Don’t Sweat the Sales Stuff

Selling is really quite simple and not nearly as scary as some people think.
You get a list together of why your service or product is of value to your prospect and are willing to promote it.

What’s in it for them? How are you going to make their life wonderful?

Many people think about telemarketing and all those relentless calls you get at home when they think about selling products or services. It can be lawn maintenance, newspapers, carpet cleaning or just about anything else that you might find annoying to talk about after a full day of work. Usually the calls happen on your way out the door or when your right in middle of making dinner or, God forbid, relaxing for 5 minutes.

I had a telemarketer call me the other day to sell me some magazines from MacLean’s. He was offering such and such and this and that and blah blah and I finally I had to interrupt him, "I’m sorry I’m not interested."

What he said next surprised me. "You Don't Read?" Rule #1 don’t insult the prospect!

What about the Trickery of some Car Salesmen. You ask a simple question "How much does this car cost?" then before he tells you the price you answer 25 questions. Many of them will sit in the back seat while you test drive a vehicle to analyze the conversation you have with your spouse. Then they take off somewhere without you to talk about your offer with their Manager. They if they make you a deal it’s only valid for that day. I could go on and on about all the tactics used to pressure people to buy but basically, I'm offended by these games and I think most customers are. These types of strategies give the profession of selling a bad name.
You need to have a straight forward and honest approach. People will respect you. Leave the games at home to play with your children.

I had a guy working for me once who was so pushy. He would keep people on the phone and practically beg them. As my Dad would say "That guy couldn’t sell steak to hungry millionaires” That kind of energy is creepy. Put more eloquently by Steve Chandler "Neediness is icky."

You want to be naturally confident. That energy comes from knowing what you offer has value. You pull it off something like this:
“Here's what we offer. This is what we do really well and this is what is excellent about our products. Here’s the value for you. This is how much it costs.”
And be completely unattached to them saying yes or no. There are 4 billion people on this earth, someone will say YESSSS.
This takes practice but you will get to that place where you know the number of No’s and the number of Yes’s are in direct relationship to how hard you work at it. Don’t give up. It might be right at that moment when someone is ready to say yes. Looking out my window at all the weeds, I wish someone had followed up with me about lawn maintenance.
Know your value, have a positive attitude and be persistent.
Happy selling,

Carrie Wynne