An optimal salesperson does not look a prospect straight in the eye. What? Not look the prospect straight in the eye? Doesn’t that send all kinds of bad signals? Of course, eye to eye contact is essential for building trust and generating sales. However, there are certain situations when eye-to-eye contact could be bad as a sales technique. It is at those moments when you should not look the prospect in the eye. For example, if you know you are going to ask a question that will be difficult for the prospect to answer, looking him or her straight in the eye can put more pressure on them and even intimidate them. By looking elsewhere when you ask the prospect a challenging question, you are basically saying – “Hey, I know this question is difficult. I’m respecting your struggle with it and I’m reducing the pressure on you.” You can actually be helping your prospect feel more at ease and that is good when you are seeking to close the deal.
Pay attention to what you say and do
An optimal salesperson is aware of what they say and do. There are things that we believe about ourselves that are deep inside of us. These beliefs have an impact on what we do and say. If a salesperson feels insecure, he may avoid closing a sale and generating business. As long as he doesn’t ask for the business, he will never be rejected. It is difficult to put our finger on such beliefs. We can’t see them anymore than we can see the wind. However, we can see the impact of what those beliefs do to us just like we can see the trees blowing in the wind. We have to look for the trees blowing in our sales lives. Did I just say that? Did I really just do that? Did I really not say that? Did I really miss that opportunity? If we pay attention to the things we do and say, we can spot those hidden beliefs that entrap us. Once we see those beliefs, we can take action to correct them.
Increase sales by asking permission to ask questions
An optimal salesperson is not afraid to ask questions. The typical underachieving salesperson walks into a prospect’s office with all kinds of questions — that they will never ask. They are afraid to ask these questions, afraid they might embarrass themselves or offend the prospect. Imagine someone getting onto a bus, too afraid to ask the bus driver what city the bus is going to. Five hours later, they are in downtown Washington DC when they had planned to go to Boston, MA. Strike up the nerve and generate sales. Ask the prospect if it is alright to ask them a question. 99% of the time they will say it is fine. You will get the answer to your question and you won’t end up stepping off the bus in the wrong city.
Increase sales by not starting in the purchasing department
An optimal salesperson does not start in the purchasing department. The typical person in the purchasing department is not aware of the pain of your prospective clients in other departments of the company. They are not interested in building a relationship with you. They are not interested in learning about how the features and benefits of your products and services can solve problems in the company. They are interested in making purchases while spending the least amount of money. Generate sales by starting your cold calling on a prospective new client in the departments who have the pain you can solve. Let them tell the purchasing department that they are to do business with you.
Increase sales by having conversations with the prospects
An optimal salesperson has conversations with prospects. The typical salesperson approaches a meeting with a prospect as if they are prepared for battle. Victory is a closed sale. The charts and presentations are the weapons in the battle to increase business. They are prepared for a cross-examination of the prospect. The prospect is someone to “overcome” and “defeat” in order to generate sales. The optimal salesperson views the interaction with the prospect as a conversation. Two friendly adults sharing information and perspectives back and forth. This builds trust in the prospect for the salesperson.
Increase sales by picking up the phone
An optimal salesperson uses the phone to discover the prospect’s critical information. It’s so easy to give in to the urge to send email to a prospect when the questions you need to ask to generate sales make you feel uncomfortable. Our self-limiting beliefs tell us it will be easier and less intrusive for the prospect if you invade only their inbox. However, the optimal salesperson understands that he or she cannot close sales by email. Sure, you might be able to capture their initial interest. However, if you need to discover their pain, their budget, the decision process, or the next step, you need to pick up the phone and ask those questions to increase business. The Optimal Salesperson understands that tonality is a critical component to building trust.
Increase your sales by debriefing yourself
An optimal salesperson takes the time for a debriefing after the sales call. Increase your business by acting as your own sales manager. Ask yourself after a sales call critical questions. Did you achieve your goal? Did you go deep enough into the conversation? What can you learn from your performance? How can you apply your sales techniques better next time to generate sales?
Increase sales by focusing on the prospect’s perspective
An optimal salesperson always looks at a deal from the prospect’s perspective. The optimal salesperson does not close sales because they dazzle the prospect with knowledge and persuasive speech. The optimal salesperson increases business by knowing exactly what is important to the prospect and demonstrating their product or service will deliver that solution. The optimal salesperson understands that price, features, and benefits may not be as important to a decision maker as are some unknown criterion the salesperson could not possibly imagine. The important sales technique in this lesson is to toss your brochures and presentations aside and ask questions of the prospect to discover what it is they are looking for.
Increase sales by knowing the competition
An optimal salesperson understands that to increase business they must know the competition. They research the competition and understand where the products and services they sell are different and unique. They then ask questions of the client to discern if the client is interested in those differences. For example, the optimal salesperson represents a company that manufacturers cars with sun roofs. She knows that the competition does not offer that option. It becomes her job to ask questions of the prospect to discover whether or not they want a sunroof. If the prospect desires a sunroof, the optimal salesperson skillfully guides the prospect to the understanding that they cannot get a sunroof anywhere else. Success with this skill requires knowledge of the competition – what products and services they offer. The optimal salesperson knows the competition and that knowledge generates sales.
How to use your value proposition
Value, much like beauty, is in the eye of the prospect. A value propositions is a valuable tool for a marketing professional. It helps define what a product or service is bringing to the market and how they plan to differentiate their product from others in the marketplace. But salespeople often misuse the value proposition. They use it to answer the question “why should I buy from you”? Most of the time that question is not asked explicitly, but salespeople craft their presentations around how to answer it anyway with the value proposition as the center piece of the answer. They say things like “this product is a good value”, or “This service offers our best value.” Statements like that ignore the most basic tenet in sales. A product only has value to the prospect if it solves a problem or fulfills a need or desire for the prospect. If I hate a sunroof in a car because I worry about leaking, the fact that it gets added free is not a value for me. It actually may detract from the value, not add to it.
You should use the value proposition the marketing people give you as a starting point. You should determine what problem each of the features or purported value is designed to solve. You should not view them as selling points yet. Because you do not know if any of those features solves a problem or makes the product more or less attractive to any particular prospect. You now have a list of problems (or desires) that your product or service addresses. Your next task is to get in front of prospects and ask if they have any of those problems. Once your conversation with the prospect has yielded some problems that your service solves and they have enough money to solve them, you can tell the prospect about the feature or benefit. Let the prospect tell you whether they believe your solution has value. Leave the words “value” or “value proposition” out of your sales presentations.
Value propositions are important weapons in your sales arsenal. But they are only worth anything if you use them properly and they definitely don’t belong in your sales presentation. Their best use is to help you prepare the questions to ask the prospect.
