Sell By Using Emotion
We humans are truly emotional beings. This really hit home when I read a blog written by Ilyce Glink, 7 tips for landing your dream home (I know someone who is actively searching for one). Selling a home can be a very emotional experience. But this isn’t much different than the decisions that we make all the time when we want to buy something. It just seems that when buying or selling a home we tend to recognize the emotional component more openly. We need to remember that emotions play a predominant role in any buying decision. Acknowledging this as we plan our sales calls can make a difference.
One Question Leaders should Ask Sales Managers
As leaders, we expect quite a bit from our sales managers. And I’d be willing to bet that we are not giving them all the support and training they need to excel. One of the best sources that can guide you in determining where additional help/support/training is most needed is by asking. But don’t begin by asking what they need. Instead, try to find out more about how they view their role. Ask them, “How do you define your role as a sales manager?”
Another Opening, Another Show
Another Opening, Another Show—it’s another way to approach your sales call. Each sales conversation presents another opportunity to capture interest, to learn more about your customer, to communicate your marketing message, handle objections, and gain commitment. And then the cycle begins again with your next call.
Are you telling or selling?
When I read the title of the blog “Diversity Training Doesn’t Work”, I thought it might provide some tips that could help us improve our training programs. Instead, it provided some insight as to why our Thinking Like a Customer selling approach works. In his blog, Peter Bregman not only explains why diversity training doesn’t work but he takes it takes it one step further—how most diversity training programs promote more prejudice, not less. The findings were fascinating—and provide valuable insight into human nature.
To Excel in Selling
To excel in selling, you need to continue to sharpen your skills, to learn more about the art of selling and to continue to hone your craft. The truth is that the vast majority of people in any organization, including sales people, do what the company tells them to do in terms of continuous learning and development. So if the company does not provide continual training or opportunities to learn more about selling, most sales people will wind up not working on how to improve.
Closing for the Business
Have you ever been in a situation when you asked a closing question and felt uncomfortable? Many sales people admit to including a close as part of their sales dialogue only when they are being observed by their manager. How unfortunate! For when the sales rep plans for and engages in a meaningful sales conversation, asking for a commitment becomes a natural part of the conversation. When omitted, the customer may be left feeling that something is missing. It is like leaving without saying goodbye.
Difference Between Messages and Messaging
Many sales reps (and managers) aren’t perfectly clear making the distinction between the sales message and messaging. Yet one is mostly passive (the sales message) and one is active (messaging). An easy way to visualize this is using a sales aid. The aid itself contains the sales (and marketing) message. It is the person who uses this aid as a tool and creates words that actively engage the customer through messaging that makes the connection with the customer.
Changing Habits
What affects virtually every aspect of your life and determines how your life operates? Habits! Studies have shown that 90% of our normal behavior is based on habits. Habits are pervasive – they affect nearly every area of our lives: work, family, our income, our health and even our relationships.
Since a habit is something that you do without thinking, then how do you make yourself (or someone else) think about a habit in order to...
What is Selling?
There are a lot of definitions of selling. It’s probably safe to say that each individual has their own definition. This variety can create conflict in an organization because our beliefs drive our behavior. When an organization does not specifically define selling with clarity for its sales team, it is likely that team members will behave inconsistently, which will in turn have an impact on the relationships and messages customers will hear. Obviously, this is not optimal for salespeople, the brand, or the company.
Mindset and Selling Success
In Paradise Lost, John Milton wrote, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven.”
Within your mind are the synapses and thought processes that create you as an individual—it’s a powerful thing. Within this wonderful creation called a brain resides your mindset—the established set of attitudes and beliefs that you hold. You accumulate the attitudes and beliefs that compose your mindset from your parents, friends, schooling, and life experiences. Indeed, virtually everything you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell may affect your mindset.