The majority of salespeople make the same mistake. Every time. They spew instead of talking. They blather instead of conversing. They barf instead of communicating. They launch into (generally canned) histories about their company, background on the product, pitches about how it “revolutionizes,” “changes,” “shifts,” and so forth. In other words, they think selling is about promotion of a product or service.
Instead, think of selling as creating relationships with people who might need your help so that you can create mutually-beneficial, long-term relationships. This means you must get to know each other. You need to know them as much as you need them to know you. If you treat your prospects as friends, people you communicate with (instead of spewing towards), and colleagues, you’ll get far better response than you will with the shotgun method of blasting your information out there and hoping some of it hits the target.
Instead, follow these criteria when approaching and conversing with a new or existing prospect:
1) Focus on them.
2) Convey how you help others similar to them.
3) Make everything easy to understand, but not condescending.
4) Dump the adverbs and adjectives in your descriptions – your competition also sells “the greatest” and “best” and “most innovative.” Prove it without saying it.
5) Ask questions and be conversational, not dominant.
Those five things create a conversation, a two-way communication. This both endears the prospect to you as a person and creates dialogue that may introduce you to other ways you could help this client without seeming pushy about your product line or offerings.
When objections or concerns from the prospect come up, don’t immediately recite marketing materials at the person to allay those issues. Instead, address them directly and be honest. Admit to things like your own concerns that you may not be a perfect fit – no product is a one-size fits all – and give ideas for how you may be able to tweak or customize your offering to fit their need.
Finally, price objections should be addressed not with discounting, but with explanations of why your pricing is the way it is. Explain the quality, backing, and other things that go along with the company. If your competition sells at a lower point, hint at their weaknesses and why they can afford to do so.
Most successful salespeople do not recite verbatim from a script, waiting for cues from the customer so they can move to a different section and begin recital again. Instead, they know their products and services inside and out, understand the entire process and industry, and have memorized bullet points of information they can use conversationally rather than as pre-recorded messages.
Don’t barf on your prospects with pre-scripted information. Instead, converse with them and become friends. This makes sales far more effectively than any other method you might try.