It might seem silly that so many of my messages this month have seemed to focus on generating sales within your company. In fact, more than a few folks have pointed out that me and the team are tax specialists, not sales people.
But I disagree.
First of all, every business is “in” sales, but not many of them do it well. In fact, some of you read the title to this email and cringed because of the word “sale.”
…And yes, I’m not really qualified to teach anyone to “sell” because there’s no way for me to effectively teach that – the sales system you use in your business is, in many ways, unique to your business or industry.
It’s not mine, either, but ALL sales are based on a process, even door-to-door sales. Now, you might laugh at the very idea of a door-to-door salesman, and maybe that sales model seems old fashioned, but there are still thousands of companies executing it today.
No appointment, no direct marketing, and a completely cold prospect. It’s probably not your ideal plan for generating sales, but think about the system you use and how exciting it is when your prospect says, “I’m interested! I’ll take it! I love it!”
That might seem like a dream sale – and it is – but the reality of sales for many people is this: You feel like you’re trying to convince someone to do something they’d rather not do … and you’re usually not successful at it.
So how can you reconcile the “dream sale” with the reality of many people’s ideas about how “hard” selling is? And where do you find responsive, confident customers who recognize the value you’re offering in your core product or service?
The first step of selling is to stop selling.
Yes, you heard that right. Stop selling!
Selling is about the seller – it’s focused only on the seller and what they need. If you are only thinking about your business and what you need to do to make the sale, you can never focus on the customer.
Before we go any further, I want you to think about what I just said – selling is about the seller. Its only focus is on them.
It might be nice to think, as a business owner, everything is about “you,” but it’s not. It’s GOT to be about your ideal client.
How they’ll value your business.
How they’ll value the products and services of your business, because you’ve taken the time to show and share how your products and services are also aligned with their beliefs and values.
Because you and your business are giving them the result they need. Not just the one they might want to buy.
On the other hand, you and your ideal client are in this thing together, too. You need the patronage of regular clients to grow the business and they need those products or services your company is delivering.
Get it?
When you forget about the “sale” part of lead conversion and concentrate on the needs and wants of the customer experience, the results are simple.
The sale becomes almost an afterthought – it is the inevitable result of you and the systems you’ve built within your business giving your customers exactly what they need to empower them to make the purchase decision.
In effect, you have changed “sell” to “serve,” and when you have, not only is it easier to close those sales, it’s also far less stressful for everyone involved on both sides of the sale.
It’s time to start making money a lot more fun!
