ABCs: ALWAYS be CONSCIOUS the “Always Be Closing” of the 21st Century
?? Sonya Vanjicki
Founder // Hunt + Hawk | Sales + Marketing Taking you higher. Telling your story. Top-tier creative.
Let’s just bloody say it. Sales has a really bad rep! Don’t believe me, how about: telemarketers; “used cars salesman”, 2007 US Housing Market Collapse because of dodgy mortgages sold by shady sales people; 'free' breakfasts; advertising EVERYWHERE (maybe you can blame marketing for that one), overflowing junk mail folders, etc, etc..
In our modern lives we are constantly being sold to, we are now wiser & more transparent though, too - we use the internet and make more informed decisions. Thank bloody goodness...
But what does that mean for Sales?
It means we have to LIFT our GAME, lift our offering, be solution-based and results-oriented for our clients with EVERY point of contact, aka, sale. How?
1. Actually Give a Crap
Rapport, client relations, upfront, small talk - whatever you want to call it. Ask your clients/potential clients about their lives, simple. Find out how what you are selling will actually help them. Talk to them, LISTEN TO THEM and then offer them a solution. This involves discussing their needs - not telling them what you do but asking them questions about their needs or their business’s needs and providing methods to leverage their current setup.
2. Be Present
This means caring about what this person in front of you has to say, rather than caring about what you have to say to them. The elevator pitch is some serious BS, what same 30 second speech could you spout at every person you met and have them impressed with you?!?! That would be some kind of populist magic. An actual, genuine conversation will win every-time over some memorised spiel. Spontaneous, interesting funny, real-life, and genuine conversation!
3. Do it because you really want to do it
Sales is hard. It’s not cut out for everyone, but guess what EVERYONE is selling, even you. Sometimes you will find yourself banging your head against a wall **metaphorically** wondering why you just can’t seem to get through to someone (aka, close the deal). But when you accept that sales is a natural part of any communication, meeting or relationship, you learn to love it and embrace that you're in it because you really want to help, and those awesome moments when you connect with a client, make them feel good and make yourself feel good will flow naturally! Win:Win. Also, I hope I don’t have to say this - if you don’t believe in your offering you will struggle to make anyone else believe in your offering.
4. ...then what naturally follows is Clear Communication
You will find that when you know how you can actually help someone with your product/service you won’t be tripping over words or repeating yourself - you will be able to give an obvious and relatable solution to their current or foreseeable problem. Nowadays some people in sales say you should be behaving like a consultant rather than a sales person; CONTRIBUTING not just selling; sounds like a good approach to me.
5. Keep in Touch
It’s much easier to keep your existing clients happy then to always be in search of new ones. This is where having relationships comes into play; knowing how to anticipate your clients needs, being available for your clients to reach (business is no longer a 9 to 5 hustle) and growing or shifting according to their needs. Also, don't underestimate kind gestures, when was the last time your sent or received a hand written note over an email?
The old-school ABC's or "Always Be Closing" just doesn't cut it in our over-loaded, hyper-informed, over-sold world! We don’t want some arrogant suit approaching us at a friend’s birthday party offering to refinance our home loan, instead we want real conversations with real people offering us real solutions for our lives and businesses.
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