A common sales behavior creates an immediate barrier to trust. Mike describes it as “show up and throw up,” where sellers introduce themselves and immediately begin explaining their company and why it is impressive. “That’s one of the quickest ways to lose trust, attention, and interest with any of your buyers overall,” he says. The alternative is to recognize that a seller’s job is not to communicate every feature, capability, or company credential. It is to understand the individual sitting across from them and what matters to that person.

That changes discovery from information gathering into business understanding. Sellers need to identify the buyer’s goals and priorities, understand how those priorities connect to corporate goals, and determine which outcomes matter most. Mike calls the resulting engagement a “mutual buying process.” When teams uncover those priorities early and connect what they offer to outcomes buyers genuinely value, Mike says organizations can achieve “higher ACVs, higher win rates, more revenue.” Customer-led selling therefore creates a direct bridge between better understanding and measurable commercial outcomes.