Regardless of what industry or type of work you do, at some point you really have to sell a product/service, information, ideas, or even yourself. With every scenario, there’s a different approach of selling.
Often Times, people are unsuccessful at selling because they get caught ‘telling’. When you become a teller, your words lose face value. Once you lose value, you’ve lost any chance of selling to this individual.
Having the ability to sell has become an extremely powerful tool in the world. While every niche or industry has specific selling points, they all share a general approach.
Whether you’re trying to sell yourself in an interview or sell to clients, there are some key techniques you should be using. I am going to discuss some key psychological strategies that will help you become a seller instead of a teller.
Appeal to Emotion
Today, the unlock button on my i Phone 4S got jammed. I was real upset because my battery was draining fast and my phone was semi-broken. I went to the Apple store and they it would take me 3-4 days to get an appointment with a specialist.
What a joke. I could not live with a half-broken phone for 3-4 days. I immediately went to Verizon and here is where I really began selling it to them. The greeter told me I needed to schedule an appointment with their specialists and that wouldn’t be available till later.
Having to run to a meeting soon, I decided to talk to their sales reps about upgrading to the i Phone 5. While talking to him about how I could potentially find a way around my upgrade date of next June, I began talking about how difficult my day was because of the issue on my phone.
I started to talk about how frustrated I was and how hard it would be for me to carry on my business because of this phone issue. He then told me that he would order a replacement and get a new i Phone 4S sent to my house by tomorrow.
I sold him by simply appealing to his emotions and getting him to empathize with me. Somewhere along my calm chatter, he must have realized how bad his life would have been if he was in my situation. Thus, he took the extra step to help me out and I was very thankful for it.
Long story short, I was able to get a brand new i Phone 4S and he was able to qualify me for the new i Phone 5 tomorrow. Not only that, but I was able to save $20 a month on my cell phone plan and built a personal relationship with the guy there.
We exchanged contact information and I’m even going to get a text message from him at 6:30 AM letting me know what the lines for the i Phone 5 look like. I was able to achieve all this with a 15 minute trip to the Verizon store.
If you can really connect with an individual and appeal to them on a personal level, you will close them. Don’t yell or tell someone what to do or how to do it. Express things from your point of view and just try to be human. If you can do this, I guarantee you will be a successful seller in whatever it is that you sell.
Bring The Value
When you’re trying to sell to an individual especially, you need to bring a specific value. As much as people love hearing about what you know or do, people want to know what they get out of it. Everyone is in it for their own benefit, the quicker you show them their benefit, the closer you are to a sale.
Before anyone ever makes a purchase or decision, they must see some kind of value or benefit for themselves. For example, I have a subscribe box on the right side of my blog. By subscribing your notified every time a new blog post has been posted.
However, very few people have signed up for this. This is probably because people don’t see a strong benefit in exchanging their email address just to hear about my new blog post.
From the number of emails I’ve been able to amass in the last one month, it definitely has no value to my readers. However, I am going to be giving away a FREE e-book to my subscribers and I am sure people will find that to be a stronger benefit.
Whenever you are selling someone or something, always show them the benefits. Examples of phrasing this could be, “The benefit of using our services is…..” or “If you buy this product, you will….”. Instead of assuming your ‘customer’ knows the benefits of your offer, you need to directly tell them so that it is clear.
Help People Visualize
It’s one thing for you to say that your product will change my life and another to actually show me. Often times, we as sellers completely forget to let our results or product do the talking for us. Anybody can say they have a life changing product, but how many of them can actually prove it?
If you can show your customers the truth of what you are saying, it’s an easy close. As I have gone through the ropes of hiring multiple teams, I have always hired the teams that have proved me their worth with data, visuals, or actions rather than their words.
Tell people what you offer, how you do it, why they will benefit, and then show them visually. If your visuals can stay up to par with your words, I guarantee you will close more customers than ever before.
When selling, there’s only so much you can do with just your words. Instead of talking in circles, show your customers exactly how serious you are. Use statistics, metrics, images, success stories, or anything else that can prove what you say.
Put Yourself In Their Shoes
Before you can really sell someone on something, you need to put yourself in their shoes. Not only do you need to know what they might be thinking at the time, but you want to get a good idea of how their day has been going and what’s on their mind.
If you can psychologically be in the mind of your customer, you are one step closer to selling them something. Before you begin your selling pitch, always ask the customer how their doing to get a general sense of their mood.
If someone is irritated or has had a long day, their level of patience is much less than someone who just had a great vacation in Maui. You need to analyze your customers mind and act accordingly.
As I was saying above, before you sell to your customers, you want to get on a friendly level with them. If they just went to vacation in Maui, ask them how it went and relate by mentioning a similar trip you had.
Instead of jumping out to a sales pitch from the start, chat about a similar interest or something going on in the world. Anything that essentially breaks the ice and loosens up your customer is a good starting topic.
The worst thing you can do is give your customers a feeling that their only here to be sold. When someone feels like their in a ‘sales pitch’ situation, their mind isn’t paying attention to what your saying. Instead, they’re trying to figure out the quickest way of getting away.
Put yourself in their shoes, connect with them in a friendly manner, and you will automatically begin to see results. The key is to become a seller, not a pushover or a teller. You need to find the balance between too convincing and not convincing enough.
The Bottom Line
Becoming a great seller takes a lot of time. It’s a fine art that needs a lot of tweaking and practice before it can be perfected. Even through my years of experience selling, I find ways to improve each time.
Nobody becomes a great seller overnight. If you can use the strategies and techniques mentioned above, you will find yourself closing deals at a much higher rate. Just remember, you can sell anything anywhere. Don’t just limit yourself to clients or customers.
Do you have any great techniques or tips that have worked while doing sales? Feel free to share your thoughts on this article or by adding your own strategies by commenting below.
Regardless of what industry or type of work you do, at some point you really have to sell a product/service, information, ideas, or even yourself. With every scenario, there’s a different approach of selling.
Often times, people are unsuccessful at selling because they get caught ‘telling’. When you become a teller, your words lose face value. Once you lose value, you’ve lost any chance of selling to this individual.
Having the ability to sell has become an extremely powerful tool in the world. While every niche or industry has specific selling points, they all share a general approach.
Whether you’re trying to sell yourself in an interview or sell to clients, there are some key techniques you should be using. I am going to discuss some key psychological strategies that will help you become a seller instead of a teller.
Appeal to Emotion
Today, the unlock button on my i Phone 4S got jammed. I was real upset because my battery was draining fast and my phone was semi-broken. I went to the Apple store and they it would take me 3-4 days to get an appointment with a specialist.
What a joke. I could not live with a half-broken phone for 3-4 days. I immediately went to Verizon and here is where I really began selling it to them. The greeter told me I needed to schedule an appointment with their specialists and that wouldn’t be available till later.
Having to run to a meeting soon, I decided to talk to their sales reps about upgrading to the i Phone 5. While talking to him about how I could potentially find a way around my upgrade date of next June, I began talking about how difficult my day was because of the issue on my phone.
I started to talk about how frustrated I was and how hard it would be for me to carry on my business because of this phone issue. He then told me that he would order a replacement and get a new i Phone 4S sent to my house by tomorrow.
I sold him by simply appealing to his emotions and getting him to empathize with me. Somewhere along my calm chatter, he must have realized how bad his life would have been if he was in my situation. Thus, he took the extra step to help me out and I was very thankful for it.
Long story short, I was able to get a brand new i Phone 4S and he was able to qualify me for the new i Phone 5 tomorrow. Not only that, but I was able to save $20 a month on my cell phone plan and built a personal relationship with the guy there.
We exchanged contact information and I’m even going to get a text message from him at 6:30 AM letting me know what the lines for the i Phone 5 look like. I was able to achieve all this with a 15 minute trip to the Verizon store.
If you can really connect with an individual and appeal to them on a personal level, you will close them. Don’t yell or tell someone what to do or how to do it. Express things from your point of view and just try to be human. If you can do this, I guarantee you will be a successful seller in whatever it is that you sell.
Bring The Value
When you’re trying to sell to an individual especially, you need to bring a specific value. As much as people love hearing about what you know or do, people want to know what they get out of it. Everyone is in it for their own benefit, the quicker you show them their benefit, the closer you are to a sale.
Before anyone ever makes a purchase or decision, they must see some kind of value or benefit for themselves. For example, I have a subscribe box on the right side of my blog. By subscribing your notified every time a new blog post has been posted.
However, very few people have signed up for this. This is probably because people don’t see a strong benefit in exchanging their email address just to hear about my new blog post.
From the number of emails I’ve been able to amass in the last one month, it definitely has no value to my readers. However, I am going to be giving away a FREE e-book to my subscribers and I am sure people will find that to be a stronger benefit.
Whenever you are selling someone or something, always show them the benefits. Examples of phrasing this could be, “The benefit of using our services is…..” or “If you buy this product, you will….”. Instead of assuming your ‘customer’ knows the benefits of your offer, you need to directly tell them so that it is clear.
Help People Visualize
It’s one thing for you to say that your product will change my life and another to actually show me. Often times, we as sellers completely forget to let our results or product do the talking for us. Anybody can say they have a life changing product, but how many of them can actually prove it?
If you can show your customers the truth of what you are saying, it’s an easy close. As I have gone through the ropes of hiring multiple teams, I have always hired the teams that have proved me their worth with data, visuals, or actions rather than their words.
Tell people what you offer, how you do it, why they will benefit, and then show them visually. If your visuals can stay up to par with your words, I guarantee you will close more customers than ever before.
When selling, there’s only so much you can do with just your words. Instead of talking in circles, show your customers exactly how serious you are. Use statistics, metrics, images, success stories, or anything else that can prove what you say.
Put Yourself In Their Shoes
Before you can really sell someone on something, you need to put yourself in their shoes. Not only do you need to know what they might be thinking at the time, but you want to get a good idea of how their day has been going and what’s on their mind.
If you can psychologically be in the mind of your customer, you are one step closer to selling them something. Before you begin your selling pitch, always ask the customer how their doing to get a general sense of their mood.
If someone is irritated or has had a long day, their level of patience is much less than someone who just had a great vacation in Maui. You need to analyze your customers mind and act accordingly.
As I was saying above, before you sell to your customers, you want to get on a friendly level with them. If they just went to vacation in Maui, ask them how it went and relate by mentioning a similar trip you had.
Instead of jumping out to a sales pitch from the start, chat about a similar interest or something going on in the world. Anything that essentially breaks the ice and loosens up your customer is a good starting topic.
The worst thing you can do is give your customers a feeling that their only here to be sold. When someone feels like their in a ‘sales pitch’ situation, their mind isn’t paying attention to what your saying. Instead, they’re trying to figure out the quickest way of getting away.
Put yourself in their shoes, connect with them in a friendly manner, and you will automatically begin to see results. The key is to become a seller, not a pushover or a teller. You need to find the balance between too convincing and not convincing enough.
The Bottom Line
Becoming a great seller takes a lot of time. It’s a fine art that needs a lot of tweaking and practice before it can be perfected. Even through my years of experience selling, I find ways to improve each time.
Nobody becomes a great seller overnight. If you can use the strategies and techniques mentioned above, you will find yourself closing deals at a much higher rate. Just remember, you can sell anything anywhere. Don’t just limit yourself to clients or customers.
Do you have any great techniques or tips that have worked while doing sales? Feel free to share your thoughts on this article or by adding your own strategies by commenting below.
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