I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!

by Michael Oliver

 

When I had an office, way back when, a sales rep came in one day and asked me what business I was in. I told him, and he asked if I had a few minutes to see whether a service he was offering might be able to help me! I liked that! Nice start!

Plus, it was a lucky break for both of us because he had something that I was actually looking for at that time! He sat down and for the next 5 minutes pitched into his presentation starting his sentences with ...

"This is what we do..."

"This is how it works..."

"This is the way we do things!"

"Let me show you how you can benefit from this..."

"If you're not doing this already this is what you should be doing..."

"I've found the best way to do this..."

"I've got the best..."

"...and I know that you..."

What's not working here? What's not working is - I don't care what HE thinks. I don't care for him telling me what I should do without knowing anything about me, what I'm attempting do, why I'm doing it, what I've already done, whether what I've done has worked or not, and so on! You might ask yourself this. Who cares what YOU think? Come to that, who even cares what I think! SO here it is again: the secret of successful selling is to uncover and explore what a person wants, why he/she wants it, and give it to them if you have the right solution, or, if you don't have the solution, show them how to get it if you know where it is! That's it!

And that means gathering and sorting information by asking questions and listening with an OPEN EAR. When it comes time for you to make your recommendation you'll know precisely what to say and how to say it in a way that makes perfect sense to them. Why? Because they told you what they were interested in and why they wanted it! So think about starting with questions that uncover and explore whether the other person is unhappy with their present situation. "People's motivation to change is in direct proportion to the amount of pain they feel." Whether they will want to listen to, and make that change with you, is in direct proportion to whether they believe you understand them! TURN YOUR STATEMENTS INTO QUESTIONS.

Frame your questions around needs or problems they are likely to have.

Base your questions around one or more powerful features that are part of your solution. For example: take the feature RESIDUAL INCOME - Yes, despite what you have heard, residual income is a FEATURE NOT a BENEFIT! It only becomes a benefit when the person you're talking with perceives it to be a benefit... based on what it PERSONALLY MEANS to them! And it MEANS different things to different people, or it has no meaning at all! Consider starting with phrases such as ... "Have you ever felt you've been on a treadmill going nowhere fast?"

"Have you ever noticed that...?"

"Have you ever felt the need to do something other than what you are doing and never knew how?"

"Have you ever looked for...?"

"Have you ever thought about doing something different and didn't have the means to do so?"

"Have you ever tried to do something different and...?" You can then respond to their replies by asking more questions.

Effective salespeople and reps use this needs awareness approach to uncover if there is a need or a problem. It helps people surface it, visualise it and feel it, even if they didn't realise they had one! So when you hear a problem being expressed, or you want to explore with a person whether they might have a problem, turn your advantage and benefit statements you want to make into questions.