Sales is obviously a critical component to building your business, and yet for many it is the most feared component of building their business. Sales is not something to be afraid of, sales is the fun part.
Now I know many of you are rolling your eyes and can’t yet see how sales can be fun, but here is where we re-position sales. I have a dear friend who says selling is serving, and I totally agree with that. We all have gifts and we all were put on this earth to contribute to the well being of others. It is our responsibility to share our gifts, skills, expertise, whatever you want to call it.
Ask yourself the following questions; do you believe with every cell in your being that what you do helps people? Does your product or service help improve the lives of others, even if it’s to enhance the quality of their lives by making them smile?
If you answered yes to those questions, and I hope you did, than why would you deprive people from your contribution to helping them on their journey, or helping them to enjoy their lives?
Many of my clients ask me about the sales process, how to initiate the conversation and introduce themselves and what they do. Here is my sure fire recipe for getting more sales.
Suppose your product is a program in which you teach small business owners how to make $10k a month in their business. Typically you begin the conversation by asking your prospect some basic questions about whether they have their own business, how it’s going, etc. Be what I like to say is “intensely curious” about the person you are having the conversation with, ask lots and lots of questions about them and their business. Let them talk, they should be doing most of the talking. I like to say, the percentage of time my prospect is talking is equal to the percentage chance I have of making the sale. So if they are talking 80% of the time, I have an 80% chance of getting the sale. While not statistically accurate, I think you get the idea.
Embrace the silence
Get comfortable with silence, too many sales people are uncomfortable with silence so they jump in and fill the gap. Resist the urge to do this, be comfortable with silence, your prospect often times is processing and will offer up great insight if you just keep quiet.
Continue the conversation until you’ve gotten them to the point where together you have identified that they would like to make $10k a month in their business. For you it is the point where you have identified that are interested in your product or service. Most sales people, at that moment jump in to their close. I don’t. I’m only half way there. The following is a technique that I use to get them to the point they are almost begging me to sell them my product or service.
Get to the emotion
I’ve gotten them to the point where in essence they have said yes. Now at this point I have only asked them questions, they may not yet even know what I’m selling, that’s okay, the next question I ask is “What would it mean to you and your business to make $10k a month?” Let them answer and then say, “Tell me more.” Often times what I hear is a reference to having more time to spend with loved ones, or a reference to what they would do with the money.
Probe a little deeper, “What will that mean to you and your family when you have that time to spend together, what will you do?” “What will you do with the extra money you’ll be making?” What I am doing is taking the admitted desire to make more money in the business to the emotional response to attaining that. Notice also that I used words like “what will you do when”, not “what would you do if” using an assumptive close technique.
Identify the pain
In almost all sales conversations the identified pain for the prospect is either lack of time or money. Explore with them what it would FEEL like to have those things. And don’t just ask once, really explore until you can tell they’re visualizing what their life would look like.
I do this with prospects and when I ask how it feels, very often they tell me they get goose bumps just thinking about it. I’ve had prospects get choked up and even tear up. It’s only at this point that I close. I might say something like, “What if I could show you a program that, if you do everything I tell you to do, you’ll make $10k a month in your business, GUARANTEED?” Almost every time I get a resounding yes and I haven’t even mentioned price yet.
This technique works! Go out and experiment with it. Get your selling hat on and most of all have fun with it. Selling really is fun!
If you’ve got some winning sales techniques you have found successful please comment below.