I
iArtist
- Original Poster
- #1
One of the best books you can read if you want to learn how to sell is
'How to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie (available from Amazon)
This isn't a book about selling products it's a book about selling yourself in terms of networking and building friendships and being the one person at a function everyone is talking about (positively) afterwards.
If you can sell yourself you can sell anything as when you cold call, people will buy if they trust you and feel you are sincere and less like a sales man and more like a friend.
I am a very hard person to sell to, so when a sales person hooks me I pay attention to the technique they used and invariably it's as simple as being personable, friendly and drifting off the topic of the sale and having a bit of a natter about things of interest to me.
This may appear to be a 'non sales technique' but in fact it is the most powerful sales technique of all.
When people like you they find it harder to say 'no'.
Meanwhile, there are techniques that you can employ to get people in 'yes mode' again making say 'no' harder.
Are these techniques ethical?
It depends what you're selling.
I never used the 'yes mode' technique as I always sold people what they needed and what I believed genuinely was best for them and there were odd occasions when I happily lost a sale when the client demanded something unsuitable.
Ie:
I used to dispense spectacles. Patient with very thick heavy lenses wanted a very light frame with a style of nose pad that would cut through their skin with these lenses.
Despite my warnings and advice they were adamant they wanted that frame.
I refused to sell it to them and they went else where.
I'd rather refuse a sale than sell something I know will be problematic for the client (ultimately me) and reflect my service badly when others ask 'who sold you those god awful frames?'
etc.
If you sell a product to someone who afterwards regrets that purchase you've lost yourself a good many 'word of mouth' recommendations.
Brief summary of selling
'How to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie (available from Amazon)
This isn't a book about selling products it's a book about selling yourself in terms of networking and building friendships and being the one person at a function everyone is talking about (positively) afterwards.
If you can sell yourself you can sell anything as when you cold call, people will buy if they trust you and feel you are sincere and less like a sales man and more like a friend.
I am a very hard person to sell to, so when a sales person hooks me I pay attention to the technique they used and invariably it's as simple as being personable, friendly and drifting off the topic of the sale and having a bit of a natter about things of interest to me.
This may appear to be a 'non sales technique' but in fact it is the most powerful sales technique of all.
When people like you they find it harder to say 'no'.
Meanwhile, there are techniques that you can employ to get people in 'yes mode' again making say 'no' harder.
Are these techniques ethical?
It depends what you're selling.
I never used the 'yes mode' technique as I always sold people what they needed and what I believed genuinely was best for them and there were odd occasions when I happily lost a sale when the client demanded something unsuitable.
Ie:
I used to dispense spectacles. Patient with very thick heavy lenses wanted a very light frame with a style of nose pad that would cut through their skin with these lenses.
Despite my warnings and advice they were adamant they wanted that frame.
I refused to sell it to them and they went else where.
I'd rather refuse a sale than sell something I know will be problematic for the client (ultimately me) and reflect my service badly when others ask 'who sold you those god awful frames?'
etc.
If you sell a product to someone who afterwards regrets that purchase you've lost yourself a good many 'word of mouth' recommendations.
Brief summary of selling
- Know your target audience
- Know your product inside out
- Know your competitors product inside out
- Be personable, friendly and sincere
- Find out what the customers needs, fears and goals are
- Address the above sincerely
- Anything you don't know - admit it and ensure you find out - if you do this promptly it will earn you a lot of respect rather than making you look like a novice.
