Versatile Personalities Do Well In Sales
The greatest sales skill is not assertiveness; it is versatility.
How do you develop that versatile attitude with your clients and potential customers?
It starts with taking time to observe.
Look not only at the customer, noting if they look calm and controlled, or tired, or slightly harassed. Look at what is around them.
What kinds of pictures are on their desk or hanging on the walls? Keep your Sherlock Holmes hat on and notice signs that your potential client likes to run marathons, fish, golf or whatever. These make great natural conversation openers.
Is your customer speaking briskly and moving decisively with an eye to their clock, or do they speak slowly and softly and talk about the weather first or some item in the news of the day? Again, these are clues about how they wish the meeting to proceed.
This is where you need to be versatile. If you normally speak slowly and hesitantly, but your customer is firing off rapid observations, you have to hike up your speed and get relevant fast. If the customer appears formal and distant, don’t jump to first name basis and start asking personal questions: they will want to distance themselves from you and your products.
It is a dance of impressions, a challenge of trial and error, and the stakes mean sale or no sale. Your business depends on you reading the situation correctly.
The psychology of sales involves many small behaviors, including the non-verbal cues you send. Ensure that your body language is non-threatening by smiling, being respectful of their space, keeping your chin slightly down to avoid any semblance of being threatening.
One of the best books about relating to your clients psychologically is Robin Dreeke’s It’s Not All About Me (https://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-All-About-Techniques-ebook/dp/B0060YIBLK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507212814&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=robert+dreeke+it%27s+not+all+about+me). I read it when it came out about four years ago, and was intrigued at how effectively some of his body language suggestions worked.
It is great to live authentically and just be yourself, but in the sales dance it is more challenging. You must ignite the abilities of the chameleon to fit into any environment, while still offering value and service as your foundations.
Sales is all about communication and empathy is your best emotion. Focus on how you can help and share and add value, not how you can impress and brag about yourself.
Ask questions, and make them wide open ones like where the company is heading over the next few months and what their priorities are. Are there challenges on the horizon?
As they talk, consider how the services you offer can fit into solving their problems. The more specific information you can get, the better you can meet the needs with just the right kind of package.
The customer’s personality is what matters in this exchange and how you respond to it. Adapt to it and be amazed at the ratio of growth in your sales figures.
Paula Morand is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and impact in a more bold fashion. 24 years, 27,000 clients, 34 countries, 15 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.Check out Paula’s best selling books: “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything”, “Dreaming BIG and Being BOLD: Inspiring stories from Trailblazers, Visionaries and Change Makers” book series; and due to be released soon “Bold Vision: A Leader’s Playbook for Managing Growth” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
Speaking inquiries email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.