“I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen as much as they need to talk.”

Lee Iacocca

Former CEO, Chrysler Corporation

I never cease to be amazed and slightly disappointed, by people who tell me that what makes a good salesperson is the “gift of the gab”. So being Irish, they must assume I was born to sell and could probably take a truck-load of ice-cream to the North Pole and make my fortune!

Nothing could be further from the truth. Like any other successful sales person, I learned my skills from good training and by constantly polishing and honing my technique. I am also very good at copying ideas from other people who are better at selling than me. Perfection takes many paths…..

If you are still convinced that selling is the “gift of the gab”, think back to the last time you got a telephone call from someone trying to sell you double glazing or a new kitchen.

Who did all the talking…you or the caller? And how did you feel at the end of the call? Did you take advantage of the “amazing deal” on offer that evening?…. Thought not and I’m not surprised.

If you want to be better at selling, here are some golden rules/tips you could try next time you are in front of a customer.

Rule 1

In the sales encounter, it’s the customer who is most important – not you, not your products, not your company…… Remember “the customer is always right”….not always accurate but that’s a debate for another time.

Rule 2

People warm to people who LISTEN, which brings us to Rule3.

Rule 3

Talk at least 50% less than you currently do.

This is easily achieved by placing your tongue between you teeth but don’t bite hard. At some stage you will need it to help the customer buy.

Rule 4

Establish rapport with the person in front of you.

This is done by asking Open questions and applying Rules 2 and 3. An Open Question is one that allows the customer cannot to talk and cannot be answer by a one word reply.

Rule 5

Find out what the customer really wants from you/your company by applying Rule 4.

Rule 6

Observe the customer’s body language – if they are saying nothing and tapping the desk with a pen, it’s a sure sign you are not getting through and you are talking too much. Go back to Rule 3.

Rule 7

People buy people first and products next. Refer back to Rule 4.

Rule 8

The customer has the answers – you have the questions. Refer again to Rule 4.

Rule 9

Offer a solution to a problem that they have. Customers buy when they haven’t got the solution themselves.

Rule 10

If you don’t get a sale at the first time of asking, it may be that the customer is not ready to buy just now. Create a favourable impression and keep your profile in their mind –you never know when they might need you!

Technorati Tags: Sales Tips

Have you ever left a sales meeting with the uncomfortable feeling that you just never “clicked “with the person you were trying to sell to? It really is a frustrating experience and it can be difficult put your finger on the exact reason why the discussion went the way it did.

We have been trained to analyse what we could have done better when we fail to get a sale, so you begin to replay the encounter in your mind to see if there was anything obvious that you missed. The opening was fine; he/she talked a little about their organisation. You gave the prospect a huge amount of information about your products and services and how it has benefited other organisations. There were no objections raised but still there was no indication from the prospect that they were really interested. What is really frustrating is that you made a deliberate effort to ask Open Questions as you had been taught on the recent sales course and kept the closed questions to a minimum. You might reach the conclusion that selling really is a numbers game – it just a question of seeing as many potential clients as you can before you get lucky and make a sale.

And you would be very wrong. Good salespeople make their own luck because they practice good techniques again and again. They have learned that building rapport and observing the body language of the customer (and subtly copying it) makes a huge difference to the outcome of a sales discussion. This is called “mirroring” behaviour by the body language experts.

You may know that 90% of your body language is unconscious – you are unaware of the signals you are sending out and that nearly 60% of the message you send out to the person opposite you is through your body language. So, unless you make a conscious effort to make it positive, you stand a good chance of creating a negative impression with the very person you wish to impress. Paradoxically sometimes the more positive you try to be, some people may interpret this as “pushy” or insincere. But take comfort – if you are unaware of your body language, so is the customer. They will use gestures they are comfortable with. So use their body language, to help you influence them.

Let’s go back to that training course you attended recently. The person who told you to ask Open Questions was correct. They allow the person in front of you to speak and you to listen and observe. So listen very closely and observe. Listen for the clues that tell you they may have a problem which you can solve for them and observe the body language they use when talking to you. Now repeat the body language they are using but wait about 15-20 seconds before you do this. So, if they have just crossed their legs or folded their arms, observe how they did it, wait for a while and do the same. This is how you subtly “mirror” behaviour. If you repeat it the instant the other person does it, it will be interpreted as “copying” and therefore insincere.

Why is this so powerful? People buy people first and products second. We rely on trust and relationships when buying from someone and the more a potential customer thinks “this person thinks like me”, the more inclined they are, to buy from you. Try it. You will be amazed at the results.

Technorati Tags: Sales Performance Coaching, Sales Tips