Having owned my own business of some shape or form for nearly 10 years, I have learned my own style of sales. Since I have had no formal training, I’ve crawled, scratched and stumbled my way to a successful sales approach I would like to share. I know there are thousands of books on sales techniques, so this is more of my basic philosophy of creating trust with THREE simple principles.
#1. Experience (Matters)I read an anonymous quote recently that said, “Success is the result of wise decisions. Wise decisions are the result of experience. Experience is the result of poor choices.” While no one wants to work with someone who constantly makes mistakes, the reality is that we all make mistakes daily. The question is, “Are they the same mistakes?” If you have learned from your experience, then odds are you’re NOT going to make them for your next client or customer. Lastly, experience can help you on your way to becoming an expert, as spoken by Niels Bohr, a danish physicist in the early 1900s, who said, “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
#2. Expertise (Influences)I recently read a book by Malcom Gladwell called Outliers that stated “in order to be the very best at something, an expert, you needed 10,000 hours of experience.” Yes, you read that right! Roughly 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for nearly 13 years. Remember, he’s not speaking about the monotonous grind of simple actions but time spent learning and practicing. If you’re trying to sell a product or service, and you have only been doing it for a few years or less, your lack of experience is going to hinder your ability to be considered an expert. Robert Cialdini, known for his work on persuasion and influence states, “People tend to obey (listen to and believe) authority figures”. It’s obvious that if someone is considered an expert in their field, you’ll trust their judgement, and in turn, be more likely to buy their products or services.
#3. Honesty (Compels)When I decided to get married I needed to buy a wedding ring. I decided to go with a referral from a friend I trusted to buy from a guy who literally worked out of his truck. Having never bought a diamond, our relationship was VERY asymmetrical. Despite my feeble attempts to research diamonds and pricing, he had all the information and I was horribly scared he was going to rip me off. The entire process was stressful, and if he had done a better job of clearly explaining pricing, showing me examples, and quelling all my fears, I’m sure I would have had a much better experience. Upfront honesty and transparency establishes amazing rapport with a prospect, and creates the all-important sense of trust in an otherwise fragile relationship. This transparency, which could potentially cost you some initial profit, is always repaid in a loyal customer relationship and future referrals.
A Few Bonus Principles I once heard a quote that you can’t change someone’s mind, just help them make NEW decisions. I believe this starts with using your experience and expertise to educate the customer into a new decision. Also, my secret sauce is my enthusiasm and passion. People tend to work with and buy from people they like (rule #5 from Cialdini’s Principles of Influence ). Lastly, John C. Maxwell states in the book “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, at #14 The Law of Buy In, “People buy into a person first, and not the product or service.” Make sure to make a good impression yourself, in addition to your product or service.
The Key to More Sales… While I don’t claim to be a sales guru, I FIRMLY believe in the principles outlined above. And I’ll go so far as to say that when a customer comes to you, with your 10,000 hours of experience, expert level knowledge and open honesty and transparency, the sale is yours for the taking. Analyze the areas in which you you need to improve, and watch your leads and prospects turn into closed sales before your very eyes. Not only will sales happen, but you’ll enjoy yourself and have fun while doing it.
