How to Take the Sales Out of Selling
February 21, 2007 by Bill Caskey
Filed under Basic Sales Strategy
By Bryan Neale
It came to me at a peculiar time. I am a sales trainer and I was training sales people. In a moment of uninspired accidental brilliance (that’s an enormous exaggeration) I said something that made all the sense in world, but was completely contradictory in nature.
“My ultimate goal for you,” I said to a roomful of seasoned professional sales people “is to completely remove the concept of ‘selling’ from who you are and what you do.” But wait a minute…..I’m a sales trainer…..a SALES trainer….and these are sales people…….SALES people……..and ALL my clients are SALES people. Was I secretly hoping to put myself out of business? Hardly.
The point is this. The sales process in American business has become painfully stale. It’s wrought with manipulation, misplaced intentions, ego, self indulgence and in some instance, complete fakeness. I certainly don’t mean to offend any professional sales person, but it’s likely time you took a strong, deep OBJECTIVE look at what you do in your role as a professional sales person.
Here’s what I suggest you do about it:
1. Change Your Intent: Completely shift your focus in all sales situation from “getting the deal” to helping the prospective client. Don’t give this lip service. Change what/how you think about the sales process and your role in it. Quit trying to persuade, convince, push, pull and coerce your prospective clients….just focus on making their life better off and let the results just happen.
2. Don’t Think of Yourself as a Salesperson…think of yourself as a BUSINESS PERSON: Lots of sales people will tell you, “I run my territory like it’s my own business.” But do they really? Entrepreneurs tend to think about things very OBJECTIVELY and make decisions using more analysis than emotion. Try to put the same concept into affect for yourself. Be an objective business analyst and you’ll completely change how you sound and appear to prospective clients.
3. Be Yourself: Stop being fake. Stop pretending to be interested in things that you’re not. Just be real. Be yourself. You are likely a very competent, likeable, intelligent person who has a lot of knowledge that others will buy. Just let your ego down and let go of the desire to please them or kiss their ass and just be you.
There you have it.
The Stop Selling Sales Trainer
Bryan Neale
Related posts:
- THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T SAY ON A SALES CALL
- High Income Selling Strategies-5 Rules To Govern Your Behavior And Actions In The Sales Cycle–For High Performers
- The Ultimate Selling Strategy: Change Your Thinking.
- My "Biased" Thoughts On Most Sales Training…
- Check Out Your Selling Language. Is it Empowering You?
This is absolutely brilliant! I’ve been listening to the podcasts and reading these posts and I must say this is by far the best I have come across.
Every sales person should run their business in this fashion.
@KOKA,
Not sure about brilliant–but thanks. Yes, every sales person should–most don’t. Problem is old wiring about what it means to ‘sell.’ That’s what we need to change–the thinking–the rest takes care of itself. Keep listening to podcasts….
Good point Bryan & thanks for the article.
The role of a sales person should evolve with new technology. Gone are the days when product and service information was hard to come by and required the transmission from a personal contact.
The overflow of information has made such a role almost redundant. The sales pro is now one to help whittle through the overabundance of information and make sense of it on a consultative level. Those who market themselves as thus win – those who don’t…
A trained professional salesperson uses small talk to try and qualify the prospect and make sure they are indeed a prospect. Real estate agents are notorious for it. They slide in things during the small talk like “Oh, where do you work?”, or “What do you do for a living?”, or “How long have you been doing this?”, that it sounds exciting?
The problem with most sales persons is that they do all the small talking and forget “The golden rule” of sales…you must be a good listener! To the really advanced salesperson the relaxing and qualifying takes but a few seconds even for the most standoffish prospect. What my small talk is about is closing the sale. I am listening and searching for clues on how to close this prospect. What will it take? If I am a good listener the prospect will tell me exactly how to sell them. I have proven that thousands of times in front of trainees and experienced sales persons alike. I also use the small talk to give the prospect time to like me. When I am done with my small talk the sale generally is already closed! The presentation is just a formality.
I have seen countless times the salesperson talk the client out of the sale. Over and over again. I once saw a very nice young couple come onto a car lot and the young wife kept telling the salesperson how her dream since she was little was to have a cute red car. The salesperson showed her everything on the lot BUT a red car. He was too busy “selling” her, his idea of what she wanted instead of picking up on the GIGANTIC KEY she gave him in the small talk! Cute RED CAR! I heard it, her husband heard it…Why didn’t the salesperson hear it? Needless to say he didn’t get the sale.