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Selling is noble work, and from my perspective life is just one long sales call. We humans are "pack" animals who need each other to be happy and to accomplish our goals. And who's ever been better at sales than Zig Ziglar? No one, so here are 6 of his selling non-negotiables.
Never sell anything you're not absolutely passionate about. It's amazing to me that so many salespeople overlook this fundamental building block. If you don't believe in what you're selling and wouldn't be willing to buy it yourself, then all the sales techniques in the world won't help you be truly successful financially or in terms of career satisfaction.
Be sure you're doing something for someone and not to them. Most buyers can tell the difference between a salesperson who is genuinely trying to help them solve a problem and make their lives better, and someone who's only trying to make a buck any way they can. You really can't fake the authenticity of genuinely caring about your prospect.
Don't lie. Don't be dishonest by commission or omission. Sense an authenticity theme here? If your character is defective, you'll never be a top-tier salesperson. Even if you can make the first sale, you'll burn the bridge to any potential future sales.
Don't bet on the Law of Averages. All sales prospects aren't the same, and it's not "just a numbers game." Yes, it matters that you do a certain amount of basic prospecting, but Zig talks a lot about genuine "prospects" versus "suspects" in your sales process. Learn to quickly tell the difference and your results will improve dramatically.
Be thankful for objections. If a prospect is sharing their objections with you, then they're still engaged and thinking about buying your product or service. There are many ways to deal effectively with objections, but the basic principle is to address a logical objection with emotion and an emotional objection with logic. While people mainly make buying decisions based on emotional considerations ("do I like and trust this person?") and then rationalize their decision with logical considerations ("this product is more expensive, but it will be a much better investment in the long run"), both are important in the decision-making process.
Ask for the sale. Knowing when it's time to ask for the sale is an art unto itself, but asking for the sale is the key difference between sales and other types of relationship-building.
High-Performance Habits
Never sell anything you’re not passionate about.
Do something for someone, not to them.
Ask for the sale when it’s time--it's the key difference between sales and other types of relationship building.
Copyright Terry "Doc" Dockery, Ph.D. All rights reserved.