, versus I need to overcome this so that they take the sale, right? So someone might say something along the lines, like, this looks really good, but you're considerably more than the competition. And we're gonna have to go a different direction, or whatever that is, well, our first reaction is, oh, no, I've got to overcome that. What if I drop my price? Maybe if I drop my price, I'll get this. If I drop my price, will I get the business? And instead of doing that, dig deeper, say, I understand, right? I've been there. I've shopped before as well. And I want a great product with great service, and a great price. And I can relate. Can Can you talk to me a little bit more about what you're seeing. And sometimes they will tell you exactly what you need to do to sell. But if you immediately come back, like you didn't even hear what they said you went into panic mode. I mean, you may get the business, but I just think there's a better way. Yep. Thoughts. I know, is that crazy or what?

Dave Barr  28:24

Absolutely not. Not crazy. I'm curious about one area, we haven't touched on one area though. And that's technology, emerging platforms, emerging opportunities to sell. Now we've all seen, you know, Facebook grow like crazy. Instagram Tiktoks gone wild, you appear on platforms frequently, as we discussed with your short videos now. I'm curious to see where technology you believe technology is going to impact the sales process, and how that the work you do on there will impact the buyers that could end up reaching out to you. Is this an effective method of starting to build the know, like and trust factor with the buyers? As you see it? Is it going to continue? What's your thoughts on that?

Harry Spaight  29:17

No. 100% I mean, it's, you know, you look at people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Alex Hormozi of these guys, and many others are putting out tons of video content. It's like you know, the person right, you know, Alex Hormozi? You know, Gary Vaynerchuk it's, this is such a huge opportunity and it is free. Ladies, I don't need to tell you this. But last time I checked, you can post a video and get your message out and not be charged. And hundreds if not 1000s of people see you and you can become known in your community or internationally. for free, I mean, it's like years ago, people had to pay, we used to have this thing, a big yellow book, I don't know if they had this in the UK, but it had all these businesses in there, and you had to pay like $100,000 a year for an ad. Now, it's like you could do your own ads not I'm not even talking about paid ads is just free video. And I, I feel like so many people are missing out on this opportunity, because their camera shy, and they're just not comfortable in front of the camera. And I just say get over it. I wasn't either. Nobody is we don't like to necessarily self promote. That's not the way we were raised. But eventually, you have to say, if they've not buying from me, they're gonna buy from someone less than it's not as dedicated as I am. And I'm better for that. And so I've got to do what everyone else is doing. And I gotta be good at it. So that's my approach. And I don't think it's going anywhere. I mean, AI is great. I'm a big fan of using AI where I can, but with the technology with podcasting, with video, the various platforms, you get a chance for people to really get to know you. And I have people that are saying that reach out to me, they go because I've got this hairy chat.com And you know, now becomes a thing. And so people see me, hey, it's here in chat, which is hysterical, because that I never intended for it to be that way. But it rings so easy. Now I've got people going, you know, setting up meetings with me that are absolute complete strangers. So who wouldn't want that? In my opinion? Yeah. What's your thought on it? If you feel a similar?

Dave Barr  31:32

Yeah, I've, I've done a number of short videos myself over the time, I've put out 100 negotiation tips. And I purposely went to different locations at different backdrops trying to spice things up, make it interesting as well. And it was great to get some really positive feedback from people, they say it's something like, was it 21 times or more, where people sort of touch base with you, as they start to develop that kind of relationships or seeing you frequently builds that understanding? Almost,

Harry Spaight  32:03

Yeah, it's so good. And I was just watching a Social Media Manager recently, and she was saying that it's the people that don't like and don't comment, that will be your clients. It's the people that are underneath the surface, believe it or not, because said that a lot of times your friends are the ones that are commenting people that know you may just want to support you. But it's the people who are curious and are thinking about you and this was this I find is very true. So it's interesting, and you nailed it, too is like you provide value. The key is your self promotion comes simply by providing value for people. So every video, I tried to provide value, or at least some humor so that people are chuckling, like my Friday, funny. There's a pill for that. So I'm going to keep those up for the foreseeable future. But yeah, so people like it, see the humor, or get something that's educational, and say, I like that guy, Dave. He knows his stuff. And that's going to work for your business.

Dave Barr  33:04

Brilliant. Now, before I ask my last question, keeping an eye on the time, I'm sure people know curious about your videos. They're curious about what you do your book, your podcast? Where can people find out lots more about you? Where should they go and have a search? 

Harry Spaight  33:19

Yeah, the simplest place is sellingwithdignity.com. Everything is their, podcast, and why to set up a call with me they can do that book is there, download free chapters of the book. So it's all there sellingwithdignity.com. And then follow me on LinkedIn if they want to.

Dave Barr  33:36

Cool, cool. Now, today, and I do this regularly, I jump on to, there's an organization called Federation of Small Business, I jump on to the regular video conference calls they have. And you'll see you'll get a huge range of small to medium sized businesses appear on they're trying to network and it's a constant struggle. And it was again today, people struggling to know what's the best way to network? What's the best way to make engagements with clients on a from a cold basis. You know, they're they're trying to build their business, but they're uncomfortable with selling in the way they think. So if you've got a bunch of small to medium sized business owners that are struggling with their sales, struggling, you know how to move things forward. What kind of advice would you give them? What top tips would you give them to help them to transition and feel more comfortable about the setting process?

Harry Spaight  34:36

Really simply, I'm going to if everyone who is listening likes to go out for fine dining, think of the server in the restaurant. The server serves the server serves again and keep serving. That's what you need to do in sales. And if you look at it as the server and you just keep serving your people, find your ideal client profile. Hang out with those two people find out what they need, serve them. And sometimes in the beginning, you're gonna get frustrated because you feel like you're serving a lot. But that's how you're going to grow a business. If you don't want to be the, I want to close people today type salesperson, which I'm not, I'm in for the long haul. So servant mindset, and connect people. So find out what people need. And if you can't solve the problem, find somebody that can and then you're building relationship now with two people, and you're gonna grow your business that way. But yeah, that's a very common problem is that people think that selling is always talking about themselves. And it's gross, and they don't feel like they want to do it, just look at it as surfing. So I'm going to provide value to somebody in this meeting. And I'm going to have a conversation with people after I've got to take go from the meeting to one on ones and provide value for that person, look them up, find out what they need, what they do, provide value for them, good things will start to happen.

Dave Barr  36:03

Brilliant, that's great advice. It's been fabulous having the chat today, the time has shot by so quickly. We've had some great fun today. Harry, I obviously encourage everybody who's listening now to have a look at your profile. Come and go and follow some of your work. Listen to your podcast, obviously and go and buy your book there's some fabulous information you share with everybody there Harry and I certainly really appreciate it and I'm recommending people to follow you and you know, hopefully help them to get their business more successful. So thanks very much for today.

Harry Spaight  36:37

Its been a blast, Dave, I appreciate you and thanks for having me on your show. Great stuff. Keep it going.

Dave Barr  36:43

Cheers mate bye. So there's another Real Life Buyer podcast. I do you hope you enjoyed it, and it's given you some ideas and inspiration for greater action and achievement. If you're a purchasing or a supply chain professional business owner or director, come and join my Facebook group, the purchasing and supply chain community hub, safe place to engage with like minded friendly people. See you soon. Bye.