Being Meaningful

Meaningful

adjective:

• having meaning: 
• serious, important, or worthwhile:
• communicating something that is not directly expressed:

Meaning

noun:

• what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action:
• implied or explicit significance
• important or worthwhile quality

Sure, your product or service may not make a meaningful difference to your clients, but does that mean you can’t?  Sometimes the most insignificant sales interactions can be the most memorable, the most meaningful.

Why meaningful is important in sales is it requires some things to exist before it can happen:

•  It needs fore-thought!  Being meaningful requires a deep understanding of your client and their situation.  It doesn’t happen by accident.  It requires preparation. 
• It needs sincerity!  Being meaningful is about ‘meaning’ what you say and do, not just doing it.  It is about conviction, curiosity, exploration and a genuine desire to help.  It’s very difficult to be sustainably meaningful if you’re insincere.
• It needs selfless-ness!  Being meaningful is determined by your client, not you.  It requires your words and actions to cycle the client needs, not yours.

As sales person, you can often have a meaningful impact on your clients situation - be it small or significant.  You can make a difference and you can be different.  Being meaningful is challenging as it requires you to deliver something beyond the normal to the client.  It requires you to be creative, to generate solutions, to create opportunities.  It isn't about what you do, it is about how and why you do it.  It is a genuine, sincere and unwavering desire to help your clients.  To improve their position, to be significant.

Ask yourself ‘how can I make a meaningful difference to my client/intermediary’ each and every time before and after meeting with them.  It drives you to ask questions because you want and need the answers and, more importantly, it impels you to act on this knowledge to make a difference.  It drives you out of your product set and in to your knowledge set.  It often differentiates you from your competition – it makes your offering very difficult to replicate.