9 "Success Tips" the Best Salespeople Ignore – Part 2

“Success Tip” #2: 'You've got to hit them with your sales message.'

Success tip number two used to be the thing that the little voice inside my head argued with every single day during the early part of my sales career.

And going to work disagreeing with your boss when you're a junior sales bod, is never a good idea.

It got in the way of winning business time and time again. It stopped people from reading my emails or engaging with me, which meant it also stopped me from getting meetings with the people who mattered. It made me blurt out pointless paragraphs about my company and product without getting even a sniff of a sale. It also meant that I continuously missed out on commission payments and bonus cheques.

Here's the truth:

People really enjoy buying from, but they hate being SOLD AT.

It’s just the way it is.

Because choosing, looking forward to and enjoying your favourite meal is the complete opposite of having someone force feed it to you.

50 years ago, getting your sales message out quickly was a door-to-door necessity. Not now.

If you want to buy something, you look it up online. You can browse at leisure and if you decide you want to think about it, you can close your laptop and go and make a cup of tea.

Which is a lot less stressful than someone droning on about what they have to sell and then not taking no for an answer, isn’t it?

You’ve probably got your own story and example of a bad sales pitch. But please understand, the issue is NOT that salespeople are an obsolete thing of the past.

The issue is:

1) Why are prospects less inclined to listen and trust a salesperson now compared to 50 years ago?

2) Will a salesperson add more value to the experience than they could have got from the internet? Is he seen as a valuable resource who his prospects call when they’re ready to buy? Or is he just someone trying to mask selling his stuff by pretending to build a “relationship”?

So salespeople need to position themselves as being worthy of their prospects time and make it MUCH EASIER for the prospect to find them at the exact moment they are looking to purchase.

OK... So how do you DEMONSTRATE that you, as a salesperson, will add value to your prospect’s life – and that they can trust you to get the job done properly?

Here's how:

You earn the right to move forward, while doing your best to remove the element of surprise at every step.

This might sound simplistic, but even so, hardly anybody really does this. If you doubt me, just take a look at all the sales emails you deleted this morning .

Ask yourself these question as you look at each email:

“How much do I know and trust this person?” and 'Is this email about me, or is it about selling me something?'

90% of the time it's just a badly disguised advert from someone you don’t know. And the thing is, these days none of us have time to work our way through sales copy from complete strangers. In the 21st century, the two things most people have in very short supply are time and trust.

So here's a major shift: Instead of being a salesperson who constantly surprises people when you reach out to them, become someone who your prospects would be disappointed not to hear from. (It only takes a couple of touch points to position yourself in this way, but once you have crafted a non-intrusive introduction and a road map to take you there, it will seem so simple and obvious.)

You'll get five times as many positive responses that way. I’m serious.

And once they know that you are worthy of their trust and will add value to their business, the next logical step is for them to meet with you.

They will get in touch with you – you won't have to get in touch with them. And you walk through their door as a solution provider, not a door-to-door salesperson.

I call this ‘Earning the Right’.

It's THE fundamental concept in my sales approach.

Tomorrow I'll attack “Success Tip” #3:

'’Just blast everyone with this email template.'

Talk to you soon,

Chris

chris-murray/2-day-business-development masterclass.com