Hate Selling?

Many potential, and current, business owners hate the thought of selling because they recall only the salespeople who were overly aggressive and excessively persistent in their approach. They don’t want to be that person.

These business owners fail to recall the salespeople who helped them buy instead of selling to them. It’s these salespeople you want to emulate, but you don’t because you don’t see them as salespeople. You see them as helpers, as guides to want you want, not as salespeople; yet they are among the most successful salespeople anywhere.

Let’s see what it takes to redefine selling in a way that you become like the latter salesperson.

Not selling

You’re not selling if you’re:

• Passionate about helping others.
• More concerned about them getting what they need than making a sale.
• Listening carefully to see whether what you have fits their needs.
• Helping them clarify what it is that they need.
• Listening to see whether their values align with yours.
• Assessing their commitment to getting the result they say they want.
• Willing to walk away when you find that it’s not a good fit for either of you.

Let’s examine each of these in more detail.

Passionate

If you’re not passionate about helping others, you’re not going to do a good job for either you or your prospective buyer. Prospects will quickly discern your lack of concern for their welfare, which minimizes the likelihood of you making a sale and, more importantly, pegs you as being selfish and uncaring. Nobody wants to deal with people who care only about themselves.

Customer first

It’s not selling when you place your customer”s (prospect’s) needs ahead of your own. Indeed, your lack of concern about making a sale earns their trust and confidence in you…which often increases the likelihood of making a sale.

Fit

When you’re more concerned about the customer getting what they need and determining whether you’re offering fits that need, you’re not selling; you’re helping the person solve their problem. There is no greater boost to your reputation than telling a prospect that your offering is not a good fit and referring them to someone who can help them.

Clarification

Often prospects and customers know that they have a need, but not what they need. When you help them clarify what their real need is, you are helping them find the right fit. By helping them better understand their need, you gain their trust and confidence. If your offering fits, great! You’re likely to make the sale. If your offering doesn’t fit and you refer them to a better fit, they’ll remember you and refer others to you.

Values alignment

The most beneficial working relationships, for both parties, occurs when there is an alignment of values between you and your customer or prospect. The lack of alignment often results in the creation of problems instead of a solution to the original problem.

Commitment

It’s much easier for a customer or prospect to say that they want a solution than to actually do what’s necessary to get that solution. If you’re assessing their commitment to doing their part in solving the problem, you’re not selling. You’re helping them determine whether the problem is painful enough for them to make a change.

Walk away

Nothing says that you’re committed to your customers’ or prospects’ success than your willingness to walk away when you realize that they aren’t going to benefit from using your offering.

Willingness to walk away bespeaks your confidence and integrity in your dealings with others. Your willingness to walk away has the added benefit of you not appearing hungry for business. You know from personal experience that when a salesperson appears hungry, you want a quick exit because you don’t know that they’re really interested in your welfare.

I know this is a lot of information, so let’s summarize.

Takeways

Replace the image of the overly-aggressive, overly-persistent salesperson with the one that shows genuine care and concern for the welfare of the buyer.

Here’s a simple way to accomplish this:

• Each morning, shortly after rising, remind yourself that you’re going to help potential and existing customers find the right solution for them.
• Each evening, shortly before retiring, recall your meetings with prospects and customers and ask yourself:

How successful was I in helping them find the right solution?

If not, what could I have done differently to help them get what they wanted?

Did they feel confident and trusting enough in me to be open in our discussions?

What could I have done to make them more comfortable in our dealings?

Don’t give conscious thought to these questions. Instead, allow your subconscious mind to find the answers as you sleep…and it will, consistently.

If you doubt that, recall the times when you wrestled with a problem all day to no avail. You went to bed wondering “How am I going to solve this problem?” The next morning, in the shower, the answer surfaces and leaves you wondering “Why didn’t I think of that before.” That’s the experience you’ll have when you assign the aforementioned questions to your subconscious before going to bed.

Within a week, you’ll find that your perception of “selling” is completely new and aligned with the salesperson you enjoyed working with because they didn’t feel like a salesperson. Enjoy!

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