Video Transcript: How to Sell part 2 - One on One Selling

All right, welcome to the enterprise class. This one is how to sell part two, and this is selling one on one. If you're trying an enterprise of any sort, you have this idea. You have this thought. It's very creative. No one else is doing it, but you're starting out. You don't you don't have a sales force. You have to do some of the selling. I personally am an idea person. I love coming up with new ideas, and I can't stand sales. I mean, I can do it, but I don't like sales. I like just thinking up a new product. And maybe you're like that too, but when you're starting out, you have to do everything. Someone else is not going to sell your product, and you don't have the money to hire someone, so you have to learn how to do it, and you have to get over the hump. Maybe eventually you can hire a salesperson, but in the beginning you have to do it. And so you just got to get out there and do it. So one on one, selling. How do you do that? A lot of people want to sell by throwing flyers and and putting ads out, because then the ad and the flyer does the selling. I don't have to personally get involved. But in the beginning, you have to personally get involved. You have to get out there. In fact, by getting involved, you will see whether your product has any value to customers. You'll see what the problems are, and maybe you can fix them. So how to sell? Part Two, the dance. I call it the dance because it's an art. There's, I can't just tell you, I'm going to give you step by step, but a lot of times it doesn't go that way, because it's human interaction. And so there's, there's this dance you're leading, they're leading, who's leading? Where's this dance going to go? It's hard to know, but I want to help you in this creative process. So we're going to look at number one, getting past the awkward there's something awkward in the beginning of a sales thing, getting to an engaging conversation. Number three, establishing a connection to their dream, their passion, their vision. Number four, connecting their dream to your product or service. Number five, getting a decision. Alright, so we're going to look at each one of those. We'll start with getting past the awkward. Why? Why people are uncomfortable with salespeople? I don't know if you are, but I am. Right away someone comes and they're over friendly. All of a sudden, I don't know them, and they're extremely friendly to me. I'm like, Okay, what's the deal? And what do you want to sell me? And I'm not interested. I start out by thinking, I'm not interested. I'm not going to be sold to. It's sort of a, sort of a game. They want to beat me, and that's making the sale, and I don't want them to beat me, so I'm resistant, and I know that they're good. They have a lot of strategies, and they've been doing this a long time. I haven't been resisting sales a long time. So they've been practicing this game, whatever the sales game, way more than I have. And so I'm one on one with someone who's way better at this than I am. So I'm guarded. Why people are uncomfortable with salespeople. Number one, I don't know you. Who are you? I'm not familiar with you. I have no connection to you, and you want to sell me something. Number two, there's no trust. I don't know you. I don't trust you. Number three, sell. Salesman wants to be friendly and chit chat, only to end up selling me something. So they want to talk about this, they want to talk about that, but I know in the end, they just want to that they're not interested in whatever they're asking me. So how was your last vacation? They don't care about my vacation, and so I don't want to spend three minutes telling them about my vacation when I know that they don't care. They just wanna establish some rapport so they can end up selling me something. So now you're the sales person, and when you come up to someone, specially, if it's a cold call, I'm coming up to someone, I'm interrupting their life, like when I sell Bibles, I have to go to a church, walk in, see the Secretary and say, Hey, I I'd like to what you can see it in a person's face. They're like, you know, I was busy doing something, and all of a sudden you come and interrupt me. It's, it's awkward. So how do you get past the awkward? Establish trust. Okay, they don't trust you. So how can you establish a little bit of trust? Find a connection, state, sport, job, hobby, shoes. Hey, I see you've got Adidas shoes, just like I do. Okay, so I happen to have Adidas shoes on today, and if they did, I might say something like that, or connection to a favorite team. They're wearing a shirt that is somehow connected. Or they have red hair. My hair used to be red. Hey, I can see you're a redhead too. Or some kind of a connection to them to establish a little bit of rapport. Now, I do realize that as you do that, if you spend too much time on it again, the people are going to go, Yeah, I know what you're doing. You're trying to establish rapport so you can sell me something mirror. This is a bit controversial, but people, people trust what they're familiar with and and if they're standing like this, and you stand like this, instinctively, they think that you're like them. If they're relaxed and you're relaxed, hey, he's just, he's a relaxed person like now, they don't think about it. Their mind isn't saying any of these things. But if you mirror what they do, if they're, you know, leaning in, you lean in. If they're sitting back, you sit back. If they're alert, you have to be alert. And instinctively, they think, well, he's sort of like me. We trust people that are like us. Paul, in a way, did this I Corinthians 9:21-23 to those not having the law, I became like one not having the law, though I am not free from God's law, but under Christ's law. So as to win those not having the law. To the weak, I became weak. To win the weak, I become all things to all people, so that by all possible means, I might save some I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. So Paul, in a way, you know, when he went to Athens, he saw all these statues, and one was to the unknown God. He right away, identified with it. Hey, I see you. You follow up this unknown god. I can tell you who he is. See, he started with where they're at and then led them to what he wanted to say. So how do you get past the awkward number three, use their name again. It's, you know, if I say a person's name, the only people that know this person's name are people they know. So all of a sudden, I've become one of the people that they know. You know, they know three, four or 500 people in the world, and now I'm one of those that know them because I use their name. Be upfront with what you want to do. Okay, this is where a lot of salespeople, they want to chitchat, they want to talk, they want to do a lot of things, and they take a long time to get to what they want to do. And then I resent it. I had a list, I had to talk for 10 minutes, and all you want to do is sell me something so upfront. Say something like, Hey, I would like to, I'm here. I'm selling this thing, and maybe I, you know, if you're interested, if you have a couple minutes, I'd like to talk to you about it. Now they may just shut you down and that that's fine. That's the way it's going to be. Number five, ask permission to ask a question, to help you. Can I ask you a question that might help me with what I'm trying to do? Ask permission to ask, let me. Let me tell you the difference between asking for an opinion and asking for help. If you if you say, you know you have this product, and you say, I would like your opinion on this product. Every time you ask someone for their opinion, you invite them to be a critic. You're actually asking them, please critic, be a critic of my product. And in order for them to feel good about themselves, they have to find something that's wrong with it. So you're just going to get a list of things they don't like when you ask for help. Hey, I have this thing, and I'd really appreciate your help. When you ask for some help, you get a partner. They sort of join you. They they want you to succeed as much as you want to succeed. Number six ask indirect questions. For example, when I started a church, I went knocked on people's doors, and I asked people, my first question was, do you go to church? Are you are you attending a church? And when they. Said, no I said, great, because you're the people that I want to talk to. I need help from you your especially qualified for what I want to ask. Then my question was, why do you think most people don't go to church? See, a direct question would be, why don't you go to church? But that's offensive. An indirect question is, I just want your thoughts about this. Remember, you're trying to help me, and you're qualified to help me in a way that I'm not. So why do you think most people don't go to church? And then they'll tell you, Well, let me tell you why most people don't go to church. Now, in the end, they'll tell me why they don't go to church, but I haven't offended them by asking so why don't you go to church? So ask their ask for their help. Ask indirect questions. Number seven, use examples and metaphors in their language and interests. If they're a cowboy relate it to horses and farms and wrenches. If they're a mechanic, relate what you're trying to do to mechanical things. If they're a computer software designer, use metaphors. You know, it's sort of like a computer software, like a operating system. That's what we're trying to sell an operating system. So whatever it is that they're into, try to use metaphors that relate to them. Okay, getting to an engaging conversation again, ask permission to ask a question. You mind if I ask you a question? This is know the difference between asking for an opinion, asking for help. Okay, we went over that. Ask questions that keep the conversation going. Remember, you're looking for their help. Can you tell me more about that? Well, that's interesting. What's behind that? Why are you interested in that kind of thing? Get them talking. Most salesmen do all the talking. They're good at talking. They come in and they talk and they talk and they give illustration after illustration, and the person is just sitting there like it's a long process that they have to go through listening to this person. You want the customer talking, not you. use examples and metaphors in the language of their interest. Okay, whatever. Okay. Establishing a connection to their dream, their passion, their vision. Get them to share their dream, their passion, their vision, have them talk about what they're into, not what you're into. That's what salesmen often do. They talk about what we're into. We're into this. We're doing this, or we're making this, and our indeed, department, is making this product, blah, blah, blah, who cares? Get the customer talking about what they're doing. If it's a church, Hey, how's your church going? What are you doing? What's unique about your church? What are the unique problems that are going on in your church? Get them to talk about their stuff, their vision. That's what they're going to be excited about. And as they're sharing their vision, they're getting excited, and you're the one that's helping them do that. You're not asking them to help you in buying your product or service. You are helping them reach their dream by making available to them your product or service. It's not about you, it's about them. It's not about you making this sale. It's about them being helped by what you have to offer. I'm here to help you, not you help me by buying this thing from me that I mean, that's absolutely key. Connect your product or service to their dream, their passion, their dream. Connect your product and or service to their peer group. So if I'm talking to a church pastor, for example, if I can talk about some other pastors that have brought bought my product or service. See, I'm talking about people like you. If I'm talking to a pastor, for example, buying my personalized Bibles and New Testaments and so on, I'll say something like, Well, you know, there's pastor at First Baptist. He's just in one city away from you. They just did this, and this is what's happening in their church. In other words, if I can tell you about people like the person I'm trying to sell to, they've already bought, by the way, that's the biggest I read some study that the number one reason why most people will buy something is because people in their peer group bought it. It's sort of like, you know, that church is buying it, and that church and that church and that church, they're ahead of you, and it's this sort of competitive thing. If my peers are doing it, and I'm not, I'm somehow being left behind. So if you can, you know, bring that into the conversation others like. You have bought this, and what they're doing, what they're trying to do, getting a decision. Some I once had a sales lady. She was very good at calling, talking, if, describing, doing everything that I said, but she was horrible at getting a decision. She just liked to talk to people. She never brought it home. And so people would always go, well, we'll think about it. Number one, in getting a decision, create a state of urgency. You know, today, if you order today, we can give you 10% off, because most people want to go, Well, I don't know. I have to go talk with this. I have to talk to the my committee, I have to talk to the Treasurer, I have to talk to and then they never do. They're excited about it. They're interested. Now, three days later, they got into other things, and they have a mountain of stuff on their agenda. And now you're out of sight, out of mind. Create a state of opportunity. Right now, we're doing this printing run, and if you can go into it, you'll get this so that you see, if to offer something to create this state of opportunity, answer objections, people will well, you know, in our church, this doesn't really quite work, or I have this other product that we're using, people may have some objections to the thing that you're selling, or some critique of it. Number one, agree with them. You don't want to get into this bad of thing an argument. I'm going to argue with you, because you start arguing with someone now it's about the argument, and I want to win, and you want to win, and I've created an adversary. You don't want an adversary. So number, whatever they say, whatever criticism they have, you know, that's, you know, that's probably true, but okay, add another way to look at it. Here's another way to look at Yeah. I mean, you're right, but here's another way to look at it. And now you can make your case, and maybe your case is completely opposite from theirs. It doesn't matter. You know, you could be right, but here's another way to look at it, and now it's a softer thing. It's not this combative thing. Offer help for information. You know, that's true, but here's some of the things that I didn't tell you about and you offer that information. See, it softens the blow. It's like, you know what? You're right. I failed to tell you all the information that you need to make a decision. It's my fault, not yours. See, then the person can listen to the information and go, Oh, well, now that I understand it more. Maybe it will work for us and we haven't got into this adversarial, combative relationship. Try to counsel them as if they were a good friend. See, a lot of times you get the impression the salesperson wants to make this sale, regardless of whether you need it or not, and if you want to be a salesman for the long term. I don't want to sell you something you don't need. I may even advise you, you know, I would right now think about it, or wait until this or you know, if we, if we develop a certain product that I think might fit your needs, I'll let you know. But I don't want to sell you something that doesn't fit you, if you made the sale, complete the sale. Okay? Someone, finally, they're interested, and make it happen. Sign something, give, get a deposit, something that completes the sale. All right, the example of the pen, you probably heard stuff like that, where you at some seminar, some sales seminar, and the leader says, Here, Sell me this pen. And then someone in the audience takes the pen, and they look at the pen, and, you know, they're on the spot. And so they say, Well, this pen is a really good pen. It clicks, yeah. Well, every pen clicks, it's, it's got really good ink. And it's, it's, I think it's blue ink, you know, black sometimes is, you know, blue is just better. I prefer blue. And, you know, the person goes on and on to describe the pen. When everyone knows what a pen is, we know they click. They're blue, they're black, whatever. And this one has Christian leaders Institute on it. Got a little logo on it, no telephone number, no website but, but it does have a nice logo on it, and it's got a thing for you can stick it in your pocket, you know? And they describe this pen. And who cares? It's just a pen. Everyone knows it's just a pen. And the person who's struggling to sell the pen. And so then the presenter takes the pen back and says, Okay, let me show you how to sell the pen. So I'm going to show you how you might sell a pen based on all the things that we talked about, can I ask you a question? I want to sell you this pen. And I know you have a lot of pens, but I promise that this is going to be very interesting. Okay, can I ask you a question? And they say, yes, okay, when was the last time that you used a pen? Person thinks about, oh, I probably at the store. I bought something with my credit card, and then I had to sign with my pen. Oh, okay, so your signature allowed you to buy something without money in some sense. Yeah, your your signature with a pen had such authority that it made something happen. What else do you sign with a pen? What have you else have you bought with a pen? Anything, anything more expensive than something at the store? The person thinks about it, yeah, I bought a I bought a car, and I had tom sign some papers with my pen, yeah, I bought a house, yeah. So with this, with a stroke of a pen, you bought a whole house, yeah? So, okay, what else have you assigned? Now, if I'm talking to a pastor, I might say, do you have people joining your church? Do you have people getting baptized? And do you give them a little certificate? And do you, as the pastor, sign it? Yeah, I do so again, the stroke of your pen, the authority of your name made with a pen. Do you marry people? Do you sign the marriage certificate? Yes, I do that too. So the pen is associated with some very important stuff. In a way, the pen stands for who you are and what you do, and the authority invested in you in different departments of your life. Yeah, I guess it does. Well, I want to sell you this pen. Now, I know what you're looking at. This pen. It's just a plastic pen. Your order 1000 of them, your logo, put it on it's no big deal. And I know you know, but this pen is a different pen than those. Let me tell you why, because this pen is associated with the story I just told you. So you can take this pen and you can tell someone this same story about the pen. You can ask these questions, and then you can say, by the way, this is, this is the special pen. This is where I heard the story. Okay, so there's no pen in the world like this one, because this is the pen that I have told you this story. So how much do I want to sell it to you? Now I know it's probably, probably cost us 20 cents. I'm gonna sell it to you for $10 and you're going $10 how can that pen be worth $10 because this is the special pen. Remember, it's connected to this story. In fact, no, I don't I want to sell it to you for $10 that's the minimum. You tell me what you want to pay, because if you pay $100 that's a better story. You're buying the story that you can tell other people, a story that broadens people's mind. You think something is nothing, and then it gets connected to who you are and the authority and everything invested in you. So pay $100 and if you do it today, you call our office today, you get this pen. If you do it today, I'll give you 50% back. So it cost you 10 but you get $5 back. You can still tell the story. All right, so you see what I did. I tried to get them to talk, you know, you couldn't say anything back, but I tried to get them to think about their story, invest into what they've done in the past, and that uniquely connects them to what I'm trying to sell now, I'm trying to give them a sell them a product that connects to who they are and what they've done. All right, so that's the example of the pen, by the way. Call 1-800 No, all right, if you did not make the sale. So you can do all these things, and in the end, they don't buy the thing. So what do you do if you don't make the sale? Number one, ask when you can check back with them again? Okay, so you didn't want the pen. I wasn't convincing. Tell you what. When can I check back with you about this pen? Well, I don't want a pen. I don't need a pen, I know, but what if I came up with a special pen? For example, I have a brother in law who actually carves wood and makes pens, the old fashioned pen. He carves it out of different color woods. Is incredible. Now he's doing violins, but it's unbelievable. This pen is unbelievable. Now, when I have that pen, you might be interested. See, you know, I might be able to develop the product, tell them. You will let them know if your product or service changes in a way that might work for the client. I realize right now, my service, my product, doesn't really fit you, but we're developing new products. And can I connect with you? If one of those, you know, one of those might work. When can I talk to you? Can I talk to you when I have different products that you might be interested in? Number three, end positively never burn a bridge. That's just a thing in life. A lot of times, relationships go around in a circle. So if they didn't want it, you know, it doesn't fit with me. You know, I appreciate this time that I spent with you. I appreciate I learned something from you, your some of your comments are helping me in my product development. I really appreciate this. And if I can be of any service or anything help to you, don't hesitate to let me know. In other words, you want to communicate, in the end, that it's about you. It's not about me, it's about me, trying to help you. That's my goal. And right now it looks like I can't help you, but one day, maybe I can appreciate your time. Thank you. Alright, that's how you sell. Okay, so now you know this. Now you need to go out and do it. You learn these things now you're gonna put them into practice. Thanks for listening.