SELLING
Sell, or Be Sold
Carry around an objection book and record them.
A sale is made when your conviction and belief about something are stronger than another’s.
It’s almost never price. It is not the buyer’s biggest concern and is often way down the list.
Most salespeople spend too much time selling the product and forget that selling is 80% people and 20% product. People buy for other reasons than just product benefits.
Show more interest in the buyer and his concerns than you do in selling your product. It is about them, not you.
Always, always agree with the customer! Agree with their objection, and then find a solution. “I agree that is a lot of money. However, everyone who uses our service finds…”
In order to make sales, you must first understand the mind of the customer.
Show them. Assume that a prospect, no matter how well you know them, never believes a word and will only believe that which you are able to show him. Always show written material to support your proposal.
The true essence of selling is not just getting the sale, but the sincere desire to help. Selling is the act of giving, not getting: serving, not selling.
Service is the only way to higher prices and less competition.
Persist. People will not buy without you asking them to and people will never say yes to someone who quits asking.
Take massive action. If you want one thing, take massive action equal to at least 10 times what you think it will take to ensure that you attain that one thing.
People will pay more for an agreeable, positive, and enjoyable experience than they will for a great product.
The sales process is finding out the following about the buyer: Who are you? What do you want? Why do you want it? What do I have that fulfills your wants and needs?
The Unbreakable Laws of Selling
Write an industry white paper.
Send a once-a-week, value based message to existing and prospective customers.
Your great attitude is the only know cure for continuous rejection.
You have to believe in your ability to differentiate from your competition in a way that the customer perceives as both different and valuable.
Start with humor. Whatever you say after you say something funny will be heard and remembered ten times more than when you drone on expect others to hear it. If you can make the laugh, you can make them buy.
If you ask what the difference is between you and your prime competitor, and your answer is “our people,” you are in serious trouble.
Are you comparing your products to the competition, or differentiating yourself from the competition?
In sales, it is not who you know: in sales it is who know you.
Total preparation is the secret sauce. Most salespeople make the mistake of preparing in terms of themselves. The reality of total preparation means preparing in terms of the customer first. Their needs, their desires, an their outcomes.
It is not about being the best; it is about setting the standard.
The more you put value in terms of how they win, how they profit, and how they produce, the more it will be perceived as true value, or real value.
Lowest price always means lowest profit. Value trumps price.
Most sale presentations and information are about us. “We do this, we do that, we are great, we are the best.” This is “we-we.” Meanwhile, the customers, the ones with the money, are looking for a message about how they produce, how they win, and how they profit.
Begin a presentation with an idea that favors the customer or a question that shows you have prepared. The customer becomes interested in you when he or she knows you are interested in them. You must be total prepared.
If you don’t ask amazingly emotionally engaging questions, you will lose to a competitor who does. Ask about their life.
Selling is listening, learning, and discovering the customer’s motives to buy.
Service before selling.
Prove it. If you have no proof to offer the prospect, you have no case and no chance of making the sale. Use testimonials. Use data.
The decision to buy is made emotionally, and then justified logically.
Fear of loss is greater than the fear of gain. Take advantage of this.
If you are different, they will buy! How different are you? Make a list of everything you do that your competition does not.
Write a 500 word blog once per week. It keeps you in front of prospects and customers.