People don’t buy based on what they hear, based on what they see and based on what you say.
They buy based on what they see, what they hear and what they believe. And if you’re not believable, you’re not going to sell as much.
People don’t buy because they don’t have enough information.
When your buyers say no to you, what they’re saying is “Based on the information you’re giving me so far, your price is up here, your value is way down here and I’m not going to give you a big stack of money for a little stack of benefit.” Your job as a salesperson is to give them new information so they can make a new decision.
If you don’t record yourself speaking or presenting, you’re not as dead serious about becoming as much as you can become.
If recording in a live setting isn’t possible, record yourself in a simulated situation. Give it everything you got. Do everything you’d normally do. You’ll be surprised by how much you can improve.
Most salesperson talk more than they need to.
When you discover yourself on a recorder, the first thing you’ll realize is that you talk too much. The second thing is as you approach to the end of the presentation, you have a tendency to get into a monotone.
Words matter, but your voice inflection matters more than you think.
Imagine this line “I did not say he beat his wife.” You can say the exact same line to meaning eight different things, just by altering your tone and pitch. Here’s the example:
- I did not say he beat his wife (normal statement with a flat tone and pitch).
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes you did not say it and that may be someone else did)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes the denial that you did not say it)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes you did not say, may be you recorded…)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes it’s not he who beat his wife, may be someone else)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes he did not beat his wife, may be kissed…)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes he did not beat his wife, may be someone else’s…)
- I did not say he beat his wife (emphasizes he did not beat his wife, may be his sister…)
When buyers say the price is too high.
Teach your buyers on what your product can do for them, not what they have to pay for it. Zig would say something like: “There are many people mr. prospect who can beat us on price. But nobody beats us on cost. Price is a one-time thing. Cost is a lifetime thing. If I’m reading you right, you’re mostly interested in cost on you. We can have this installed on next Friday or if this is an emergency, we can have it by Tuesday. Which would you prefer?”
People do forget price. But they don’t forget the quality.
If the product is lousy, they’ll remember forever.
When buyers say the price is still high.
Use a quality close. You don’t use it early on, you use a little later on.
You lower your voice. You look at the prospect and you say:
“You know mr. prospect, a long time ago our company made a basic decision. We decided that it would be easier to explain price… one time… than it would be to apologize for quality… forever. Now that you’re glad we made that decision. Aren’t you?”
Selling is a transference of power.
If you truly believe in what you sell, not only will you sell more, but you’ll sell it in such a way that you’ll be building a sales career.
Don’t badmouth buyers’ previous decisions.
When you criticize their buying decisions, what you’re doing is you’re downplaying and downgrading the judgement and the intelligence of the buyer. In some way, you’re saying “Somebody took advantage of you.” Even if the prospect didn’t see it coming, saying so makes your prospect think “You’re not gonna get your hands in my pocket. I guarantee you. I’m gonna watch you like you’ve never been watched before.”