Sales 101 – Without Sales Nothing Else Matters
“A great idea sells itself” – Someone Stupid
– U.S. Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year & Nationally-Recognized Sales Trainer – Clay Clark
Whether it is fair or not, every successful entrepreneur really has 2 professions. They are a salesman and an accountant. They are a salesman and an engineer. They are a salesman and the President. They are a salesman and a bakery owner. They are a salesman and a realtor. They are a salesman and an insurance agent, or they are an employee only. If you are serious about succeeding as an entrepreneur you must become passionate about learning to persuade others.
The best leaders in business, religion, politics and music are usually the best sales people around. Our Presidential debates are hilarious. More than half of Americans no longer have any idea of where they stand on any core issues and we sit there on our couches watching and judging each candidate to see who the best at persuading is. We want to see which candidate is the best salesman, and then we call them, “the most Presidential.” Why don’t we just look at their records and vote based on that? Their records are statements of fact right?
Either they voted for this or they didn’t. Either they did this or not. However, as humans we aren’t interested in facts alone, we are interested in one’s ability to influence others. On occasion we are so fascinated with one’s ability to “sell” and “persuade” others that we will actually ignore all logic, all truth, all factual information and all of our moral values simply to fill the emotional need created by a skilled persuader, gifted speaker or talented salesperson.
Think some of the purchases we make. If you bought a $150,000 house did you really make money? Did you really come out ahead? Sure the talented “persuasion technique rich” realtor probably told you that various half truths and outright lies such as:
**Now before you go into some vast conspiracy theory thinking, just know that I am half owner of a real estate company.
“A house is the best investment you can make.”
“Your interest on your loan is 100% tax deductable”
“A home is truly the biggest investment you can ever make in your future.”
“The value of your home rises every year.”
“There has never been a better time to buy.”
“You’re going to be living the American dream.”
“It’s a good deal.”
But upon closer examination let’s just see if you actually made money on this “good deal” that was the “best investment you could ever buy.”
- Purchase Price = $150,000.00
- Commission To Realtor (Realtors) = $9,000.00
- Closing Costs = $4,500.00
- Down Payment = $15,000.00
- Years You Pay Nearly 100% Interest Only Payments Before You Actually Begin Paying Towards the Principle On A 30 Year Loan = 15
- Years the Average America Lives In A Home = Less Than 5
- Commission To Realtor (Realtors) When You Sell the House 5 Years Later = $9,000.00
- Did you actually make money? No. Home much did you lose? I will let you do the math… But unless you bought this house without a realtor and unless you bought this house as a foreclosure, and unless you used a 15 year loan and unless you lived in the house for a long time you did not make money. But at least you felt “emotionally good” before I told you this stuff.
My friend, nearly all major purchases and decisions are made by people for emotional reasons and your goal as an honest salesperson is to prove how your product or service can help your clients feel the way they want to feel, because your product or service can deliver the results for them that they need to solve their problems now.
The idea that great ideas will simply sell themselves is bogus. Even if you had a real and unbelievable product, service of educational training system that actually solved many of the Earth’s problems, you would not be able to impact the world if you could not “persuade” Americans of its attributes, of its “believability” and its problem solving abilities. I recently spoke at a University that had assembled an all-star lineup of speakers who were millionaires and who had great information that every college student on the campus needed to hear. If millionaire alumni are teaching you specifically how they became millionaires and what you can do to become a millionaire as well, shouldn’t all college students attend this event? However and sadly enough, less than 50 students attended the event because it was so poorly “sold” to the students of the campus as being the “place to be.” I recently worked with another University whose enrollment struggles to grow year after year simply because their enrollment team consists of bureaucrats, paper pushers and people who couldn’t influence a starving person to take a free meal if they had to.
America had to be attacked by the Japanese before our country could be “persuaded” that the Jewish people were really being slaughtered in mass. However, Hitler was able to use his masterfully evil “skills of persuasion” to motivate an entire country to exterminate and entire race of people. Hitler convinced an entire people group that hyper-inflation and the devaluation of their money supply and the destruction of their economy was the entire fault of the Jewish people. He needed the help of propaganda expert and film maker Joseph Gobles, but he pulled off the great evil known as the “Holocaust” bases solely on his power to “influence” others.
Ray Croc had to work tirelessly to convince business owners that buying a duplicatable and scalable restaurant was a good idea. Walt Disney lost everything he had once and almost lost it all again trying to convince the world that his “Magical Kingdom” was not just some delusional dream. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple (the company he started), because he struggled to convince the world that they needed his company’s products and services. My friend, if you cannot show the world what problems your product solves you are going to fail. If you cannot show people time and time again how your product makes their life easier, better, simpler, more fun, more exciting, safer, etc… You will fail. You must be able to sell or your business will go to hell.
Thus, I ask you this question passionately. What are 50 ways that your company’s product or service solves problems? If you can’t come with 50, I encourage you to quit or to find someone else to sell your product for you. Bill Gates hired Paul Allen to do this selling for him. Maybe you too need to hire someone? However, if selling is not one of your companies core competencies you are doomed, unless you are willing to learn this skill.
This is not a gifting, this is skill. “Persuasion” (sales) is something that I have taught to hundreds of people at a time. I have taught insurance salesman, appliance store owners, accountants, aspiring ministers, web developers and people from all walks of life how to use the “power of persuasion.” Just like JEDI powers, this “power of persuasion” can be used for good or evil, so you must be careful how you use, when you use it and who you share it with.
To “persuade” anyone, to do anything, you must begin with the end in mind. Before you interact with your client you must clearly know your objective. Your object should be to get them to take action and to make a commitment to either meet again at an agreed upon time or to buy something.
The system that I have developed for this is the best system available today. This book is designed to get right to the point, but if you need more information I highly recommend you purchase, “Soft Selling In A Hard World” by Jerry Vass. His system works and my system is derived from his and other top level sales people such as Jeffrey Gittomer, Brian Tracy, Chet Holmes, Shane Harwell, Paul Arnold and others.
Without any further ado, here is the system:
Step 1: Establish Rapport
The Goal of Establishing Rapport: Get the client to like & trust you.
Rule #1: Let the client talk 70% of the time.
Rule #2: Control the conversation and get them talking by asking skilled questions.
Rule #3: Demonstrate your mastery by asking thought-provoking questions that expose the buyer’s lack of knowledge on your subject.
Rule #4: Establish yourself as the expert through the way you dress, look, and carry your self.
Rule #5: Never spend more than 5 minutes building rapport.
Rule #6: Use humor throughout.
Rule #7: Script out your entire presentation and use it every time.
Step 2: Help the Client to Discover Their Own Needs
Rule #1: Ask the client questions to discover what their 1 year and 5 year goals are.
Rule #2: Ask the client questions that expose areas of weakness in your competition.
Rule #3: Ask the client questions that showcase your knowledge of your product / service and your client’s lack of understanding of your product / service.
Rule #4: Ask questions that inspire confidence in your business by contrast to the competition.
Rule #5: Assume nothing; ask questions so that you truly know who are dealing with.
Rule #6: Never spend more than 7 minutes determining your client’s needs.
Rule #7: Use humor throughout.
Rule #8: Script out your entire presentation and use it every time.
Step 3: Benefits (Problem Solving) Backed by Statements of Fact
Rule #1: Know, memorize, and become passionate about 4 benefits that differentiate your company from the competition.
Rule #2: Follow every benefit and every problem you solve for the client with a statement of fact.
Rule #3: Never say something that you cannot prove.
Rule #4: Every benefit you give should explain to client both the “gain aspects of using your company” and the “pain aspects of not using your company.”
Rule #5: Nuance the delivery of each benefit you give to client in a way that meets the unique needs we learned they have during the discovery portion of your presentation.
Rule #6: Always present your benefits (backed by provable facts) in writing via a sales book or brochure. People find everything to be more believable when it is in print.
Rule #7: Never spend more than 3 minutes presenting how your company can solve the client’s problems (benefits).
Rule #8: Use humor throughout.
Rule #9: Script out your entire benefits (problem solving) portion of your presentation and use it every time.
Step 4: Call to Action
Rule #1: Assume that every client wants to “take the next step.”
Rule #2: Never ask the client directly if they want to buy from you.
Rule #3: Never ask the client a yes or no question; always give them an A or B option.
Rule #4: Your goal as a salesman is to get a commitment to either meet again or to “take the next step” during every appointment.
Rule #5: Always sound confident when going for the call to action, never begin talking softly and awkwardly before you ask for a commitment.
Rule #6: Every appointment is a waste of time and is completely meaningless if it does not result in a commitment to “take the next step.”
Rule #7: Always work via appointment only, because “my day time is so slammed right now” get in the habit of saying, “because my day timer is so slammed right now and I know that you stay busy, when is the best time to connect with you? At ______ or ______?”
Rule #8: Every call to action should occur within 72 hours from the time you got the commitment.
Rule #9: Never spend more than 1 minute calling the client to take action.
Rule #10: Use humor throughout.
Rule #11: Script out your entire call to action portion of your sales presentation and use it every time.
Are you thinking this system might just not work for you? Well here is a little faith booster for you. Over the years I have trained countless companies on how to implement the sales system described above. And every time this sales system has actually been implemented with pig-headed determination by the leadership team they have witnessed amazing results. In fact we have trained an implemented this system for major college fund-raising, ministry fund-raising, appliance sales, retail sales, apparel sales, photography sales, bakery sales, video production sales, lending, commercial real estate, supplement sales and nearly any sector of the market place can you can think of. This system produces near “magic” results. My friend the system cannot work unless you do. Remember, you get paid based on the results you produce , not the results you intend on producing. Napoleon hill once “action is the real measure of intelligence” So the question is ultimately about how intelligent you are.
**To get a copy of a quality sales script, to get help writing an effective sales script, or for more information about effective sales scripting systems contact our team through www.MakeYourLifeEpic.com or purchase “Soft Selling In A Hard World” by Jerry Vass. This book explains to you the step-by-step process of creating a sales system that works.
