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Wanna know the Sales Techniques allow you to Sell like a Pro without being a jerk?!
By admin | September 25, 2008
How do you sell, make a lot of money, and not come across as (or feel like) a jerk?
Fear not– it’s not only possible, but when you know the right sales techniques, you’ll be better at sales than you ever were using the pushy-jerk techniques that many of us first learned in sales.
A few years back, I got a job with a national mortgage company as a loan officer with prospects of “high commissions and happiness” glowing in my starry eyes. I joined the company when I saw just how much money loan officers were making at the time, and how glamourous the lifestyle sounded (there was a lot of getting around to meet people!). I realized that to make a lot of money, one has to be in sales. After all, “nothing happens until a sale is made” (Red Motley- 1946), so why not
make it happen because of me?!
Shortly after starting training, however, I quickly became disallusioned when I learned that, in order to be sales superstar with this company, you were expected to be and act like a jerk!
I mean it- arrogance and undeserved posturing was a part of sales techniques taught and practiced by management.
They taught us that we needed to look at our prospective customers as people to be conquered, and to enter their homes as if they were peasants who just happened to be lucky enough for us to stop by for them to lick our boots (and, oh yeah, refinance their homes with us!).
The selling techniques seemed to employ an “us versus them” mindset. “Boiler Room” statements like, “There’s always a sale made…If you’re not closing them, then they’re closing you!” etc. etc. If we complained, or tried to come up with nicer ways to sell (other than the manipulative ways they were teaching us), we were told that maybe we weren’t cut out for the job, and did we want a job flipping burgers at Burger King, ’cause that’s all we were gonna get unless we followed right along? You get the picture!
If it weren’t for a friend there by the name of Mardi, I don’t think I would have stuck it out there as long as I did. You see, while all of the other smucks were running around acting as if they were God themselves… Mardi was just a really nice guy. And, Mardi was making a lot of money there!
I did a collective “mind, body and soul” sigh of relief when Mardi took me on some of his sales calls and showed me that you not only could be nice, but should be nice when selling. In fact, the best sales techniques are more about being in tune with your customers and serving their needs and less about “closing the deal!”
And so, I went on to make some pretty decent money using what I learned for as long as I was with the company, (and am glad to report that my clients are still doing well with the mortgage products that I sold them, in case you were wondering…). What Mardi, and others along the way, have taught me about being great at sales has served me tremendously, and so I would like to share them here with you:
1. Believe and See that YOU can be a great sales person! Yes, you! See yourself breaking those sales records and getting mountains of commissions because… (go to #2):
2. You don’t have to be a jerk to be successful! In fact, the nicer and more in tune with your customers that you are, the more sales that you make. That’s right, nice folks can finish first here. Sales is, afterall, about providing a product or service to somebody who has a need or want… and YOU get to be the nice guy (or, nice gal, in this case). This is because of rule number 3…
3. Be friendly and ask lots of meaningful questions. When you’re friendly, your prospective customers are more likely to pay attention and be in tune with you. And when you ask lots of meaningful questions, you’re going to get a good idea of what your customer is really looking for, and which aspects (features, benefits etc.) of your product or service are going to excite them the most. Remember, people buy for their reasons, not for yours. So, make sure that you hit all the details.
Continue to ask questions even when they say, “No,” because…
4. Some will, some won’t, so what, who’s next? In other words, you may or may not make this sale, but no matter what, you shouldn’t take it personally. And when you don’t take it personally, you’re able to continue to stay connected with your prospect and continue to ask meaningful questions (and give meaningful answers) when they tell you “no” for the first time (which is really just an objection of some kind). When you get an objection,
5. Handle Objections by Reframing them from meaning “no” to meaning, “I need more or different information for the sale to make sense to me.” I know that you’ve heard about “handling objections,” and there are a lot of so-called “smart rebuttals” out there, but be careful what you choose. Picking something like, “ ” that sounds clever is hard to make a good-comeback by the customer but still leaves them feeling uneasy is not really that smart. It only sets you up for sales that just beg to be refunded as soon as the customer has a moment to think for themself. A good salesperson re-frames objections to show the customer that you really heard them, and gives you another opportunity to make the sale if you can help the customer overcome the concern. Here’s a few objection-handling-techniques that are very effective, and allows everybody to feel good at the end of the transaction:
* “Feel, felt, found”: A classic way of moving your customers from “no to yes” by saying, “I understand how you Feel. Many of my happiest customers also felt that way. But what they Found is…”
* “LAARC”: Listen, Acknowledge, Assess, Respond, Confirm:
Listen- Really listen to their objections, questions and concerns.
Acknowledge- Acknowledge what their objection is.
Assess- Assess where their objection is coming from and what’s really behind it.
Respond- when and only when you know how to respond in a way that relieves them of their concerns and shows how “buying” far outweighs not buying.
Confirm- Confirm that they have understood your response and that you’ve addressed their concerns.
* The Conditional Close is an objection-handling-technique that turns into a close: Make closing the sale a condition for resolving their objection. Something like, “If price weren’t an objection, then you would be ready to buy, right?” or “Now, the biggest obstacle you have is where to get the money, or where the date is…And if I can show you where you can get the money, you’d want it, right?”
* Objection Writing: Write down and cross out objections.
If the other person still has the objection, repeat the cycle of handling objections..
6. Lastly, you have to Close the Sale. Do this, first and foremost, by asking for the sale. So many people skip this step.
After their presentation, if their prospect doesn’t leap up and yell, “Hallelujah!- This is what I’ve been looking for all my life- where do I sign?!” then they pack up and move on. I hate to break it to you, but most people won’t close themselves no matter how great your presentation is. You have to ask for the sale. You have to close the sale. You can do this in a variety of ways, including some of the Closing techniques below:
* The “Assumption” Close- (makes the assumption of the sale) (put them in possession of your product in their mind, as if they already have it). “I’ll need your okay on this paperwork- can we get started?” (It boils down to asking a minor question).
* Related Story Close- tell a story that has a positive or negative point which tells why somebody must get what it is that you have. Touch the heart strings and touch the hot spots.
* “Now to be sure that we are clear on my recommendations, this price includes…(break down what your product includes).
* “We seem to be in agreement that this is what you need (want?), can I get your OK here?”
* The “Multiple Small Agreement” Close- where you go through multiple questions to get them to make small agreements. Here, you are taking them down the road to making a final decision.
* The “Alternate Choice” Close- Do you want a Big Mac or Filet-O-Fish?
All of this takes some practice, so set yourself up to succeed by practicing a lot!
If you want to get really good really fast, I highly recommend taking a look at Blair Singer’s “Sales Dog’s Training School”. Blair is a dynamic professional whose training program is unique because it delivers both immediate and long lasting change. As a woman who loves succeeding as much as I love serving people, Blair’s sales training not only left me feeling right at home, but delivered selling techniques that helped me to vastly improve my close ratio.
Blair Singer is an incredible individual whom from the bottom of his heart is dedicated to helping people become happier in order to become more productive and successful- which goes hand-in-hand with empowering women entrepreneurs!
Remember, you can be super successful at sales without being a jerk. You just have to their attention, capture their interest, stir up their desire and call them to take action!
Now go take some action and sell something!
Topics: Target Market, Women in Business |
July 8th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Goodness me thats alot of tags! I have to say it was a little bit difficult to read because of it. But I still enjoyed the piece.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 am
This is an excellent article for someone wanting to enter in the Sales business, now a days it’s important to not only sale products but also develop a strategy which will tell about the benefits of using their products to every individual customer. Like if a person is a small business owner, what could your low-cost software do for them? Is it worth it or not? Help them in making a decision but don’t enforce it as you don’t build long-time customers from it.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Good post, I look forward to the rest
January 31st, 2010 at 3:17 pm
If anyone was trying to get me to spend my hard earned money they better be kissing my feet - thats who I buy from. The car sales man that is the nicest too me will usually get the closed deal, the jerk will get pushed to the ground