Why You’re Rubbish At Sales
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it’s true.
Most people are rubbish at sales.
Why?
The simple answer is because they’re selling.
I define buying and selling differently to most people. To me buying is a considered and pleasurable process where you happily exchange money for something you want.
Selling on the other hand is hard work.
You try to convince people that they need whatever it is you’re selling. It’s all about overcoming objections, pushing people into corners and then closing the deal. Put like that it sounds more like institutionalised bullying.
Selling is a tough job which is why most people are rubbish at it.
People have developed in built resistance to sales techniques.
If you’re like me as soon as you recognise a salesman going through his patter, the barriers go up and the chance of me buying go down.
Now you may very well have excellent products which will do a great job for me at an excellent price but because I feel I’m being manipulated, that the salesman isn’t thinking about me and my needs, but thinking about his month end figures and commission, I react negatively and escaping becomes my primary objective.
We reject sales people because they’re selling.
The top sales people don’t sell – they create the environment in which customers want to buy.
How To Become Great At Selling
As I’ve just said, to be great at selling, you have to stop selling and allow customers to take the decision to buy.
Now if you’re going to buy something, you are going to want to know all the details about the product:
- What does it do – not just from the manufacturer’s point of view but from more importantly what does it do from your point of view.
- What benefits does it deliver to you?
- What guarantees does it come with?
- Can you trial it in advance?
- How can I get hold of it?
- Do other users recommend it – what social proof is there?
What I’m saying is that you need to market your products to your prospective buyers in order to create the environment for them to buy.
So tell me: Are you doing this?
Are you starting with the three Ms of marketing:
MARKET————–MESSAGE—————MEDIUM
- Have you identified in granular detail exactly who your niche audiences are?
- Have you crafted the right messages for each of your target groups so that your marketing messages are totally relevant to each group?
- Have you identified where these groups of customers hang out? Only when you know where these people spend their time can you decide which media and which methods of communication will be right to communicate with them.
It’s time for you to stop hard selling your prospects and to start creating the environment in which they will want to buy.