The Sales Stoic

May 1st - Understand your client

5 min

โ€œPhilosophy isnโ€™t about appearances; itโ€™s about recognising what truly matters and staying mindful of it.โ€ - Musonius Rufus

Your reputation isnโ€™t built on perfect pitches or easy wins. Itโ€™s shaped in the tough conversations, the objections, and the moments when frustration creeps in.

Do you stay patient and professional, or let desperation take over?

Neither Philosophy, nor sales are about appearances. Theyโ€™re about what truly matters: your character in every moment, not just the polished ones.

Clients remember who listens, who cares, and who puts their needs first.

Be that person, consistently. Your character will always close more deals than any slick sales tactic.

Actionable tips:

  • Rather than just waiting for your turn to talk, focus on understanding your clientโ€™s needs and concerns. Ask questions, and be genuinely interested in their answers.
  • Integrity is built over time. If you're reliable and consistent in your actions, customers will recognize that and come to trust you.
  • Donโ€™t bend your morals to make a sale. Stick to your principles, and clients will appreciate your honesty.

Remember you will die.

โ€”

Subscribe to The Sales Stoic for daily insights: https://www.dealfront.com/resources/newsletters/the-sales-stoic/

Follow Jack & Zac: Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-frimston-5010177b/ Zac: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-thompson-33a9a39b/

Connect with We Have a Meeting: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-have-a-meeting/ Website: https://www.wehaveameeting.com/

Disclaimer:

The Sales Stoic draws inspiration from the profound wisdom of Stoicism as presented in Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic." As avid readers & fans, we deeply respect the work of Ryan Holiday, and acknowledge the significant impact of Stoic philosophy on our own approach to sales and life.

While The Sales Stoic applies the core principles of Stoicism to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by salespeople, it is an original work with its own distinct voice and focus. We aim to build upon the timeless wisdom of Stoicism to empower sales professionals with practical guidance and actionable insights for success in their careers and personal lives.

  • Jack Frimston

    Jack Frimston

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

  • Zac Thompson

    Zac Thompson

    Co-Founder at We Have a Meeting

May Inner Mastery In a world where we often focus on external success, such as sales numbers, promotions or accolades, the true measure of progress lies in our ability to master ourselves. Inner Mastery is about developing the mental and emotional discipline needed to navigate challenges with calm and purpose. Rather than reacting impulsively to external circumstances, those who possess Inner Mastery are able to align their actions with their principles.

steadily improving over time. This month we explore how focusing on your inner strength and consistency can make all the difference in achieving long-term success, both in sales and in life. We interrupt this broadcast for a very serious announcement. It's gonna be me.

It's gonna be me! You thought I'd left you, Nice to see you, man. Nice to see you. Yes, it is! It's the month of May! It certainly is, and I'm gonna do something right now. I'm gonna say, let your character speak for itself! Bang, bro!

It's It's time. Masonius Rufus. Mm-hmm. For philosophy doesn't consist in outward display, but in taking heed to what is needed and being mindful for it. Mm-hmm. Looking at what is required. I'm going to start you off with something here, Jack. The Samaritans, you know, the crisis hotline people ring with their problems, have a rule. And it's a rule that people go, what? The rule is you cannot talk about yourself at all.

Okay. So people are like, well, yeah, that makes sense. Okay. So let's think about selling. Imagine you couldn't talk about yourself. I don't do that anyway. You talk about your case studies. Yeah. Do you give you a little cred slide? you talk about the business in stories? Is it a storytelling type proposition? What about that award you won back in 2007, Deborah? Exactly. Keep that quiet, don't you? All that is about you. But real good, therapeutic selling can have no mention of you.

at all. Do know that? There is no self. So I conducted many, cold calls, many, many meetings with people who didn't know my name, didn't know the company name and also didn't know why I'm so handsome. But they didn't need to know. They didn't need to know. When they jumped on that discovery call, they figured it out for themselves. There we go. So then we got into discovery calls.

Okay, so discovery calls tend to just be A, let me learn as much as I can about you, but hold on, Zach, what about when you get to pitching? The only thing I've thought of that. When I get to pitch and I say, before I jump into telling you how we might be able to help, if this was just a standard chance of working for you, what would it need to look like? So even then, it's all about them. They just build the ideal solution. You don't have to be involved at all because at the end of the day, you're worthless, you're scum, and that's why you're listening to this.

Jack that's not very nice what he said about you Debbie from Southampton. So ignore him. Hi Debbie. I'll put your Instagram handle in the comments. So so so true. So the first question on a discovery call is what are your expectations? Your expectations. That's what I mean. No, that's what I'm I'm trying to accent it. Yeah, you're excited. Yeah. What are your expectations? what are my expectations? What are your expectations? Here's the agenda for the call. No, no, no, no. What are your expectations Mr. Prospect? Because it's not about

Me and I'll build the table around you typically they'll say there's a long list of things they want to find out things they want to know The amount of times and I know you've been in the same situation where you get to the end of the call and actually They go really I feel like I've got everything I need to know and they probably haven't even you've not even scratched the surface with those things because it's not that it's not that deep and it's not that important there are obviously boxes to tick but people name one Tyson Fury, okay. Yeah boxes to tick

So it's just a case of making it all about them, their world, their problems, making them feel heard, making them feel important. Because if you want to come across as interesting, you've got to be interested. I've been Zack Thompson. I've been Jack Frimston. Remember you'll die. What is he doing with himself?

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