I am sure you have heard the phrase, “People buy from people.” However, I bet you have never heard, “People buy from robots.” In the modern world, clients have heard every bad sales pitch, seen every movie and TV show about bad salespeople and have experienced “death by spam” emails, letters and every other possible form of communication. If you currently express yourself like a robot, stop it.
If you want to sell more, give people the opportunity to buy. Guide, direct and assist them to a position of buying, rather than being sold. For more than 100 years, sales training techniques have been loaded with things like “tie down techniques” “inverted tie down techniques” and other sales speak. Starting today, throw all those things away. Erase your brain of all robotic sales speak and throw away all robot speak form letters, emails, post cards and other sales drivel.
Start engaging and communicating like a real person. People want to be dealt with in a way that makes them feel comfortable. Sales speak sends a message to the customers fear detector that says, “Sales Robot — fear the robot.” I am not in any way saying you should not get all the sales training you can get. However, I am saying do not forget to be you. A lot of sales training may be the same, but there is only one you.
Don’t be a commodity selling commodities in a commoditized, generic world. You make the difference. Be the best you that you can be, because they can’t get you anywhere else. Be you, convey you and give your customers the chance to buy you. After all, the reality is that 90 percent of customers do not buy with price being the only determining factor. If you want to train for success, wouldn’t you want to train on what 90 percent of the buying public does, rather than the 10 percent?
Most people are entering the buying and shopping process today through the Internet. What many have done is take “old school” sales techniques, word tracks and outdated closes and apply them to their online processes. This is exactly what customers expect. Stop it. Don’t meet expectations; create completely new expectations and criteria based upon new engagement and experiences.
Whether it is a text, email, letter or a conversation, ask yourself, “Is this how I, or anyone else, would actually talk? Does this sound like phony sales speak?” If so, throw out the form, template or conversation and start fresh.
There is an old adage in marketing that applies fantastically to communicating and selling to the information age buyer of today: “You must enter into the conversation already going on in the customers mind.” Wow!
TLC – Think Like A Customer
- Don’t show — share.
- Don’t present — engage.
- Don’t tell — ask.
- Don’t close — open.
- Don’t tie down — unleash.
- Don’t narrow — widen by choices.
- Don’t demo — experience.
- Give logic to earn emotions.
- Don’t trial close — this isn’t practice.
- Ask what they want to accomplish.
- Ask what they want to avoid, and what they dislike
- Go for negatives as well as positives. Find the elephant in the room and embrace it.
Do not mislead yourself into thinking that using new tools, software and media is the answer. New tools with old thinking, old processes and old sales speak is just old, outdated and ineffective.
Today is your chance for a fresh start. Put the robot to sleep and wake up the human.
For a free special report – “How To Solve New World Problems Using New World Tools,” email me at info@tewart.com with the words “New World” in the subject.