Categories
- Arts & Entertainment
- Business
- Advertising
- Bookkeeping
- Branding
- Careers
- Careers Employment
- Change Management
- Communication
- Corporate
- Customer Service
- Entrepreneurialism
- Ethics
- Financing
- Franchise
- Fundraising
- Human Resources
- Management
- Marketing
- Marketing Direct
- Negotiation
- Networking
- Outsourcing
- Partnerships
- PR
- Presentation
- Public Relations
- Resumes Cover Letters
- Sales
- Sales Management
- Sales Teleselling
- Sales Training
- Small Business
- Strategic Planning
- Team Building
- Top7 or 10 Tips
- Venture Capital
- Workplace Communication
- Communications
- Computers
- Culture & Society
- Disease & Illness
- Fashion
- Finance
- Food & Beverage
- Health & Fitness
- Hobbies
- Home & Family
- Home Based Business
- Internet Business
- Legal
- Pets & Animals
- Politics
- Product Reviews
- Recreation & Sports
- Reference & Education
- Religion
- Self Improvement
- Shopping
- Travel & Leisure
- Vehicles
- Writing & Speaking
Information
Stop Selling!!! – Help People to Buy
Submitted: 2007-01-17 12:33:10
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher |
I have spent a lot of my life in the business of selling. I have sold life insurance, computer software, pots and pans, beauty treatments, nutritional products, clothes and training services to name bit a few. In those 30 years of sales experience one immutable fact has emerged. People hate being sold to.
However this is also at the root of one of lifes great paradoxes. Whilst we hate being sold to, we all love to buy. Buying something that we really want or that really solves a problem is a wonderful feeling. For people running a business this presents a real dilemma.
So often the selling techniques we experience as customers seem to be attempts to trick us into buying something we don’t really need and this practice in the past has given the entire selling profession a bad reputation. Having so often been the victims of these high pressure selling tactics, it’s not surprising that we are very uncomfortable when we have to sell.
So how do we solve this paradox - Easy.
Stop Selling!!
That's right - None of us likes to be sold to - so don't sell to people. On the other hand we love to buy - but - often we need help in making the right buying decision, we need someone to "Help us to Buy."
As a sales trainer years ago I developed a new definition of selling when teaching people to sell life assurance.
It's all a matter of concentrating on understanding a customer’s problem, really seeing what's in it for them, what they want to achieve and then providing them with the best solution that fits their budget. This applies whether you are selling online or offline, focus on helping people to solve their problem and they will be comfortable about buying your products.
A few years ago I did a lot of work for the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management helping set up their training division. As an association they often got special exhibitor deals for trade shows and were all set to go off to one when they asked me what I thought of the promotion material.
It was a complex futuristic looking poster incorporating all the services they offered and took about 5 minutes to decipher. What they wanted to do was get new members and sell training courses and the post was clearly trying to sell all their services. I persuaded them to shift the focus and put up two hand-written posters that read:
They had salespeople queuing up at the stand for two days asking for more information and trying to get a free consultation from the sales trainers there. Sales people want more sales – they don’t want training courses or magazines or seminars - unless they lead to more sales.
What do your customers want? What problem are they looking for you to solve for them? How can you help them to buy?
When you send out a sales letter, when they come to your web site, visit your trade show booth, look into your shop window, pick up your brochure – what message do they see? Do they see a message trying to sell them something, or do they see a message helping them to buy a solution to a need or problem?
Copyright 2005 Richelle (Rikki) Arundel, UK
About the Author:
Founder and First President of the Professional Speakers Association, Rikki Arundel is an International Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Writer and an expert in sales and marketing communications with an impressive track record.
Get your free copy of How to Get Customers Queuing up to Buy at http://www.SpeakingandMarketingTips.com
Article source: Expert Articles
Most Recent Articles in Sales Training category
- Openings are key to successful sales letters! - By: Manpreet Kaur Goraya
If there's one thing your prospective customers probably don't have, it's time - time for you, time for your advertising, even time for them. Knowing this is key to writing an effective sales letter. These days it seems as though you have only nanoseconds to grab your readers' attention. If your opening doesn't do its job, your letter goes unread. - Challenging Business Leaders To Be Trainers - By: Linda Eagle
How to position training as a management development opportunity. - Why are good leadership courses so important? - By: John McLean
An article that indicated why good leadership courses can make all the difference to your business. - Sales Training that gets Results - By: John McLean
An article that indicates why sales training, and getting the right sales training is so important for a sales based business. - Give your Employees the Best Managers with Management Training Courses - By: John McLean
An article who's main focus is on the benefits that can be drawn from good management training courses - Get the Best Managers with Management Training - By: John McLean
An article that explains how easy it is to get a tailor made management training course - Ensure Effective Leadership with Leadership Training - By: John McLean
An article explaining why effective leadership training can pay dividends. - Do you get the Most from your Sales Training Courses? - By: John McLean
An article that looks into how sales training courses can be a huge boost to your profits. - Do your managers need leadership skills training? - By: John McLean
An article that focuses on the need for good leadership training within a business. - Create Outstanding Managers with Management Training - By: John McLean
An article that looks at how important it is to get the right training for your managers and shows how a tailor made training course from Premier Training can help you.