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Eight Ways to Sell Like The Master
By: Mark Stevens
God, and the great religions of the world
that celebrate Him, is the greatest force and influence in the world. And thus
the most powerful "salesman." Interestingly, God's way of
"selling" is dramatically different than that of conventional and widely
accepted salesmanship. He uses no product samples. No power points. No elevator
speeches. No one has ever seen Him and yet billions believe in Him. Have faith
in Him. View Him as the center of their world. Their lives.
How can all salespeople bring an element of
this power to their selling?
- Never sell anything. You can educate, influence, advise and guide,
but selling means pushing and pressuring, and do you want that for
yourself? Of course not, so stop peddling it on others. The more they view
you as an ally, an honest broker, the more they will buy.
- Recognize it's the Provider that Counts, far more than the
Product. Whenever I see a "salesman" starting a meeting by
touting a product, I see an amateur at work. Anyone can provide the
prospect with a copier or a legal document, but only few can earn their
trust. And that is the key to closing time and again.
- Related to this, people buy Trust before they buy Products or
Services. The irony is, few salespeople work on the Trust Factor. They are
too busy thinking of commissions or product bells and whistles to think
ahead on how to demonstrate TRUST. In a simple example, show a prospect
how a less expensive product than the one they had in mind will serve them
even better, and your TRUST meter goes through the roof.
- Stop the dead-end focus on consummating transactions and shift to building relationships. Everyone can tell when a salesperson is in a
rush to line their pockets and move on to the next mark. Do you ever take
a client out to lunch when you haven't a thing to sell them? Most never do
and that is the Big Blind Spot. For two reasons:
- Doing so builds the trust factor: "He bought me lunch and
never tried to sell me anything! He's not a salesman, he's my
friend/advisor" and
- Very often when the prospects' guard is down because the salesman
isn't seeking to peddle anything, their minds wander to a wish list and
they volunteer what they want.
- Lose the power point. Dim the lights, turn on the projector and
you are saying "Nap Time." Far more effective is to gain and
maintain eye contact, control the agenda and let your passion for what you
are selling and for how you will stand behind it and the customer,
prevail. Power points are Deal Killers.
- God makes a 100 percent guarantee. Do you? He says, "Believe
in me and I will be with you forever." You may be thinking you can't make an iron-clad guarantee
because of legal issues, but there you go, thinking of the Product again,
not the Provider. Can you assure the client you will always be there to
serve their needs, address problems, handle emergencies? Of course you
can. And what do most salespeople do? Guard their cell phone numbers so
that customers don't disturb them during "off" hours. You don't
deserve their business and what's more you will lose it to the person who
is on the cell on Saturday while you are hiding (from the people you want
to trust you.)
- God is a storyteller. For the most part, the great religions tell
us intriguing and captivating stories. So do great salespeople. Think of
it this way: there are two kinds of watch salespeople. The ones who try to
sell the watch and the ones who tell a story that sells the watch. The
latter is far more powerful.
Case in Point: On
a visit to Venice, I stopped in a watch shop in a lovely palazzo simply because
the window intrigued me. Once inside, I met a master storyteller who told me a
charming story of Italian watch making history. In half an hour, I left the
store, a wonderful $5,000 Bulgari strapped to my wrist. It felt like the
merchant was selling nothing. Like he was telling beguiling stories. But there
I was with a new watch I didn't need but now adored.
- Forget everything you have ever learned from sales trainers and
motivational speakers. Most have never sold anything but the course you
took. The old “Willy Loman” shoeshine and a smile approach doesn't work.
It's a sure loser. Look what happened to Willy.
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