Truth be told, the same goes for sales. I bet you have bought things before, never realizing you had been sold. How did that happen? Well there are several ways to sell by not selling, and all of them involve one key factor. Listen to what your prospect is saying. They will always tell you why they want to buy, all you have to do is agree with them.
That sounds too simple, right? Well I did cut to the chase. So let’s talk about the start of his process. So the technique works best if your prospects are coming to you, but it is possible if you are approaching them. So let’s start with the easier process. A prospect reaches out to you about your products or services. Listen to what they say, what is their problem and what is their solution. Refer to my post Can I get a what what if you need a starting place. So if you can listen to their needs and provide a technical solution that is in alignment with theirs, what is left to sell? Value.
How do you sell value? ROI? Charts? Tables? Those are all sales tools, we aren’t selling here. Has a salesperson ever changed your mind about the value of a product? They may have offered you a deal, but now we are talking about price. So price is one part of value, but I have spent a lot of money on products and services and received little value, and spent little and had huge value. So there is an intangible with value. This intangible is perception.
Individuals perceive value. The prospects perceptions are formed by many things in their life. Age, background, position, all play a part. Try and find the need behind the need here. So what can we do to not sell this? The primary item that will tilt the prospects perception is confidence. Confidence in you. As you have listened to you clients, questioned them to discover additional information, and proposed a solution you believe in. do they believe you? In you? If that answer is yes, then they see value and want to buy. So agree with them, go ahead, sell it to them.
Couldn't agree more Steve. A lot of these same things are the things I preach, but unfortunately teaching these skills is something that is almost impossible (keyword almost). Some can grasp these processes to go through when with a client, but its more a personality and knack for sales. Best sales people I ever met just had a natural ability to mingle, find a pain point w/o asking and then slowly close with their products/ services.
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