Every sale is set up before, made during, and then finalised, after.
We can influence all of these areas and ultimately, almost guarantee that a sale is made.
So, what do I mean?
Before:
Before every sale begins to take shape, we decide that we want to work with a particular client. We prospect them, qualify them, and prepare an approach, using all our knowledge and understanding of what that client may want, or need.
The work that we do at the beginning before the first contact is ever made is something that can make, or break, a sale.
This must be one of the most important cycles in the sale. Many salespeople do, however, neglect it. Without organising their thoughts before the sale, they march on in and make a bad job of the next point.
During:
During an interview or first meeting, it is time to listen for clues, ideas and breakthroughs that you might just be able to solve for your client.
If you are quiet, ask the right questions and listen carefully; your subconscious might just take over and provide you with an answer to what your client may be talking about. Great ideas come from your subconscious mind when it is quiet and open to information.
By listening during this meeting, and not (as so many salespeople do) talking, the relaxed mind takes over.
I think part of the reason we do not have breakthroughs with many of our clients is that we are not open to them.
It’s been said that a breakthrough is a sudden, dramatic, and important event or discovery.
‘A light went on’ or ‘I have the answer’ are terms that spring to mind.
However, you will NOT have a breakthrough if you think:
I CAN’T
This person will not BUY my product
They DON’T like my company
They will not BUY ME
After:
After you discover this breakthrough, you will realise that the further you distance yourself from selling your stuff and actually listening for clues, finding a way to quiet your mind, looking for the reason not to talk, you might get to work with that client long after the first contact.
Good selling.
Whatever career you decide to take in sales, it’s always good to get some help.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
Having been married for quite some time, and to the same person AJH, or commonly known as the CEO I have over time learned a very valuable lesson in husband and wife relations.
Some may agree or disagree and even if you take the guidance of John Grey’s book, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, which proposes that indeed we are different, I think that in sales then it does run true in most cases.
There has of course been a lot of study about this subject from experts with wisdom from thousands of research studies, far more qualified than I ever could be.
I do however listen when AJH says that women could teach men a lot about sales.
Here is her take on it, and she does know, being in retail for 20 years in the interior design business.
Think and Feel
AJH has been a retailer for over 25 years and specialises in interior design.
Her view is that guys “think” and women “feel”. (Not all women) women, in general, respond on a ‘feeling level.
She says that a question such as “How do you feel about the cushion” gets a better response than, “What do you think about that cushion.”
As a salesperson, thinking about how you phrase questions when working with both men and women might just pay dividends.
AJH’s final comment is that women are better at picking up salespeople’s BS detectors.
That is another article all by itself.
What do you think? We would love to hear your comments.
Good selling.
PLUS: WHENEVER YOU’RE READY…
Here are 4 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.1. Want to become a Sales Mindset Blueprint Member. Every month you get access to an exclusive coaching session with me as well as full access to my sales programme. Get the deets here.
Try the new ‘7 Days to Sales Success’ framework. Make more sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to get started in making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by making more sales.
Join our private Facebook group – The Sales Mindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas. Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here
Work with me one-on-one. If you’re a business owner, small or large or in the professional services you might just be a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute brainstorm call with me by clicking here.
In this week’s blog, I talk about the importance of understanding the basic human needs we all have.
In addition, what it means to you as a salesperson, is if you discover a client’s wants and needs lots happen.
My view is that unless you do discover the needs and wants of your clients getting a sale is harder, often blocked, and as a result, your sales will not move forward.
In this blog, we talk about needs, one in particular, how to understand them, and how to use them to dig deep into the core of your client’s problem.
Certainty/Comfort
I think the most important human need is the need for Certainty.
It’s our desire to feel in control and to know what’s coming next, so we can feel secure.
It’s the desire for basic comfort, the need to avoid pain and stress, and also to create a good outcome.
Our need for certainty is a survival mechanism.
It affects the level of risk we’re willing to take in life—in our jobs, in our business and finally, in our relationships.
The higher the need for certainty, the less risk you’ll be willing to take, or emotionally bear.
By the way, this is where your real “risk tolerance” comes from.
Knowing that, let me ask you a question
What and how does this relate to sales?
What does your client need to feel certain about your product?
What devices and assurances can you give them about your product or service?
What certainty can they get from you versus the certainty from working with others?
What risk do you take away from them when they buy your product?
Even though the product that is similar to yours is inferior or of lower quality than yours, why do they buy it?
If you can use that as part of your sales presentation, you move towards helping to meet your client’s basic human needs.
Good selling.
PLUS: WHENEVER YOU’RE READY…
Here are 4 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.1. Want to become a Sales Mindset Blueprint Member. Every month you get access to an exclusive coaching session with me as well as full access to my sales programme. Get the deets here.
Try the new ‘7 Days to Sales Success’ framework. Make more sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to get started in making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by making more sales.
Join our private Facebook group – The Sales Mindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas. Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here
Work with me one-on-one. If you’re a business owner, small or large or in the professional services you might just be a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute brainstorm call with me by clicking here.
Part of the reason people panic is that selling seems like a mysterious process. We can solve that mystery. Selling is like any other journey: the territory you are covering may be new to you, but it has been travelled before, and there are certain steps you can take to clear the way.
Each step you take along the way matters. Let’s look more closely at the selling journey.
Building up
Selling a product or service is, in many ways, like a building project.
I have been involved in two major renovations for both a home and a commercial building. Here’s how the process unfolds:
1. You speak with an architect who presents you with some plans, drawings, or visual examples of what your home or building might look like.
2. Once you approve your plan, you seek a builder to do the construction.
3. If you want to approach the build with confidence, you’ll also want to be involved in the builder’s plans and timelines. Using excellent project management tools is key.
4. Still, even the best-laid plans sometimes change. You might go back and forth and change a few parts of the plan.
5. Even when you get started, you need to keep in mind the need to be flexible, adjust to shifting timelines, accommodate last-minute decisions, and possibly suffer some setbacks.
6. You need to be nimble, but it’s hard, because there is a lot at stake, financially and emotionally.
7. Soon enough though, you start to visualise the final product and then watch your home or building take shape. Finally, you see your completed project in front of your eyes. All of that planning has paid off.
Following a plan and actually building that home requires discipline and principles.
It’s the same with sales, which unfold in similar stages. With both types of projects, it is important, to begin with, the right mindset, so why don’t we do that when it comes to constructing a sale?
Why don’t we plan the process that will let us get the result we want? Most business owners jump in too quickly, assuming that their product is so magnificent that people should just buy it.
Or, they don’t bother to plan. Usually, salespeople do not follow any particular steps or processes on the way to the sale of that product.
If you look at sales the way you look at building your home, though, you will see that there are certain processes you have to follow to get a good result. It does not have to be a complicated process, but you do need a plan.
Knowing a few simple steps in the journey to your sales is all that is required.
If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?
My favourite thing to do is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you are wanting to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested then email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.
This week I wanted to share a question that one of my clients asked me in a call last week.
We were talking about ideas to motivate her team.
This was her question:
‘How do I get my team to think like me, or to at least follow some of my behaviours?’
We got talking about her love of reading; any books on business that she could get her hands on, she would read.
It was a habit she had learnt long ago, from one of her original managers.
She had discovered by reading these books, which shared successes in other companies, that she could apply many things she learned to her own business.
Start a library.
I said to her “why don’t you start a company library?”
She looked at me with a bit of a sideways glance, and said, “You aren’t serious?”
“Yes I am,” I said.
Not only start up a library but bribe them to read a book a month.
Tell them that you will pay a $50 bonus for every book report they submit each month.
It does not have to be a fifty-page novel, just a few pages on the key points they learnt from the book.
Whoever reads the most over the year, gets an iPad preloaded with a collection of both your, and their favourite books.
You will certainly notice a difference in their attitude.
It’s also a way to quietly bed down your culture.
The ones that you notice will go that extra mile and do the reading, are the people that you want in your organisation.
Have a great week.
Whatever career you decide to take in sales, it’s always good to get some help.
My favourite thing to do is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you are wanting to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested then email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.
My favourite thing to do is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you are wanting to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested then emailmike@mikebrunel.comand put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.
Cheers, Mike
Cheers, Mike
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
