I’ve heard one of the foremost people in Internet marketing state that he doesn’t respect emails that come with a greeting. He wants to get right to the point. I find this ironic because the whole issue with social networking is to be social and to be personal. So the social networking question becomes, to greet or not to greet. In my experience, people still want to be treated like individuals. They want to count, not to be lost due to false [...]
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I’ve often wondered why salespeople have such a hard time asking questions that dig deeply enough to understand what their customers want. I’ve seen consultants do the same thing. The danger is that we make assumptions and then propose the wrong solution. Because the customer either recognizes immediately that it won’t work or maybe tries it before discovering it doesn’t work, we’ve lost credibility and trust. Among the many reasons I’ve discovered for not asking enough questions, is that people are afraid of looking stupid when asking questions. When you operate from a heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing viewpoint, it should make sense that you want to come across sincere and trustworthy. You do this largely by taking time to ask the questions for understanding. [...] Are you looking for a way to really impress your prospect? Here’s one of the simplest. Send a handwritten thank you note after your meeting. In the day when technology often makes us feel isolated, a handwritten note helps make or reinforce the connection. This technique is ideally suited to heart-centered, soft sell salespeople. Few things tell your “prospectors” (prospects who are looking to buy a solution to their wants and needs) that you actually care about [...] Have you ever noticed how most people want to avoid conflict? Most salespeople are no different. That is why it’s hard to appreciate that objections are gifts. After all, objections tend to come across as either rejections or as pending conflicts. This is why traditional sales trainers teach you to prepare a list of all the objections and strong counters to each one. Then, when someone raises one of the objections, you can quickly and smoothly defeat it. The irony of that approach is that each victory you have over your prospect’s objections sprouts another objection. The key to accepting objections as gifts is to take a heart-centered, soft sell approach: step outside our own person feelings to ask, “Why did this customer bring up this objection in the first place?” Change your viewpoint of sales calls and sales presentations from seeing them as battle where you either win or lose to exercises in developing friendships. [...] It’s ironic that the secret to great success in business lies in service first, rather than focusing on the money. Interestingly, this is a heart-centered, soft sell sales approach. In the past two weeks, I’ve heard several incredibly successful people point out that if you want to really grow your business, you need to serve first, i.e. give something of value with no expectation of return, before you begin to think of selling. Harvey Mackay, six time best selling business book author; Stephen Pierce of Stephen Pierce International; and Bill Walsh of Powerteam International also gave advice related to putting the other person first. So the strangest secret to business success comes down to a heart-centered, soft sell sales approach. Give service first. Provide value. Find out about the other person and her concerns. When you have shown sincere concern and developed trust, then you will find your prospect receptive to talking business. When you connect with others as people instead of wallets, you build relationships that make selling fun, fulfilling and mutually [...] There’s one question that has served me extremely well in over six years as a small business consultant. It’s the same question that heart-centered, soft sell salespeople and marketers need to ask their customers and prospective customers. The most important question is, “Why?” I’ve had salespeople and small business owners ask me about writing a script. I have used them successfully 18 years ago when it was a required part of the job. I didn’t like them then, and I really dislike them now. Other than to memorize an opening question to get you started so you can avoid being tongue-tied, scripts are designed to control the flow of questions so as to control the prospect. That’s a hard sell approach to sales because it only cares about one thing, getting the prospect’s money. After a short stint using scripts because a job required it, I returned to talking with prospects. Heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing focus first on the customer’s needs and wants. While people may quickly tell you what they think they want, it’s very important to dig deeper to understand why. Look for their real motivation then help your customers buy what will do the best job you can for [...] Have you ever thought that for something to be a unique selling proposition it needed to be really significant, like the Craftsman Hand Tools Lifetime, Unlimited Warranty or owning a patent or having a guarantee like FedEx’s guaranteed next day delivery? I used to. Then I began to pay attention and discovered that unique selling propositions (USPs) only have to be distinctive and important to the prospect. To give you an example of a business person doing a good job of developing his USP, I’m going to continue my analysis of restaurateur Scott Slater and Slater’s 50/50. If your uniqueness appeals to your target market, then you may have a unique selling proposition. The goal is to have some distinction that sets you apart from others so that patrons have a reason to come. Almost any branding campaign can create a unique selling proposition just by heavy and constant repetition of their brand name and tagline. The problem with such an approach is that small and mid-sized businesses lack the advertising budget to build a brand just on the repeating an advertising slogan over and over on TV. Scott Slater, on the other hand, takes the path of most small businesses. [...] Dorothy and I just went to see Julie & Julia. It was a delightful movie about overcoming obstacles through persistence and creativity, about frustration and “meltdowns,” and about a passion for writing. I’m an average cook with no real desire to attend Le Cordon Bleu so that’s not where I connected with this story. My ability to relate comes from my passion for what I do and have done. I could relate to both Julie and Julia’s love of cooking and of writing as well as all that they went through, including Julia’s being rejected by her first publisher. Interestingly, in both cases their passion developed over time and had lots of points where they could have quit. Sales has been that way for me because, like Julie and Julia, I grew into both my commitment to and passion for a career in [...] |
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