How many of you would consider yourself a salesperson? My guess is about 1/3 of you have answered in the affirmative. So, for the others reading this let me rephrase my question: How many of you have to talk to anyone ever?
The point is that anything you endeavor to do requires some sale to be made. Whether you are a sales professional influencing a client to purchase your product or service, a manager encouraging a team member to buy into your company vision or even a stay-at-home parent convincing your child to eat their Wheaties you must be effective at selling.
So, now that you know we ALL are sales people let me share with you the 3 sales that you must make before anyone buys. These thoughts are going through your prospects head when they are making a decision of whether or not to purchase from you:
1) Are you Likeable & Trustworthy? Zig Ziglar said it perfectly, "If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you they'll do business with you." Now, I am not saying that you must become bosom buddies with everyone you are soliciting to, but you should at least establish a level of trust by being a pleasant and professional person. Keep in mind that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care and a great idea to establish that likeability and trust is to ask a lot of questions to truly find out what they want.
2) Are you a Credible Resource? Simply put, do you know what you are talking about? How well do you know your product and industry? One of the main reasons why people lose sales early in their career has to do with the fact that they have less knowledge of the product and sales process, which causes their clients to lose confidence in their decision to buy. So, the obvious answer is to research your industry. Without going into much detail, another suggestion is to memorize your sales presentations. Having a prepared sales presentation automatically makes you seem more credible. So, if you don’t have a script then I suggest you create one. You’ll be glad you did.
3) Are you Enthusiastic? In his book The Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy shares that “Enthusiasm accounts for 50 percent or more of all sales ability.” Whether you believe that number is accurate or not the fact is that you will ALWAYS sell more when you do it enthusiastically. Being new to the industry is often a plus because new sales people typically are excited about what they are doing while experienced sales professionals are challenged to maintain that same level of enthusiasm. Understanding that selling is a transfer of feelings, you must act enthusiastically in order to inspire people to buy. Remember, people don’t buy logically they buy emotionally so, show them how passionate you are about what you are selling and watch your sales improve.
It’s Simple: Ask questions, know your stuff, be enthusiastic and make the sale!