The Art of Selling: Chapter 2 - Believe in what you sell

Lets try and dive deeper into learnings from chapter 1. The first learning that I had highlighted was " Believe in your product".

Learning 1: Believe in your product

This is the most important part of being a salesman. I will talk about passion, integrity, market research, product positioning etc; later on but none of it will matter if you are not selling the right product. The product that you know like the back of your hand. The product that you truly believe will make a difference to the person who is buying it.

NOTE: I am using Product as an example to illustrate my thoughts. It may be a product or a service or a solution! They are all one and the same for the purpose of this discourse.

So how do you build your belief in the product you are selling?

First, you need to be convinced this product or Service will make a difference. You need to ask questions, you need to look at it from customer's perspective. You need to ask the 'HARD" questions, "UGLY" questions. After all, you will be convincing someone to buy this product and it better be the right product. Asking questions and scrutinising it will help you understand the strengths and weakness of your product. This will also help you get convinced that you are doing the right thing, you are solving a real problem!

This is an interesting exercise as it solves many purposes apart from making you familiar with the product. It makes you interact with various stakeholders within your organisation. Product development team, delivery team, marketing team, consulting team, finance team. It makes your bond within the organisation deeper. This always comes in handy when you have to close a quick deal or when you want a last minute super fast response from these stakeholders.

Once you know your product well, you know the stake holders behind it and you truly believe in your product, You are then ready to go out and start being a salesman!

So how do I do it?

When I look at any service or offering or business or idea for the first time, I am always positive about it. I never start with a negative bias. I believe this would work and I always give my best attempt to make it work.

I create market scenarios and attempt to sell this product/service in those scenarios. Then I start asking the questions, I start questioning the outcomes, I start challenging the whole ecosystem.

If it's a Product then I want to see it work. I ask for Demos, I look at how intuitive or useable the product is. I look at the problem being solved and quickly try to come up with cost benefit to the customer if any.

If its a solution or a service, I ask for presentations, I look at the team behind it, I question the credentials of the people who will deliver it.

I then do my homework on the customer and ask questions around my product and preparation specific to the needs of the customer.

All of these questions become very credible answers when we end up in front of the customer. This becomes solid preparation for the interactions and presentations to the customer. This becomes the foundation on which a relationship is formed with the customer.

and when I am in front of the customer, If I have a doubt this is not the right fit for the customer, I walk AWAY! Yes! That's the secret to do it right in the long term. Walk away if you come to a conclusion during your meeting or follow up interactions that this is not the right product or solution for the customers requirement. Trust me, you will thank me for this little secret tip!

Conclusion?

Always remember, you can use tricks and sell a bad product, but chances are that you will only be able to sell it once and you will never be welcomed back into that company. When you sell a good product which solves a real problem then you make friends for life, you create an opportunity to come back again and again to the same ecosystem and sell more, develop more business, make a bigger impact!

And the best part about knowing your product and believing in your product?

It doesn't matter whether you have met your targets or not, You sleep very well in the night because you know you are doing the right thing. and sooner or later you WILL achieve that target and multiply it over and over again!

**********More coming soon*****************