Be
Passionate – Be Successful!
I was in Melbourne
about eight months ago, as I was invited to do a couple of speaking
engagements to small business owners. When I am in Melbourne I love to
visit the famous Lygon St, Carlton, and have dinner with friends or
clients. Because of my passion for selling, I enjoy the experience more
as I am approached by various restaurateurs to dine at their
establishment, haggling with them to get the best deal whilst the people
who come to dine with me either burst out in laughter or go red in
embarrassment.
At one particular
establishment, Alpino, I was absolutely blown away by one of gentlemen
who was approaching by-passers. He would move up smoothly to us and
state “I can only promise you that if you eat here tonight it will be
the best meal you ever had!” Now that was a first! “And just to prove it
I will give you a free round of drinks”.
I replied “A free
round of drinks!” He could see the excitement in my eyes, he knew he won
me over and as he gently put his arm on my back and pointed us to the
tables “I see there is 5 of you, come sit down, you won’t be
disappointed”. We all sat down, and in the space of 30 minutes Alpino’s
went from only 3 tables used to absolutely packed out, as they brought
out more tables and chairs to meet the capacity.
IT’S THE REWARD THAT
MOTIVATES
I learnt from that
night that the gentleman was one of the owners of the business. He had
skin in game, hence why he was so passionate and persuasive in ensuring
that we buy his product and have a memorable experience. Generally this
is the case in businesses, as the owner of the business is the best
salesperson, because they believe in what they are selling. What lets a
lot of businesses down is the total lack of passion and sales skills
from the staff on the floor.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
GREAT SALESPERSON
There is one thing
which separates a good sales person from a great salesperson. If you
want a sure way to convert more sales and make more money, live by this
- Sell yourself before you sell the product (or service).
In other words people buy you before they buy your
product.
To be able to do this
there are 3 key things that you need to do;
1. Believe in yourself
2. Believe in your
product
3. Believe in your
company
People love to buy off
people who are enthusiastic, and generally that enthusiasm is developed
when the salesperson believes in what they do and are passionate about
it. This passion is transferred in the sales process, and this ‘transfer
of emotion’ is when a relationship with the customer is born. Think of
it in this way, when my wife goes shopping with her friends, and they
are trying on clothes and deciding what to buy. My wife would more
likely make the purchase when her friends get excited by a particular
dress she tries on. This is the same as any normal sales process; if the
salesperson is excited when selling to the customer, the customer will
normally buy the product because this emotional transfer has broken down
all the barriers, and built a relationship of trust.
WHAT HOLDS PEOPLE
BACK FROM BEING A GREAT SALESPERSON
There
are 2 main limitations, which hold most people back from achieving their
potential in sales;
Poor
Self Esteem:
The biggest barrier holding you back from becoming a success in sales is
your ‘self esteem’. How you view yourself will determine how you believe
others look at you. If I don’t like myself, I will be scared the
customer won’t like me, and so I probably won’t have the confidence I
need to make the sale.
The
Fear of Rejection:
This is the
greatest
limitation which will prevent you from achieving sales success. That is
being scared of the customer telling you to ‘rack off’!! Guess what,
most people say NO the first time so get over it!
THE LESSON LEARNT
So here is what you
can learn from Alpino’s. Motivate your staff by giving them a commission
that rewards them for their efforts. I always say that ‘flat fee equals
flat performance’. Also you need to find enthusiastic people, who can
transfer that enthusiasm to the customer, and train them so that they
are experts on selling, picking up those vital buying signals (as my
friend at Alpino’s did as he guided me towards the table) and experts on
your products. Selling can be brutal at times as rejection kicks in, but
your best salespeople understand it is a numbers game, and that they
just keep going until someone buys.
Click here to have a
look at Achievers Group YouTube Site
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