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.