How should you spell “SELL” – “HELP”

Any sales professional can immediately improve their sales results, if they stop seeing dollar signs, every time they engage with a customer or prospect and instead develop a deep desire to be of service to them instead. To make this work for them they must ensure that they offer the right customer or prospect the right value proposition, instead of attempting to complete single transactions, to earn as much commission as possible. In other words you must forget about making sales and instead focus on building a long term mutually beneficial relationship with people who have a real need for what you sell.

There are huge benefits which flow from this approach to sales. You are no longer trying to manipulate someone into purchasing your wares; instead you are able to positively influence them to see the value that you offer. Real value, which you know offers them exactly what they need, at the perfect price. You know it is the perfect price, because you are certain that your product offers far more value than you expect your customer or prospect to pay for them.

Action Idea: Uncovering the right customers, starts with you first knowing exactly what you sell. I am not talking about the obvious here, I am referring to the value your product brings or rather what it does for your customers. Once you are clear on this, the next step is to find the perfect fit, where your product or service offers specific customers, the ideal or perfect solution.

Example:
I will use my own business here as an example to try to guide you to identify exactly what it is that you sell.

I am in the professional speaking and training business, which is pretty obvious and does not offer me any advantage or room to stand out from my competitors and to differentiate myself from them in any way. What I am referring to here is your USP (Unique Selling proposition). This is the thing, which makes your business different and will add the most value to your customers. In other words “Why should someone choose your product or service over any other”?

“I am the catalyst, to any medium to large business, who wants to revitalise their sales team and improve their sales results. I deal in hope, optimism and confidence, using these as tools to inspire, energise and revitalise sales teams, thereby driving improvements in sales performance and success”. This definition is my own and the one I use to support my understanding around, exactly what I do. It helps me to clarify exactly what I can do for my customers, which allows me to uncover the perfect prospects and customers, who have a need for what I can offer.

Exercise: Explore your own product and service and try to uncover what your value proposition actually is. When someone buys a drill bit they are actually buying a hole, someone who buys a camera is actually buying a way to record their memories and someone who buys a front end loader is buying a hole in the ground. Armed with this thinking process, try to uncover exactly what it is you sell.

Once you have this clarity, it becomes very easy to identify the right customers, who need exactly what you sell.

Once you have clarified, exactly what you sell, the next step is to research your markets and discover the perfect fit for what you sell. When you discover your perfect prospects, showing them your value proposition and influencing them to see all the benefits it brings to them is really easy.

Completely believe in the value you offer
This approach to selling sees you believing in your product or service to such a degree that you genuinely feel that you are doing your customer or prospect a disservice, if they do not purchase from you. Your value proposition is so perfect for them, that by making the sale, you are sincerely supporting them and offering them the highest possible level of service and value. Only once the sale is complete, will you have fully served your prospect or customer.

In other words you must believe in what you sell to such a degree and have researched your customer or prospect so thoroughly that by not buying your product or service, they are worse off. When you truly believe in the value you bring to the relationship and you authentically have your customers and prospects best interests at heart, they will sense this, buy from you with confidence, which means that everyone wins. A modality of fair exchange will exist, which promotes long term sustainable mutually beneficial relationships, with people who will over time become raving fans.

Build your business one customer at a time
It does not matter whether you are employed by someone else as a sales professional or you are the person responsible for making the sales within your own business. If you want to excel at sales you must view what you do every day, as your own business. Then concentrate on building “Your Business” one customer at a time.

These customers will become so impressed with your value proposition, because of the perfect fit of your product, the value you bring to the table and the mutual benefit offered by the relationship with you that they will no longer just buy what you sell, but they will actually become selling partner. They will become raving fans, who support are so impressed by you and what you offer that they will eagerly offer you referrals.

This strategy of always striving to blow the socks off every one of your customers, not only cements them as a customer for life, but also makes acquiring new customers really simple too, as you are able to leverage leads and future customers from them as well. This drive and passion, to always go the extra mile for your customers allows you create loyal customers and a referral base for life.