Telling vs Selling: Are You Talking Your Prospects to Death?
By Ashley Neal
It is important to listen to your clients and provide solutions to their needs. Manage your clients, prospects, and deals with a simple CRM and sales tracking app like Base.
Years ago, before I stepped out into my own entrepreneurial endeavors I had a job in sales. This job really afforded me the opportunity to learn how to really sell. One day after listening to my pitch my boss said, “You build great rapport with your clients, but you talk too much. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason – to do more listening and less talking. Once you apply this theory you will really excel in sales.”
Although I wasn’t making bad money at the time, I was interested in increasing my sales and making more money. I took his advice and discovered that selling in not about telling, it’s about being a problem solver. In order to be a true problem solver, your mouth has to be shut and your ears have to be open so that you can listen for the problems and solve them.
Before going out to sell your product or service I advise the following:
1. Become a true problem solver
Figure out what solution(s) your product or service provides for the customer.
2. Ask questions
When you are talking during the sales process, asking questions should be the main reason. Come up with a comprehensive list of questions for prospects that will help you to immediately identify what solutions you can provide. Do not assume that every customer uses a particular product or service for the same reasons.
For example most people use umbrellas for the rain, however; some use them to shade themselves from the sun. So it is important to find out what problem your product or service solves for each prospect, so that you can provide the correct solution.
3. Listen
From the very moment that you encounter your prospect or repeat customer, listen to everything that they have to say. Also after asking questions from your comprehensive list listen to the answers so that you can correctly solve their problems. If you sell watches do not try to sell a prospect on the fanciest, most expensive watch just because it’s more profit for you, perhaps all the prospect wanted is to have his watch battery replaced.
If you babble on about your most expensive product or service without asking the customer what solutions you can provide then you may lose the sale altogether.
It’s better to have the customer walk away with a purchase in hand (no matter how large or small) than to have them walk away empty handed.
4. Focus on the benefits your product or service provides
Now that you have listened to your customers problems, you will be able to appropriately provide solutions. When providing those solutions be sure to highlight how your product or service will actually benefit the client, do not just go over all the features –stress the benefits. People buy a product or service based on the value or benefits they will receive from it. Think of the benefits that you are able to provide to your customers not just the features.
5. Close Open the customer
Often times when closing a sale, the close becomes the focus as opposed to the actual sell itself. Ultimately, you may get the sell when ‘closing’ but it could be solely because the customer needed the product or service and you had it. Closing does not guarantee that they will be back. When wrapping up a sale I refer to it as ‘opening the customer’. If you have followed the previous steps then you have built rapport, gained an understanding of your customer’s needs, and provided the best solutions your product or service has to offer.
Use this opportunity to ‘open’ the relationship between you and your customer for a lifetime. Inform them when to update or upgrade, what to do if they have further questions, let them know of future promotions, or if you will be giving a portion of proceeds from the sale to charity, etc. Once you get the sale remember it’s much easier to market to a current customer then bringing new ones in. So always create opportunities to ‘open’ the customer relationship when completing the sale.
Selling is about listening and providing the necessary solutions to your customers’ problems (as it pertains to your product or service). Keep in mind, you are the expert at what you sell and people come to experts for advice. You can’t give expert advice if you are the main one talking. Listen, ask questions, provide solutions, and build a long lasting relationship with each and every one of your customers’.
It is important to listen to your clients and provide solutions to their needs. Manage your clients, prospects, and deals with a simple CRM and sales tracking app like Base.
Years ago, before I stepped out into my own entrepreneurial endeavors I had a job in sales. This job really afforded me the opportunity to learn how to really sell. One day after listening to my pitch my boss said, “You build great rapport with your clients, but you talk too much. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason – to do more listening and less talking. Once you apply this theory you will really excel in sales.”
Although I wasn’t making bad money at the time, I was interested in increasing my sales and making more money. I took his advice and discovered that selling in not about telling, it’s about being a problem solver. In order to be a true problem solver, your mouth has to be shut and your ears have to be open so that you can listen for the problems and solve them.
Before going out to sell your product or service I advise the following:
1. Become a true problem solver
Figure out what solution(s) your product or service provides for the customer.
- Make a list so that so that you have something to reference.
- Ask current satisfied customers what problems your product or service has solved for them and add what they say to your list.
- Ask prospects what solutions using a product or service like yours would provide for them, add those to the list as well.
2. Ask questions
When you are talking during the sales process, asking questions should be the main reason. Come up with a comprehensive list of questions for prospects that will help you to immediately identify what solutions you can provide. Do not assume that every customer uses a particular product or service for the same reasons.
For example most people use umbrellas for the rain, however; some use them to shade themselves from the sun. So it is important to find out what problem your product or service solves for each prospect, so that you can provide the correct solution.
3. Listen
From the very moment that you encounter your prospect or repeat customer, listen to everything that they have to say. Also after asking questions from your comprehensive list listen to the answers so that you can correctly solve their problems. If you sell watches do not try to sell a prospect on the fanciest, most expensive watch just because it’s more profit for you, perhaps all the prospect wanted is to have his watch battery replaced.
If you babble on about your most expensive product or service without asking the customer what solutions you can provide then you may lose the sale altogether.
It’s better to have the customer walk away with a purchase in hand (no matter how large or small) than to have them walk away empty handed.
4. Focus on the benefits your product or service provides
Now that you have listened to your customers problems, you will be able to appropriately provide solutions. When providing those solutions be sure to highlight how your product or service will actually benefit the client, do not just go over all the features –stress the benefits. People buy a product or service based on the value or benefits they will receive from it. Think of the benefits that you are able to provide to your customers not just the features.
5. Close Open the customer
Often times when closing a sale, the close becomes the focus as opposed to the actual sell itself. Ultimately, you may get the sell when ‘closing’ but it could be solely because the customer needed the product or service and you had it. Closing does not guarantee that they will be back. When wrapping up a sale I refer to it as ‘opening the customer’. If you have followed the previous steps then you have built rapport, gained an understanding of your customer’s needs, and provided the best solutions your product or service has to offer.
Use this opportunity to ‘open’ the relationship between you and your customer for a lifetime. Inform them when to update or upgrade, what to do if they have further questions, let them know of future promotions, or if you will be giving a portion of proceeds from the sale to charity, etc. Once you get the sale remember it’s much easier to market to a current customer then bringing new ones in. So always create opportunities to ‘open’ the customer relationship when completing the sale.
Selling is about listening and providing the necessary solutions to your customers’ problems (as it pertains to your product or service). Keep in mind, you are the expert at what you sell and people come to experts for advice. You can’t give expert advice if you are the main one talking. Listen, ask questions, provide solutions, and build a long lasting relationship with each and every one of your customers’.
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Source:futuresimple.com
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