Without effective communication, and a message worth hearing, you’re in for a tough time in sales.
Without effective communication, and a message worth hearing, you’re in for a tough time in sales.
Are you having trouble getting your message out there? Maybe it’s the message you’re delivering; and then maybe it’s the delivery.
Do you ever wonder why people don’t return your calls?
People not calling you back is not a problem, it’s a symptom.
Here are some of the real reasons people don’t call you back.
• Boring message.
• Insincere message.
• Sales message not a value message.
• Self-serving message.
• No humour employed.
• Non-compelling message.
How should you leave a voicemail?
• Give your name and number first.
• Offer facts and valuable information on what they want to hear (not what you have to sell) – 30 words or less and ask for a callback or text.
• Give your name and number again.
Note: If you have nothing of value to say, don’t bother picking up the phone.
What is the best way to make a sale?
The easiest way to make a sale is lower your price to a point that you make no profit. Not a good option.
Real answer: There is no best or easiest way to make a sale, but there are several elements that contain the word ‘best’ that you must self-evaluate in order to discover why the sales takes place, or why not.
Key point of understanding: Selling is not manipulating; selling is harmonising.
You can occasionally make a manipulative sale, but if you’re still in the 1970s trying to ‘find the pain’, or ‘sell an up-front contract’, or ‘close the sale’, you’re toast. Sales toast.
Here are a few of the best ways to make a sale.
• The best way to make a sale is to have your reputation precede you by word-of-mouth from your Google ranking, and from your business social media presence.
• The best way to make a sale is to be known as a valued resource before you start.
• The best way to make a sale is to be friendly before you start.
• The best way to make a sale is to meet with the CEO or actual decision maker.
• The best way to make a sale is not to be ‘salesy’, or cocky, or condescending.
• The best way to make a sale is to find some common ground before you start the selling process.
How did my mother help me make sales?
Mother’s rules make for great salespeople.
I know this sounds hokey, but if you want to be a great salesperson, you should have listened to your mother.
Your mum said it best. As a child, when you were fighting or arguing with a sibling or friend, your mum would say, “Billy, you know better than that. Now you make friends with Johnny”.
Here are two major sales tips right out of mouth and memory of your mother:
Make friends. There’s an old sales adage that says ‘all things being equal, people want to do business with their friends’. I say, ‘all things being not quite so equal, people still want to do business with their friends’.
Your mother never told you to use the alternative of choice close or the sharp angle close on Johnny. She just said make friends. That may have been one of the most powerful sales lessons you ever got.
Say nice things. Your mother told you: ‘If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing’. I’m certain she only told you this a hundred times. Somehow after you got your business cards printed, that lesson was lost. Especially when you begin speaking about your competition. I’m sure your mother would approve of referring to them as, ‘My worthy competition’.
More motherly advice and answers next week … meanwhile, wash behind your ears.
Jeffrey Gitomer is an American author, professional speaker and business trainer, who writes and lectures internationally on sales, customer loyalty and personal development.
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