(c) Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2006
http://www.salesconversation.com
When you're speaking to someone about your services
do you sometimes feel as if a barrier is coming up for them? The
person may resist listening to you, they may resist opening up
to you and they possibly might not trust you right from the beginning.
These are all signs of sales resistance. Sales resistance is virtually
an automatic reaction we all have. To understand this, put yourself
in their shoes.
Put yourself in their shoes and think about your
own reaction when someone is trying to sell you something. How
does it make you feel? Do you feel resistant? Do you feel tense?
Do you feel that all the seller cares about is making a sale instead
of caring about you? Do you want to leave the conversation as
soon as possible? If you feel like this, it is only natural that
the person you are talking to will also feel like this if you
are trying to sell them something.
The key to overcoming sales resistance is to
forget about selling!
When you're having a conversation with someone,
it's best not to have the intention of selling him or her anything.
Forget about selling. Instead have the intention of having a conversation
to explore whether you can help the person get what they want.
If it turns out that they have a want or need for your service,
they will decide to buy.
If someone is having a conversation with you
and you feel they sincerely want to help you, how does that make
you feel?
Relaxed? Interested? Keen to know more?
Again, this is an automatic reaction we all have. Notice there
is no "sales" resistance with this approach.
Do not try to fake sincerity. You can't pretend
you really want to help someone and at the same time be thinking
that you really want to make a sale no matter what. What you are
"really" thinking will be picked up by the person you're
talking to.They'll know right away if you're sincere.
There is another way to overcome sales resistance:
get yourself known.
If people don't know you, they may perceive you
and what you're selling as a high risk and people naturally and
automatically tend to resist what they perceive as high risk.
When you are well known in your niche and positioned
as an expert, people will automatically and naturally perceive
you as lower risk. People rightly or wrongly automatically think
that if you are well known and positioned as an expert, you must
be good at what you do otherwise you would not have achieved this
status.
When you are well known people will be attracted
to you and will be open to what you have to offer and say. There
will be very little resistance - provided of course your intention
is not to sell them something!
In summary, if you want to overcome sales resistance
forever there are two things you need to do. The first is don't
have the intention of making a sale when you're talking to someone.
Instead, have a conversation with the intention of helping them.
Trust that those who have a need or desire for your services will
buy them. The second is to get known fast as this will, amongst
other things, overcome the risk perception of doing business with
you.
(c) Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2006. You
are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long
as it remains complete and all links are made live.
