Have you ever sold something to a good friend?
Did you feel that obligation to help them get the best deal?
Did you guide and lead them to get the perfect product that fit their needs and budget?
Why?
Why did you do that?
Felt obligated?
Fair thing to do?
Wanted to help your friend?
It’s the right thing to do?
Well, yeah.
People like shopping and buying with friends.
They don’t want to be SOLD, they want to BUY.
Let this thought sink in a moment.
You need to begin each sales conversation as if you’re talking to a good friend.
Did you notice I said “conversation” instead of presentation?
That’s because selling IS a conversation. You ASK questions to determine what product or service is wanted or needed.
Then you LISTEN, to determine if you do Indeed have a solution to their wants or needs.
Then you RESPOND.
That, my fellow sales pros, is called having a CONVERSATION.
The less effective way is to talk-over your prospect, telling them everything about your product or service, much of which they have zero interest in. Never letting your prospect talk and tell you what THEY want or need.
And yet you wonder why you get push-back, rejection, and no sale when it comes to asking for the order.
Could it be you’re not ASKING the appropriate questions like you would if you were selling to your friends?
Half the time I don’t know what I want or need.
So how could you expect to know what your friend wants?
Or what a complete stranger wants?
Let that sink in.
The ONLY way you are ever going to be successful is to treat your customer like a friend, ASK what they are interested in, and SELL that to them.
Just like a friend would.
It’s unfortunate that SELLING and the profession of selling has become synonymous with words like cheating, lying, fast-talking, slick and so forth.
Some industries have truly earned that negative connotation. And they deserve the labels.
But I’ve always felt that the career of selling products was admirable, honest, and enjoyable.
I made selling fun, respectable and lucrative.
By putting MY customer FIRST.
Just like I do with my FRIENDS.
Are you treating your prospects as friends?
You better be.
Today’s post is probably shorter than most, but I felt like I had to get it on paper while I was thinking about it.
Because it is dang important.
I hope you picked up a useful tip or two on this blog post.
If you’ve got any comments or additional suggestions I would love to hear from you.
Just leave me a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
See ya on the next blog post.
Orvel