Ep 295: Why YOU Hate Selling!

What we’re talking about today is why you hate selling. If you’re in the start-up phase of a business, you have to be able to sell. Bill Gates sold Xerox his product. Bill Gates was a salesman. Steve Jobs was the salesman for Apple.

You have to be a PT Barnum. But why do you hate selling? Do you know why you hate selling? Because customers hate being sold. 

So let me tell you how to sell without ever selling…

I’ve always done well selling. I just want to establish that first. Have you ever heard of Cutco knives? I sold them in graduate school. I work for Vector marketing in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I was the top salesman. I sold 1000 knives every week the entire time I was in graduate school. I have a little gold record that they gave me. I was number one there. I sold life insurance and was one of the top rookies there. I didn’t like it, but I was one of the top sellers there. Then I started a direct mail business and was one of the top five publishers there. I worked for a Thomas Register, which was an industrial Buying Guide, top seven in the country. That was a half-billion-dollar company. I sold cars for one month to try to get money for my startup when I moved here. I was their top salesperson the month I was there. I made $5138, which gave me the seed money to start my direct mail business.

I’ve always been a good salesperson, yet I hate selling. I don’t feel like I sell because I know customers hate being sold. So what has been my strategy? 

I’ll tell you the six secrets that I use to sell without ever selling…

Tell Stories that Sell

People love stories. I tell stories of the companies that I own. I tell stories of a product on how it has worked for another customer. I use stories instead of constantly beating them over the head with historical dates. No, tell a story of the company now, about the people who founded it and what they did to get it to where it is today. 

You’re taking the same information, but you’re framing it in a story. Stories work. Become a better storyteller. I read books on how to tell stories.

Seek Out Pain Points

I ask questions that reveal pain points. A lot of them are obvious to me because I understand the product and or the service that I’m offering, but again, what I know and what they know is two different things. I need them to feel the pain, so I seek out pain points when I’m talking with them.

Share Ideas

I get paid a million dollars to share ideas. I share ideas with my clients, and they just happen to be great ideas that happen to solve the problem of what my clients have. Be a well of good ideas. Don’t be so boring and limited.

What was your last, good, new idea? I’ll tell you how to get good ideas. Read. Look at stuff online. One of the companies I own is in construction and home remodeling. I’m always looking through Pinterest or new magazines and trying to get new ideas so that when I’m working one-on-one with clients, which I don’t do much, but when I do I have something fresh.

Listen to Ideas

Do you want to be a great salesperson? Learn to shut your mouth. If a customer starts talking, never interrupt. This took me longer to learn than anything in selling.

I always felt like I had to be talking and the fact is, the more the customer is talking, the more they’re giving you the cheat sheet on either why they’re not buying, or what they want. So shut your mouth. Listen to your customers share their ideas. Before, I told you to seek out their pain points. They’ll communicate them to you.

Improve Their Ideas

So they give it to me and I go, What about this? Have you thought about that? What if we could do this? So I improve on their ideas, which becomes valuable to them. Now they view me now more is now a confidant or a consultant.

Anticipate Their Future Needs

 I look five years down the road with my customers. I help them and I also anticipate their future needs.

 

 

So how do I sell?

1. Create Stories
2. Seek out pain points
3. Create ideas
4. Listen to ideas
5. Improve ideas
6. Anticipate Future Needs