Shut Up and Sell

I’ve been told I was born to sell.  When I was in the sixth grade I made such an impression on my teacher, she sent a note home with my report card to tell my parents that I was quite the little speaker.  Looking back now, I think she might have meant that facetiously. 

But what if you weren’t born with the gift of gab?  What if meeting new people is a challenge and starting conversations never comes easy?  What if the mere idea of cold calling freezes you in your path?  Can you still be a sales person?  Believe me, I promise you can.

Unfortunately selling has a bad reputation.  People don’t want to be sold to.  No one wants to get a phone call at 5:30 pm while their eating supper and have a script read to them about how they can benefit from buying a timeshare in Boca Raton.  Similarly, most people don’t want to call people while their eating supper and read scripts to them about buying time shares.  That’s not selling!  At least it’s not effective selling.

Selling is sitting on the back of an old truck listening to a tobacco chewing farmer talk about his tractor and the good old days.  No fast talking or shrewd promotional techniques.  You don’t even have to know anything about tractors, that’s the beauty of it, your input isn’t required.  Notice I highlighted the word listening.  You can’t listen if you’re talking.  Hence the title of this post “Shut Up and Sell.”

Listening directly leads to likability.  Ultimately if people like you, they will buy from you.  Let that sink in.  If people like you they will buy from you.  You’ve probably heard the saying “All things being equal, people will do business with a friend, and all things not being equal, people will do business with a friend.”

Dale Carnegie in his book How to Win Friends & Influence People said “you can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than in two years by trying to make people interested in you.”  If you’re having trouble forming genuine personal and professional relationships try not telling people about your life rather let them tell you about theirs. 

Remember, selling isn't about what YOU need, it's about the desires and needs of the client (read last week's post).  When we turn our mouths off and our ears on, we can take the intimidation factor out of the equation. 

It's funny but after seventeen years of selling, I have found I am most successful when I’m not selling at all.  I am most successful when my clients aren’t able to form that impression of me that my sixth grade teacher did.