In my work as a DEI consultant, I have witnessed other DEI coaches and trainers stand at the front of a room full of white men and begin their presentation by discussing racial privilege. Don’t get me wrong—white privilege is real and important to acknowledge during any in-depth discussion of DEI! However, to start a discussion about DEI using white privilege risks losing this group in the first breath, leaving everyone unsatisfied. At the end of the day, we want to sell the concept of DEI, winning not just the minds but also the hearts of individuals! And what better way to achieve this goal than by importing a few sales tactics into our DEI regimens?
I believe a key reason that some DEI initiatives fall short is because those involved are not wholly sold on the value DEI can bring to themselves, their employees, and their organization. As such, it is up to us and all those who support DEI to improve our ability to sell DEI. Today, we will walk through three key sales skills that we can adopt in order to strengthen our DEI efforts. Ready to dive in?
1. Know Your Audience
Understanding the needs, interests, and priorities of the people we are pitching to is a crucial element of sales, and consequently a crucial element of selling the concept of DEI. In other words, we should research the background of our audience, allowing us to gain a stronger grasp on any questions they may have. By recognizing that every group we speak with will have a different perspective and acceptance of DEI, we can best tailor our pitch to their specific concerns!
Regarding the instance I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I would offer that in order to most effectively sell DEI, we cannot begin DEI-related discussions with concepts of privilege or any subject that could potentially be labelled politically “controversial” (excepting, of course, if we are requested to hold such a discussion). I know, I know—it may feel like we’re bowing down to systemic inequality when we don’t discuss important topics like racial privilege or the glass ceiling. But we have to remember: DEI is all about playing the long game by brining people along! We want to make lasting change.
And how does this relate to selling DEI? Simply put, it serves us well to pitch DEI by starting with simple, common topics anyone can relate to! I say this not to suggest that DEI is not complex—it certainly is—but to remind us that simplifying our message goes a long way in sales (and consequently, in selling DEI). DEI is a subject in which we are always digging deeper, but when we try to bring companies along this journey with us, we want to ensure that they can dig at their own pace, not be so afraid of falling into a hole and breaking a bone that they refuse to participate.
I personally recommend beginning DEI conversations with an emphasis on human connection, e.g. reminding audiences that no matter our race, our gender, our background, we have all felt excluded at different points in our lives. That feeling of exclusion is not a pleasant one, and it is not, I suspect, a feeling we would ever wish upon others. DEI, in turn, is about creating an environment where no one feels excluded. What could be a more admirable goal?
To use a bit of sales terminology, exclusion is a pain point for many organizations—whether they know it or not—and DEI is the precise solution to that problem. As a result, we cannot risk shutting down potential leads by starting our conversations with too hot a topic; we want to turn leads into prospects and eventually buyers. When we know our audience, we will know how to most effectively communicate with them!
2. Address Potential Concerns
While I touched upon this concept in the previous section, I felt it nonetheless deserved a section of its own. Here is a fact: dealing with different people means we are always dealing with different stages of the DEI journey. To integrate more sales terminology, some people will be early adopters, already committed, doing independent research, and basking in the glory of how DEI has improved their organization. Many will be in the early majority, interested in DEI and tentatively willing to implement corresponding initiatives. Some will be in the late majority, perhaps willing to approach DEI but skeptical of its effectiveness. And, of course, there will always be a few laggards, i.e. those who refuse to consider DEI on its own merit.
So what does this mean for our goal of selling DEI? Simply that we need to meet people where they are! Speaking to a member of the early majority is different from speaking to a member of the late majority. In my assessment, the former will likely be more interested in hearing the tangible benefits of DEI for their organization while the latter will probably be better served by addressing their fears related to DEI implementation.
In short, respect the journey, and respect where individuals are on that journey! After all, DEI is about the soft sell, not the hard sell. Pitching DEI means acknowledging that having one conversation is not necessarily going to change someone’s mind; instead, we should focus on planting the seeds in the hope that they will one day blossom into something bigger and beautiful.
Before moving to the next and final section of this blog, allow me to offer an important addendum: regardless of where a person is on their individual DEI journey, it is nearly always beneficial to tell people how DEI will benefit them. Time after time, I have witnessed DEI trainers unwittingly dwell too much on guilt and blame, which causes individuals—especially those possessing greater privilege—to feel like DEI will make them lose something (perhaps their power, perhaps their friendships, perhaps something else altogether). In reality, the situation is the exact opposite: DEI is about an all-encompassing gain! DEI benefits everyone, and the list of examples is endless. Depending on our audience, we might remind them that DEI is rooted in creating a healthier, more welcoming culture both inside and outside of the workplace. Alternatively, we might offer that DEI will help their family. Perhaps they have a partner with disabilities, or an LGBTQ+ child, or a sister, none of whom they wish to see experience discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
At the end of the day, DEI benefits all of us, no matter our background, a fact we would be remiss not to highlight in our (figurative) sales pitches!
3. Adapt Your Approach
We might think of this section as tying the previous two together: knowing our audience and preparing ourselves to address their potential concerns regarding DEI means we must be prepared to adapt our approach at any moment. In other words, we must be flexible, tailoring our communicative style and content based on the preferences and personalities of the group we are speaking to. I will be the first to admit that this advice can be tricky to implement! After all, as we have established, our audience is not one group of people. Perhaps even more intimidating, our audiences often consist of multiple groups within themselves. We may find ourselves facing a mixture of early majority, late majority, and laggards, all in one audience! It is therefore not always easy to get everyone on board about DEI all at once.
Of course, I feel it is important to remind ourselves that this reality applies to any product, not just DEI. No matter what we are trying to sell, we must always be conscious of how we are reaching people of different backgrounds and opinions. The best advice I can give when it comes to adapting our approaches is simple: ensure that our audience always feels respected. Easier said than done, of course! But even if we disagree with someone—perhaps we are dealing with a laggard who stubbornly believes DEI spells the death of organizations—we will never convince them otherwise if they feel that we are not listening and hearing them. After all, some people may simply wish to see the proof of DEI’s benefits through other organizations before they invest time and money in it themselves, and if we do not respect that perspective, then those audiences will never give us the time of day. Change is a process! (The old adage remains true: patience is a virtue.) The more we continue pushing, however gently, for the positive growth DEI brings, the more people will see the value of DEI and thus adopt it over time.
One final tip before I conclude: focus on developing compelling stories. I truly believe that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we can use to connect to an audience and demonstrate to them the value of DEI. Statistics, though useful, are often impersonal. Showing vulnerability through personal narratives, on the other hand, helps ensure we can create emotional bonds with our audiences, e.g. revealing how a particular experience of discrimination has permanently impacted ourselves and our worldview. How can we not connect with someone when we know their story?
In short, stories are how we get to the hearts of other people, and as I said earlier, truly selling DEI means winning both the minds and hearts of individuals. Stories make us human, and we can most effectively evolve our sales strategies by keeping this tactic in mind!
There we have it: three key tips for applying sales strategies to our DEI advocacy. What do you think? Shall we call this DEI sales opportunity “closed-won”?
Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. In addition, she provides guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within the organization.
Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.
