One Sentence Persuasion

As a salesperson or someone who works with salespeople, you probably have mixed feelings about them. Let's figure out what's real and what's false about sales reps and how they work. In this article, I'll go over the mistaken stereotypes about salespeople and popular sales tactics that only work in sales books. 1) A salesperson has to be an extrovert Selling is about showing the right things at the right time and acting congruently. Does it have anything to do with an ability to be friendly and outgoing? Probably not. I know so many top-performing introverted salespeople, they never say too much, they listen and analyze customers carefully and respond respectively. Moreover, introverted salespeople tend to be more accurate with the accounting part (CRM, contracts, formal communication). 2) Reciprocation - If I give something to you, you'll give something to me. Building sales is more relevant to building trust and relationships. Buyers already know your interest and will perceive you as a manipulator if you're trying to give something with an expectation of return. That's why reciprocation doesn't work anymore. However, you can give value with the intention to build trust and prolong communication. That's a genuinely subtle difference, let me illustrate with an example: Doesn't work: You give a demo expecting that because the client took the free item, he'll come back for more. = Manipulator Does work: You give a demo and explain how exactly it brings the result you promise. You do this while learning about customer's needs and building communication = putting everything on the table and displaying transparency to build trust. 3) Art of sales is a bag of psychological tricks Nowadays, when everyone is trying to sell something, customers are susceptible to old-school psychological manipulation tricks. There are no magic words or scripts (don't believe if a book on Amazon promises this) to get people into hypnotic condition to buy from you. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely a lot of psychology going on in the sales process. But if you're not into your product and company, if you're not into helping the client - no psychology shit will help you. Start with your beliefs and values. Truly integrate them in your mindset, and you'll be surprised how many psychological tricks you're subconsciously using naturally. All in all, psychological techniques are a tool, not a goal. Start with your purpose and intention to help. 4) Selling ice to an Eskimo = Selling Anything to Anyone Honestly, that's the craziest and most popular bullshit I ever hear about salespeople. First, a good sales rep will quickly disqualify a prospect that doesn't need his product. Second, a good sales rep will start with learning the product features and benefits before starting to sell it. People, I'm so happy you're reading this, please remember that this shit ain't working at all! If you're a CEO or Head of Sales, to avoid wasting time selling what your buyers don't need: - hire people who are interested in your industry; - make sure all your sales reps know why your company and product are different; - make sure all your sales reps know exactly why what they're selling is worth 10 times more than what you're asking for; - make sure your sales and marketing work together and are complementary instead of being contradictory. 5) The more, the better Here's a simple question for you, which salesperson you'd scale your company with: a) the one who would sell to 3 out of 10 customers? b) the one who would sell to 4 out of 20 customers? The right answer is A. Not only A type will bring better skills and consistency, and thus reputation to your company. They'll also bring more clients while needing less marketing investment. This is called sales efficiency. Always prefer quality over quantity, because the quantity is more comfortable to increase. And in general, working hard won't really make you happy. working smart - will. Achieving goals based on strategy - will. Building your personal brand - will. By the way, if you're up for making your personal brand shine on social media, my linkedin profile building services might be an option at some point.

Top salespeople know that trust is always more important than competency or price in sales. Trust is the reason why so many people are buying from their friends or someone they know even if the deal is way less beneficial. It doesn't matter if it's B2B or B2C, there's always a human behind the title. Which is why you need to literally seduce them into getting to know you better. Here's how you build that powerful lead generation message: 1) Find what you sincerely like about the person you're contacting and state it directly. 2) Use `because` frame to justify the compliment. Without it, the person you're reaching out to will only think: `What are you trying to achieve with it?` The simple `I'm saying this because...` would do. 3) Tie it down with a logical question like asking for a piece of relevant advice or asking to share the success story. Please note, it's not a time to ask `What's your main struggle?` yet, because this brings up an instant sales resistance. Asking something like `How did you manage to achieve this?` or `How did you get this far?` is a way better opener after a compliment. Moreover, we're talking about building a relationship, not a list of accounts that responded. That's it, you now have a smart and sincere `magic of 3` style`* connection message to send to your newly generated contact list. Still afraid of being rejected after sending a compliment? Try these steps to avoid awkward situations while giving compliments: 1) Report a compliment. Do the research and see what other people are saying about your new lead, especially if you have shared connections. Tell a compliment using a third-person: `I'm writing because Mr. Smith said you were able to achieve high employee retention in your sales department.` 2) Tell compliments about other people. Why won't you do the reverse of the first step and have someone report your compliment? Moreover, chances are these people will also respond by giving someone a compliment which you can use in step 1. You'll be surprised at how often people report your compliments and what opportunities your reputation can create. 3) Send a quick`Thank you` letter after a meeting or a call. What a perfect place to state a compliment that people will remember! Here's my challenge: for a week, make at least 5 compliments like that in your day-to-day situations! I guarantee you'll enjoy the process and the result if you remember to keep it simple, sincere, and specific. *`Magic of 3` is a classic rhetorical construction that incorporates 3 elements that escalate the message. We hear it so often that our brain is literally fine-tuned for a 3 element construction. Made famous by Julius Caesar's `I came. I saw. I conquered.`