The key to a good salesperson, one who continuously drives business, is really summed up in this sentence ‘Do what others will not do’.
The client says ‘no’. So what? Learn, be resilient and move on – get a thick skin and heighten your emotional intelligence. The world will not stop spinning. Lessons are everywhere. Opportunities are far and wide.
When you are with a potential client you need to abandon all assumption and baggage of what they will or will not buy. You need to be present and focused on them and their situation, only have eyes and ears for them. Your full attention needs to be on understanding them.
The key to sales is quite simply down to – the more you understand them, the more you can help them. Unfortunately, most salespeople are too preoccupied with getting their own message across, without first fully understanding the client. This mistake means the client doesn’t feel heard, isn’t fully understood and all opportunities to serve them are missed.
Acquire an opportunistic approach, be creative and resourceful.
Be measured and calm yet make sure you are agile and responsive. So many sales opportunities are lost because the rep is too slow. Of course, they never admit ‘I’m too slow’, instead saying, ‘the clients are tyre kickers, I called back and they won’t return my call’. No sherlock, they have already formed a relationship with Jack Smith, who called at 8am and demonstrated they were the ‘trusted advisor’, so there was no need to call you back. It’s sewn up. Deal done. Move quicker, think quicker, be alert.
The person with the most behavioural flexibility gets the sale. That’s the rule. If you are regimented in your engagement you will be running the meeting your way, missing signals and not putting the client first. Your job is to run every engagement in a meaningful, relevant way –making it about them and not about you. Adapt to them. After all, our job as salespeople is to make it easy for clients to buy.
What to do
Practice questioning and listening, push your comfort zone. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Learn more
Read: ‘How to approach prospects’ >>>>
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