Selling 103 or how to earn the right to sell

Now we can get ready to earn our right to sell.  This is part of our job that is more important than anything we do because we are laying the groundwork for the next step.  If you can build a house or barn without a strong foundation it will never stand up for very long because any strong storms that will eventually happen will destroy all the work and money you have spent building a beautiful place.

I know that you may be thinking where am I going with this?  Hold on a minute.  You are sounding like the customer that doesn’t want to hear anything else and just wants to buy a product get it wrapped and go home.

This type of thinking comes from either a well informed buyer or an emotional impulse buyer.  If you want to make a career out of selling you must get this right or you too will be subjected to being either an order taker at large or a sales person just taking up space.

To build a foundation for selling this is the probing step or fact finding step.  You have got to have the facts to build your case for making a sale.  To get those facts an open ended question should be asked to get the prospect talking.  The more he or she talks, the selling by little s will start building your foundation.  At this point your body language should be open and physically writing down answers.  If this is important enough for you to make a career out of the selling profession then your prospect deserves a professional approach without being a boneheaded numbskull that gives our profession a bad name. If you want to do it  the easy way then just get a job at Walmart being the door greeter.

Here are a few examples of open ended questions:

Tell me about how you got your business started and what made you successful?

What would you do if you could have a few extra hours a week of free time?

What do you like about your current product?

What would you change about your current product?

You should be writing the answers down because you will need these answers when your get the opportunity to present the benefits of your product.  Prospects never buy features, instead they buy benefits and usually emotional benefits.

In review you should ask relevant thought provoking questions that will get your prospect talking about themselves and their situation.  Use empathy not sympathy to keep the conversation on track.  If you get very far away from the selling process then you will waste time and end up losing credibility.  When you get through asking questions ask just one more important question or the hot button question.

Mr/Ms Prospect, if you could benefit from this widget, system, or thingamajig what would keep you from going home with it today?

If you have done this step right you will have started to build a strong foundation and a good relationship with a future customer. This is the most important step in the process of selling.  If your prospect is engaged at this point they will be giving you the impression that they want to hear more about what you have to offer.

Next we will talk about how to present your product better than Vanna White.