Tech Leader Talk The Serving Mindset: Stop Selling and Grow Your Business
I first became familiar with my guest today when I heard her on another podcast a couple of years ago and her message resonated with me. Farnoosh Brock takes a unique approach to selling in her book The Serving Mindset: Stop Selling and Grow Your Business. Farnoosh went from being an electrical engineer and leader at a fortune 100 company to being a coach, speaker, author, and trainer. She believes in the power of changing our conversations from selling to serving.
Farnoosh noticed over time as an electrical engineer that even though she was good at her job, she didn't get much enjoyment or fulfillment out of her position. She realized that she wanted to work with people and build relationships, and she also realized that she didn't want to work for anyone and instead wanted to be an entrepreneur.
She shares how her serving mindset developed and how she now believes that you do not need to sell to push an agenda, that you can set selling aside to build truly meaningful relationships with clients, relationships that will build your reputation and result in repeat clients. She suggests that even though the traditional selling mindset works, serving rather than selling actually leads to way more profit and also that it's important to only do business with people who are a fit for you and you for them.
Stressing how important that it is to adopt the serving mindset over the selling mindset, especially now as we are hopefully soon coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Farnoosh advises leaders to not just be leaders in title but also in action and to value people, whether they be clients or people who work for us. Please reach out to Farnoosh via the various methods that she provides, and remember to subscribe to Tech Leader Talk so that you never miss an episode!
Time Stamps
[0:07] – Steve introduces this episode's guest – Farnoosh Brock.
[2:01] – Farnoosh provides us with some background information about herself, such as how she started as an electrical engineer.
[4:52] – Farnoosh explains how she moved through many different roles before realizing that she wasn't being challenged and therefore decided to work for herself.
[6:57] – Steve and Farnoosh discuss the misconception that when you switch to a different department after working in engineering, you lose the engineering knowledge.
[9:00] – Farnoosh explains what she means by serving rather than selling.
[12:02] – Farnoosh explains why having a serving mindset rather than a selling mindset is a competitive advantage.
[13:50] – Farnoosh advises us on what to do if a traditional selling mindset seems to be working for us.
[16:23] – Steve and Farnoosh discuss how a serving mindset means building more meaningful relationships.
[19:10] – Farnoosh suggests how an introverted person might go about fostering a serving mindset.
[21:35] – Farnoosh lists potential outcomes of companies adopting a serving mindset over a selling mindset, such as noticing and observing a more positive response from prospective clients.
[24:41] – Steve and Farnoosh discuss how the serving mindset will help businesses coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic such as the importance of acting as leaders.
[28:08] – Farnoosh announces some current projects, such as remote corporate training.
[29:29] – We learn how we can reach Farnoosh online.
Links and Resources
Farnoosh Brock – The Serving Mindset: Stop Selling and Grow Your Business