If you are a business owner or sales person, you have to sell every day. And selling is about influencing the other person. In this sense, we are all sales persons – because every day we strive to influence (hopefully for good) the people around us – our children, our friends, our colleagues, our team and of course – our clients.
In the process of persuasion, however, we often make mistakes that prevent us from getting the result we want. In the past I had difficulty convincing clients to buy. Very often after meeting with a prospect, the prospect seemed to be happy but did not make the decision to work with me. That shifted only after I acquired skills with to influence better and to create conviction in my prospects to work with me. I see now that back then I was making 3 fatal mistakes that kept me from attracting the number of clients that I wanted. Keep those 3 mistakes in mind and try not to make them yourself.
Mistake №1:
Many business owners talk mostly about themselves, about what they do, and about their product or service.
We, business owners, make the mistake that when we meet a client (online or offline), we immediately try to tell them how good we are and how he or she needs our products. Do not make that mistake. People are not interested in you and your products at this moment… .. Because they don’t even know they need them yet.
Your first task should be to grab the interest of your potential customers. And this can happen if you talk about them and their desires and problems, and not about you and your product. Once you grab the client’s interest, find his or her needs and only then start positioning what you can do for them with your product or service.
One very important detail: Follow the above approach even if you have known the client for a long time and know their needs. Every time you meet them, first ask them what they need or remind them directly what they need. And only then start talking about the solutions you offer.
Mistake №2:
In order to sell, it is important to give many logical arguments to the client
Many sales people, when presenting their product or service, give rational explanations as to why they are the best choice and what sets them apart from their competitors. And they explain in detail the characteristics of what they sell. I remember once I spent over 60 minutes in a meeting with client giving logical arguments as to why my product was the best choice. The client nodded, but in the end did nothing. And he only chose to buy after I asked him to imagine how this product would change his life.
The problem with using primarily logic in persuasion is that logic is not the way people make decisions. What makes us take decisions is first and foremost the emotion. And if the prospect is not emotionally engaged, your logical arguments won’t help. And you probably have cases when you presented your business and services, but then there was no interest from the client…. not for any other reason, but because you did not give emotional reasons for the client to buy.
The solution is to focus your message on the results of your product or service in a way that sparks the emotion (even implicitly) in the potential customer.
Mistake №3:
You do not control your emotional state when trying to influence someone
Anthony Robbins says that selling is a transfer of emotions, a transfer of state. And the flow of this transfer is obvious from the person who persuades to the client. If you have not influenced yourself and do not radiate confidence with your body and voice, the client will not buy. If you radiate uncertainty and doubt in what you say, the client will not consciously notice all that… But something subconscious will distance him or her and tell them “I do not want this.”
Conversely, if you are in a strong state, you can influence even if you say things that are not very meaningful. When you explain something with a lot of passion and confidence, people are likely to want to get that thing and the result it is about to give them (they associate your product with your emotional state).
Therefore, your assignment is, no matter what has happened before, to be in a strong state every time you meet a potential client. A state that radiates confidence, determination and enthusiasm. Put yourself in such a strong state every time you try to influence someone for the next 30 days and seeh how much more business and sales you will have. And if you are satisfied with the results (for me the difference was huge and was measured by having much more clients), make it a habit at every meeting with a client or prospective client.