7 beliefs holding you back from sales
Unlock Your Sales Potential: Overcome These 7 Limiting Beliefs Today
No one wants to come across as being pushy, not even salespeople, really. But being pushy is one of the seven beliefs that may be holding you back from increasing your sales performance, but most critically, it is likely to be your sales process.
TRANSCRIPT
Hey there, business owners! Stuart Webb, founder, CEO, and business success mentor at the complete approach, with another one take video blog - all the mistakes stay in. Today, I'm going to dive into a crucial topic for your success: the beliefs which keep you from making that sale
No one wants to come across as being pushy, not even salespeople, really. But being pushy is one of the seven beliefs that may be holding you back from increasing your sales performance, but most critically, it is likely to be your sales process. Because you can be a fantastic salesperson and sell a ton of stuff and have a really crappy product. And I've done that before where I bought something, and the marketing and sales process just made it feel like it was absolutely amazing. And you actually get to the sale and buy the thing and it doesn't deliver. Having said that, obviously for the longevity of business, if you want to retain clients and have a great rapport and get referral business, operating like that is probably not the right way to go. But I think without the sales process, you don't have a business. So definitely something that you've got to focus on.
So what are the beliefs that may be holding you back from more and higher levels of sales?
So the first one is “I hate salespeople”. Ever had to buy a used car? Looking at that used car salesman, our minds tend to relate back to negative experiences in sales. So that's obviously something that we don't want to become.
The second is “the world is already cluttered with sales," that of course depends on how much. So do other people have better sales processes than me?
The third is “the sneaky algorithms”. I talk to so many people that would easily be able to sell stuff on social media, but they don't want to do it because of the way that social media operates, not thinking that they're a salesperson. It's quite funny, especially in the space that I work in. Being a salesperson is just about asking really fantastic questions. And I think that a lot of people get stuck in the fact that they don't think they are salespeople when really we're selling every single day, convincing your kids what they're going to eat for dinner, talking to your date about where you want to go tonight, what movie you want to see. We're always selling. It's just that they don't put it in that context.
The next one, “people won't like me”. Especially for those people who like to be social and do care about how people feel about them. I think that it relates back to that car salesman saying that,, if I'm a salesperson, people are going to think of me in a certain way.
“Feeling pushy” is number five. And it's interesting because if you do sales right, the pushiness doesn't actually come into play. People will actually sell themselves. If you sell in the correct manner, it doesn't actually feel like selling.
Number six, “they'll just buy if I'm nice.”. So I think that's one that a lot of people get stuck in. They go, hey, look, if I just have a really cool chat and I build a bit of rapport and then I throw the thing at them that I want them to purchase, they're just going to grab it and then being nice is the best way to go.
And 7th is actually probably the most crucial because there's so many different personality types and so many different people out there. A lot of people believe that to be an effective salesperson, they “have to be an extrovert.” And I know that that's far from the truth. Depending on the audience that you're targeting, you've got to come to their level. And not everybody is extroverted, I’m not and I love sales.
So what's the answer, then? How does someone become better at sales?
I think the best salespeople that I see are the ones who really believe in what they have to offer. I think if you understand that it's not about taking someone's money, it's an exchange to help them achieve what they want to achieve, especially in the service industry. Then I think that that “ickiness” around sales disappears. The other thing is you need to get to know the person first. And this is another mistake I see a lot of people in the sales space make is they jump straight to “have I got this fantastic thing for you. You should check it out.”. If you're really asking the right questions, getting to know the person, and having the right conversations, they're actually going to sell themselves. Once you get it right, it takes practice, but it actually makes the process really easy and really fun.
There's one part of the sales process, and that is handling an objection from the customer. How do you handle objections? - Ask great questions.
What we are really missing in the sales is that there's a lot of stuff going on in someone's head to help them figure out what it is that they want to do right now with whatever you're offering. So, as an example, one of the biggest objections at the moment with the current economic climate, I can't afford it.
If you flip back, agree first. That's the key. So you might answer that objection with this “Totally understand. It's a lot of money, but, tell me this. What could you afford?”. If the client comes back and goes, oh, look, I could do 200 a week, and you go, great, let's set you up on a 200 a week payment plan. It's very hard for them to say no, because they've given you the answer.
They haven't told you they don't want what you're offering. They're just telling you that they can't afford that price. Generally, objections t will come down to three key things. Money, time, and is it going to work for m? So obviously, I think there's a little bit of prep around. Understanding how to provide value in those areas. With payment plans and how to get them the time. And is it going to work for me? Is a huge one as well, which is fantastic, because if you can set up with the right testimonials or reviews or case studies, (which we describe in the Scientific Value Building Machine as Social Proofs) you solve those objections before they actually get to talking to you about the sale.
Well, we're at the pointy end of the sale. What happens next - closing the conversation?
My magic question, is, “where would you like to go from here?” And I really believe in the ancient sales lesson that the next person to speak after you mention price is the one that loses.
So we've had a chat. I've presented you with what I have to offer, how I can help, and how it's going to solve all your problems. And I say, “where would you like to go from here?”
Your prospect will instantly start to figure out the objections in their head. The internal dialogue is likely to be something like “Hey, I really want to do this, but can I afford it? Oh, hang on. I've got to talk to the wife first, get that approval, you know, whatever it is.“
And if you can hold space and silence long enough, usually the person will agree and go."Cool. How do I get set up?”
If they come up with an objection, then obviously you can take it from there. But I think allowing that time for space and not thinking that silence means something's wrong is probably one of the best lessons that I ever learned early on in sales.
Remember what sales really is. - if you're able to get to know someone, focus on them as opposed to focusing on the sale, and most importantly, use their language. This is another gap that a lot of people get stuck in, We learn some really, really amazing tools and resources, especially if we've done some study, and that's what we want to talk about because we know it's so great. But to the average person who hasn't done all that studying, you could be speaking a totally different language. So I think utilising what the person's saying, repeating their words back, really listening, and exploring where they are at is definitely one of the best ways to sell.
I’ve mentioned The Scientific Value Buiding Machine, which is the five step process which we help you embed in your business to generate recurring leads and conversions, recurring profits and a business that runs without constant supervision - if you would like a copy of that, go to
http://www.scientificvaluebuildingmachine.online
Thanks for joining me in this episode; stay tuned for more insightful content to help you thrive in the world of business. Until next time, take care!
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