It’s not Hard to Sell, It’s Heart to Sell

Hey there, listen to this. You can make a great sale by not selling. Crazy right? Well the greatest salesmen alive had to be crazy to be the greatest and this post explains how you can not just make a sale but stand out as a great salesperson.

Before Sales Pitch

Believe You Can:

Every single thing starts from your thoughts and then results into actions. You need to first have a changed mindset that you can triple your sales and come out tops. You need to believe [without a single doubt] that it will happen. In more practical sense you need faith.

How can you believe?

Faith comes by consistent hearing of The Word of God and this is the same way believing comes from consistently reading / listening to materials on improving sales. Also you need understand that you will receive a lot of “nos” initially so make sure you don’t focus on the negatives because they are inevitable. Instead try and block it out by watching some comedy or listening to shake it off by Taylor Swift. Also, don’t forget to set very specific goals of the results you want to see.

Know your Product Inside-Out:

You will be surprised how little people know about not just their product but also the company they represent. You need to know every single depth of your product as though you created it. This makes you appear highly professional to prospects. Unexpected questions will always come up during pitch so make sure you take a conscious step to come up with possible questions that could be asked by prospect and think of brilliant ways to reply them.

Personal Branding:

Always dress to impress so it makes you appear to be on top of your game without even saying a word. I can’t stress the importance of this because good looking people are more likable. Don’t forget to double check your fresh breath [I mean it] and to add a cherry on top, smell extra nice. Have the most creative business card money can buy. You business card represents you and what you stand for.

Do your Homework:

You need to find every possible thing you can find about prospect before hand. The internet is your oyster and google is your best friend. If you know someone that knows someone that knows your prospect, reach out to the person to give you every single detail about your prospect. Then tailor your pitch towards with this information.

During Sales Pitch

Always Start with the Why:

What exactly is the why? the why is the problem, the gap, the reason for your product/company existence. You need to point out specifically what you are trying to solve and this should be the major focus of your pitch. You could use 2 different approaches to this. 1. Tell a story and make sure it’s a good one [remember we salesmen are the con artists for goodwill]. 2. Engage the prospect by asking questions specifically pointing to the direction of the problem.

To back this point with facts, did you know the greatest man to ever walk the face of the earth used these 2 approaches to win the world over? I’m talking about Jesus Christ and how he wowed the crowd everywhere he went. He always expressed his points with the most intriguing stories and he always engaged his audience by asking questions even though he already knew the answers to them.

What you have done there is to keep the prospect’s attention in your court. You have risen his attention up, making him curious and wanting to know where you are heading with this. Hold on, you haven’t earned the attention just yet.

Boom! Drop your Elevator’s Pitch:

This explains what your product [the solution] is.

You don’t need to bore the prospect with exhaustive descriptions of your product but instead be creative with your explanation. It’s not about you or your product but about the prospect [never forget].

For example; a company called Creative Technologies invented the first mp3 player but failed to grow because they pitched it as “a 5GB mp3 player”. This same product was released by Apple a year later as “1000 songs in your pocket”.

Wow, it’s fascinating to know I could have a THOUSAND songs in my tiny pocket but I’m probably not familiar with the term GB and what the hell is an mp3 player? This is the mindset of a prospect back then.

Moral lesson; your elevator’s pitch has to be fascinating.

To Do’s During Pitch:

You need to be compelling by talking calmly in a low tone so they know you’ve got this in a non-aggressive way. Remember you are not giving a pep talk. Tip: Don’t rush your words. Another way to own your audience is by pausing at climaxes of your speech [so prospect has a second to reflect]. Also calling prospect by name consistently while pitching and looking directly into prospect’s eyes. Please note that this takes practice.

No one likes to feel intimidated by a know-it-all so try being relatable by making yourself look bad in a cute way. By this I mean telling a few jokes about your flaws, let’s say your height or your bulgy eyeballs.

Getting anyone to laugh is golden so that’s a huge plus for y’all funny lot.

Never mention the B word, I want you to “buy” this product. I repeat Never! Use lines like “we are offering…” Selling is like taking a girl out on date. You never say “I Love You” on your first date except you want to be tagged as a creep. Instead you offer a teaser about yourself [or product] to wow the prospect which forms a connection between both parties and thus a relationship.

Another trick to be more likable is to find a common interest between yourself and the prospect. This is why you need to do your homework and find out all you can about the prospect. Stalk their tweets and find out things like what shows they love, the kind of music they listen to or the clubs they support. So now you know what they like, make it your thing and build a conversation around it. You see, people get fascinated and increase their like for you[to a significant level] when they realize you share a common interest.

Always leave a sincere compliment. And “cute dress” isn’t enough. Go further and ask “where did you get it from?” “what’s the name of the brand?” Show you care and build a conversation around it.

Always end with a call-to-action. This is when you talk about how they can get the product or leave a tips about deals they can currently get on your product. Also make sure you drop your business card even without prospect asking.

After Sales Pitch

Send a thank you note before the end of that day and add other random details like something interesting you just discovered about your [yourself and the prospect] common interest or talk about how you can’t stop thinking about the delicious chicken you both had at your meet up point.