Video Transcript: How to Sell part 1 - Foundations of Selling
All right, welcome back again. We are now moving on towards selling. You can have a product, you can have a service, but unless you or someone gets out and sells it, it'll come to naught so we're going to look first of all with this first video, at the foundations of selling. What is selling, persuading someone to take advantage of an idea, a concept, a product or a service that is in their best interest. That's the first thing you have to understand about selling. I The seller, am selling my product and service to someone. I am trying to do something for them. And you have to communicate that. Lot of times sellers will communicate, I want you to do something for me. And in my definition here, persuading someone to take advantage of an idea, concept, product or service that is in their best interest, it also does something for you. Okay, I'm selling it. Hopefully I make some money too. But my primary thought has to be, how can I the seller. Help you the buyer. Selling, first of all, is nothing other than leading. You're leading something, and the Bible has a lot to say about leading. Matthew 4:18- 20. While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. That's what selling is. You're trying to get someone to follow you. I'm trying to help you with a product or service. Right now you're over here, and I want you to come this way with me. Matthew 28:18, the Great Commission. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age the Great Commission evangelism. It is all about someone being over here. They don't believe in God, or they're not following his ways. And I'm trying to make you come this way. You're over here in your positions and your thinking, and I'm trying to lead you to a different place. That's what evangelism is. Evangelism is really selling. Selling is not only leading, it's also serving. You're serving the person that you're trying to sell to. Philippians 2, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility. See, these are the terms of what a salesman really should be thinking. I am the one. I'm the humble one. I'm trying to help you, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests. Okay, I'm not primarily doing this to make money off of you, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. He took that even to death on a cross, so we follow Jesus in our example of trying to serve. So selling is leading. I'm trying to take you from where you are, trying to lead you to a better place, at least in my opinion. And I'm trying to serve you. I'm trying to help you. I'm I'm hoping that my product or my service can help
you with your goals. Selling is a mutual exchange. Ultimately, it's a mutual exchange. I do something for you, you do something for me. That's how it works. The bad rep of selling, I myself, never really liked selling my first experience was when I was 12 years old. I was in a boys club thing at my church, and we had to sell light bulbs in order to go on a camp out. I didn't want to sell light bulbs, but I wanted to go on the camp out, so I had to sell them. So. So my first sale was to my grandfather. Now you're thinking, well, what's the big deal about that? Well, my father made me go to my grandfather to sell light bulbs, and I didn't want to do it because my grandfather was kind of a stern guy, and he was very cheap. I mean, I'm telling you, cheap, unbelievably cheap. This is how cheap he was. When we the grandkids would come over, he would go into the refrigerator, and he would take out a large bag of M & Ms, you know, one of those big bags, and he would give you, and I'm not kidding you, he would give you two, 2 M & M's out of that bag. That bag lasted so long that they were stale. So this is the guy I have to make my first sale to. So I went over there with fear and trepidation. Why is my grandfather going to want buy light bulbs? For me, what I didn't know is that my father had already made the sale. He had already called my grandfather, and really all I was doing is collecting the money in some ways, that's the way sales is. Sales ultimately ought to be. I'm trying to sell you something that you already want. The sale is already made. I just haven't convinced you of it yet. Well, why does selling get a bad reputation, then selling products and services to people that do not need them. There's a phrase this salesman could sell ice to Eskimos, ice. Eskimos don't need ice. So salesmen are so good at what they do that they end up selling you something that you don't want. Number two, the bad rep of selling manipulating people to buy your product and service. Service. I went to the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce meeting a week ago, and they had this guy that teaches in some big college, and he was talking about selling and some of the cues and psychological things that you can do to sell something that you can mimic someone. If someone is sitting there with their standing there with their arms crossed, then you cross your arms. If they're leaning back, you lean back. If they're smiling, you smile. You just do whatever they're doing. And what research shows is, if I do exactly what you do. You feel comfortable with me, and if you feel comfortable with me, then you may buy my product. So you can manipulate the more you know about how people work, you can manipulate them into buying something they don't need. Number three, misrepresenting the product, product or service just to get a sale. A lot of salesmen, they want to tell the customer what the customer wants to hear. They want to make the sale. So they're going to say whatever they can if the customer wants something to work with this, the salesman says, I'm sure we can figure that up. And then, of course, the people in charge of the product, who have to deliver the product, who have to set it all up, they, of course, you know, get angry at the salesman, because
often more is promised than can be delivered, promising more than your product or service can deliver. Okay, misrepresenting your products or services to get the sale, promising that your product will do more than it can deliver. All right. Understanding why people buy a product or service. If you're going to sell something to someone, you need to understand why people buy what they buy. Number one, people buy what they need. I was working on a project with my brother the other day. We're rebuilding or rehabbing a cottage, and we went there, and I I came there with my good shoes, and I went inside, and I took them off, and I put my boots on, and then I worked. And then on the way home, I said to my brother, oh, I forgot to get my shoes. And he said, Well, what color were they? I said, but they were kind of a canvas color. And he said, Well, I threw them in the fire along with other stuff that we are burning. So he burned my shoes. Well, I need shoes. So I right away went online and started looking for shoes. Why? Because I needed them. People will look for what they need. Number two, people buy from their emotions. That's what a credit card is good for. You see something you want it immediately, you can buy it. That that's, you know, people that have a problem with money or behind in money. The first thing you need to do is cut up your credit card. Back in the day, when you only had cash, you'd see something that you you want and but you didn't have that much cash on hand. Now you have to go all the way home. You have to go to the bank. You have to get the cash. And by then you decide whether you really want this thing. But people buy out of their emotions. All of a sudden they want something, and they can do it, and then they do do it. People buy from their dreams. I've always wanted this or I, you know, if I could just get this one thing, then all my problems would got go away. Number four, people buy from their need for control. When you're buying and you're accumulating, you're the one in charge, it feels like you've done something you've accomplished. So a lot of time when people are depressed, they go shopping, and even if they don't have the money, they, you know, put it on a credit card. It. I did something today. I accomplished this. I got this thing. Number five, people buy from there to hunt. We have this inside of us, or to look, look for something. You know, when you lose your keys, you're motivated and you're looking everywhere. We have this need to find stuff with the internet now, you can research things, and you can find the exact thing that you want, and when you do, you can get it. Here in the United States, we have things like eBay, and you compete with others to get something. There's a certain hunting mentality inside of us. We like looking for things and going after things and trying to find things. We like the whole process of trying to find something. It's just the looking satisfies us, but just looking and never buying doesn't work. So ultimately, we buy these things. So I know all kinds of people who they're always researching, they're always buying, but finally, when the thing arrives, they lose all motivation. They don't care about it anymore. They're they're looking for the next thing, number six, people buy to
feel good about themselves. You know, my brother threw my shoes into the fire, and then I had to get new shoes. And I have new shoes now. And I'll tell you, you know that when I first had them on, you know, I'm walking in my new shoes, and it just feels good, just and I think the whole world is looking at my new shoes going, Wow, those are really cool shoes. That's why people have a lot of shoes. You only need one pair of shoes. But people buy shoes because, well, these are different, and when I walk in them, I just feel good about myself. I'm I feel cool. I feel, you know, put together so fashion and buying things, it makes you feel you have a car and, you know, it's a different color, or whatever it is when you first buy something, it there's endorphins are released in our bodies, and we end up feeling good about ourselves. Number seven, people buy to be happy, or they think they're going to be happy if they buy this stuff. People buy because people in their community already bought when I went to that seminar, that's what the guy was basically talking he was talking about, he was using illustrations. Like, here's the illustration that he gave. He said they did a study in three weeks, we're going to have a seminar, and you at the seminar, you can have a treat, and you can decide whether you want a banana or a bar of chocolate. What would you like? He said, well, people, 80, 80, 90% of people would choose the banana three weeks ahead of time, but the closer it got to the date of the seminar, when he asked people, what do you want? So two weeks out or one week out, the closer the date came, the more people switch to the candy bar, and on the day of the seminar, if they'd not heard about it, they come to the seminar, and then, you know, you can have a banana or a bar of chocolate. People overwhelming chose the chocolate bar. So people have in mind to do the right thing, but in the end, they choose to buy the chocolate bar. So we're sort of motivated at the moment. And then he said, Okay, so we're trying to get people to eat right, and they don't eat right. They want to eat right, as that illustration said, but when it comes right down to it, they don't have the willpower to do it. But they found one thing of motivated people. You can tell them facts. You know, you eat chocolate, it's not good for you. It does all these things, diabetes, all these problems. Banana does a lot of good things. You can inform people. You can try to get people on a plan. None of it works. What they found, the thing that worked is when they came and said, you know, all your friends have chosen the banana. When someone comes to your house and they're trying to sell you something, when they say, all your neighbors are doing this, people are more likely to do it. So people are finally motivated because of their group or their community, is actually doing it, selling in integrity? Okay, I'm trying to help you, I'm trying to serve you, I'm trying to lead you, or am I trying to just make money for myself? That's the question. That's how people being sold to feel. Are you doing this for me or for you, number one, understand why people buy, but do not exploit them by what you know. So you could understand the psychological reasons why people buy and then exploit that for the sale. But
ultimately, the person is going to get something they don't really need, and in the end, they're not going to appreciate you. Don't sell products and services to people you know either do not need them or cannot afford them. Again. You want a long term relationship with someone, you have to do something good for them in the long run, not just for you. Speak the truth about your product and service if it's not right, you understand what this person needs, and they're thinking about your product, but you know it doesn't really fit. Why sell them something that ultimately isn't going to work, because ultimately they're going to come back to you with all kinds of problems. Stand behind your product or service. So many companies do not do this anymore today, and if you don't stand behind what you sell to someone, then you will lose that customer. And customers are hard to get. It is hard to get a new customer. Once you get a customer, do what you can to hold on to them. All right, so that's sort of the foundations of selling. In the next video, we're going to actually talk about how do you actually do the selling.