Whether or not you define yourself as being involved in sales, we all are. We sell our ideas, our concepts, our beliefs, our products and services. It is really a process of transferring your belief to somebody else.
What is a sale? I see all kinds of definitions and books and seminars on sales. Very simply, I think you can put it in these terms. What is a sale? A sale is basically finding out what somebody wants or needs or desires, and showing them how to get it. It is that simple.
How do you find out what somebody wants or needs, and then show them how to get it? You ask questions, you find out about their needs, and you find out about their interests. So many of us are so consumed with going in to show our presentation, to show what we’ve got and what we do, that we don’t take the time to find out where it is going to fit the needs of the person we are talking to.
You find out what somebody wants and show them how to get it. How do you do that? You ask questions. Let’s say you’re selling a copy machine. What do you like best about the machine that you have? What would you change? What would you want it to do for you? You ask questions. If you have a service, what would you change about that service? What do you like best about it? What would you change if you could? Find out what they’re interested in. If you were going to make that decision, what would cause you to make that decision?
You want to take that sales hat off and put the helping hat on. Every interaction you have with someone should be geared to finding out what their interests and needs are.
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