What are the 10 Commandments of Selling?
1. Sell with Pride and Enthusiasm – It will be obvious if you embrace and enjoy selling. If you do, your sales will sky rocket. Yet, if you view selling as a second class profession, do not be surprised when your checks reflect that you are the employee of a second class profession.
2. Show the Prospect How to Purchase – As a speaker, I hold up an enrollment form in front of the group and walk them through the enrollment process. Whether you are selling toasters or seminar tickets, you must get to a point where you walk them through the purchasing process and explicitly show the prospect where to sign and take the next step.
3. Display Your Product with Care – Hold your product as if you are holding a new born baby. If selling a home, open the door with care and if you see dust on the counter wipe it off gently as if to say, “This home is valuable and I want to take care of it even though it isn’t mine.” If selling vitamins, keep them in a nice carrying case. When I sell audio programs, I peel the shrink wrap off the CD album as I am talking to the group and hold it to my chest. If I don’t value the product in front of the group, what are the odds they will value it enough to invest in it?
4. Don’t Close…Assume – The assumptive close is perhaps the most powerful closing technique because you are implying that your product is so good no one could pass it up. If you must seek permission to be comfortable yourself with the assumptive close, say something like, “Why don’t you give it a try?” or “Just sign right here and we will get you going.” I prefer the latter because it is more assumptive. However, both work.
5. Tell a Story – Tell a Story about your product of someone who used it and had tremendous results. A story with a testimonial letter from a satisfied customer is ideal.
6. Realize Buying is an Emotional Decision – You will need to supply your prospect with logical reasons to purchase, so when they leave they will not have buyer’s remorse. With that said, the actual purchasing process is an emotional one. Words that inspire emotion are ones that have the prospect seeing themselves utilizing the product and enjoying it. You might say, “Imagine the peace of mind that you are going to have when you have this insurance policy,” or “Can you see yourself driving this car around town waving to your friends?” or “Think about the confidence that you are going to have after you learn the skills in this book!” All of these statements are ones that require the prospect to visualize themselves in the future benefiting from and enjoying the product. This will stimulate their emotions and you will dramatically improve your chances of closing the sale.
7. Talk in Terms of the Prospect – You will secure the prospect’s emotion if you talk in their terms. When you talk about the benefit of your product, talk in terms of the prospect. If you are selling a home-based business and you said, “This business is allowing me to take vacations with my family and has given me such peace of mind because we have plenty of money in the bank!” you will not have their emotions. However, when you speak in terms of the prospect you would say the same thing this way, “What would be the perfect vacation for your family? Well, you could take your family to Fiji (or whatever they said was perfect) and spend the week. Not only that, but imagine the peace of mind that you will have when you have a year’s worth of income in savings.” Talk in terms of the prospect to feed their emotions.
8. NEVER Wing It – There is no glory in winging it. I know some salesmen who believe if they can walk into a sales presentation and wing it that it proves they are great sales professionals. No, it doesn’t. It proves that they failed to do their research and are ineffective time managers. The glory is not in winging it. The glory is in understanding the sales process and nailing it every time to catapult your success and bank account.
9. Give Them an Incentive to Act Now with a Godfather Offer – When your prospect walks away from you – the odds of you closing the sale have just dramatically decreased. If you have done your research and homework then you have prepared an offer that they can not afford to walk away from. Give them a reason to act today or they likely never will.
10. Ask for Referrals – After you have closed the sale, this person is your best source of new business. If you have sold them professionally and provided them with a great deal – simply say, “You have made a great decision. You are going to love this product. Who do you know that might benefit from it as well?” At this point give them ideas – Do you know anyone who is a realtor? Insurance agent? Has kids? Owns a home? Is a sales manager? Ask questions that inspire the kind of answers you want. You have to plant the ideas in their head.
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