Try NOT to sell...
When we start out in sales it can feel quite stressful. No matter the pre-start training, the realisation suddenly dawns – you are a salesman/woman and you need to do something. Sell!
You leave the office, business cards, samples, and phone in your case and you ‘go selling’. Herein lies the stressful part, you’ve told yourself that you must sell something. Sound familiar? Perhaps still familiar?
Well, try NOT to sell. I’m not talking about being sneaky or trying to fool your prospects, but the facts of sales are often that the less you try to sell the more you sell. The more you try… you got it!
So, time to realise what’s going on here. In actual fact, there are a couple of sales competencies at work and the sooner you recognise them the sooner you can start ‘stealth selling’. And these competencies are – Listening and Spotting Opportunities.
You see, the old saying ‘less is more’ is kind of true in sales. Less talking and more listening to what your prospect is actually saying will yield better outcomes. In ‘stealth mode’ you will be quietly working out a solution as your customer explains their business model and then – bingo, you spot the opportunity and present the solution.
With these skills under your belt you’ll find yourself popping up at the opportune moment with a solution – no one will see you coming but they will be sure glad that you did.
This is the whole premise of proper consultative selling, and worth the reminder that, when done correctly, you don’t actually have the sell – more like be ‘bought from’.
By the way, we include these competencies in our Core Skills assessment.
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