Your investment in yourself is the best investment you can make. I recommend you spend the bulk of your energy and efforts learning about things that make money so that you can be financially free to do the things you want and to help those that you care about. Every little bit you learn makes you more valuable in assisting those around you and yourself. That’s true even if you stay at a company you’ve been with for a long time.
Okay so I realize that real estate isn’t really “selling”. The truth is that there is probably more negotiating involved. A lot of people don’t want to learn real selling because they think it isn’t relevant to their field of work, it is beneath them or most of the time because we have a learned image of a high pressure salesman that we just don’t really like. That person is so uncomfortable to be around that we don’t understand why anyone would want to be like them. The good news is this, those high pressure sales people are generally very poor at their job. They also generally sell people a bunch of shit (excuse my language) that people don’t want. Usually behind the scenes you will find that their customers are rarely satisfied and life is a continuous struggle for them to meet quotas they can’t reach. I’m not going to teach you to be like them because the truth is that type of selling doesn’t work.
The Misconceptions About Selling
Remember that people buy products all the time. People also buy services all the time. A lot of times people don’t need sold on the value of those services as they’ve already made up their mind to purchase them. I don’t know about you but when I went to buy my last computer, I knew what I basically wanted. All I needed the salesperson to show me was the best laptop for my price range. The salesperson advised me, I bought my computer and that was the end of it. I didn’t require high pressure sales to close, I needed advice. In fact, if he had tried to sell me via high pressure selling, I probably would have left to another store to find someone who was able to listen to my request and advise me accordingly. I knew what I basically wanted and needed the salesperson for their knowledge on the specifics. If you can learn to effectively lead people’s conversations to where they had already decided to close the deal with you and you simply had to advise them on the specifics, wouldn’t that be a lot easier? The good news is that this is just what you’re going to learn today.
I suppose a small minority of people would disagree with me but McDonald’s does not make the best hamburgers. However, McDonald’s is the best selling hamburger joint in the world. What McDonald’s does have though is the world’s best system of marketing and selling to deliver their product to their customer. Do you think McDonald’s has ever tried to force you to buy a hamburger against your will via some high pressure sales pitch? Or could it be that their success in selling hamburgers is due to something more subtle and powerful?
Becoming a successful real estate investor isn’t about being the most intelligent, motivated or attractive, it is all about who can consistently close the deal. If you want to consistently close deals a big part of it will be your learning resources like this. Every little bit you invest in yourself will only serve to make you a more powerful and confident individual.
The Great Myth
“I’m not in sales, so why should I learn selling?”
Yes you are!
Suppose you never take any of this information on this site and you never use it to become a successful real estate investor. Suppose you are content with your current job and you don’t see a need to change what you’re doing. When you went in for your job interview, a huge part of whether or not you obtained the desirable job was due to your ability to sell yourself at your job interview. Next time you go for a promotion, your success or failure will be determined by how well you’ve sold yourself and your value to your company all along. Next time you hope to attract a mate of the opposite sex, it will all be in how you present and sell yourself. Trust me when I say that I have many friends who fail miserably with women simple due to their inability to sell themselves. They often have poor communication skills and poor self belief. This leads me to…
The Great Truth
Everyone is involved in selling – all the time, no exceptions
The problem with this is that we as a society have a learned perception that a great sales master is one who talks a lot and is boastful. The reality is that a great salesperson closes deals. The even lesser understood reality is that great selling involves great listening. I want to remind you that McDonald’s has never (via high pressure sales) sold you a hamburger but the average person will go there over 1800 times over the course of their life. I should elaborate to say that McDonald’s has never “sold” you a hamburger in terms of our preconceived view of selling. However, McDonald’s has marketed and communicated effectively enough that you have decided you would like one of their products and simply went in to the store to complete your order. That is what selling really is. You need people to have already decided in their mind to buy your hamburger so to speak so that you can simply advise them about the specifics.
In real estate, you only get paid if you close deals so understanding the psychology of people helps you drastically. Let’s simply change the term “selling” to a better more fuller term – “effectively communicating”. Communicating is a great deal different than talking even though some people use them interchangably. It encompasses your body language, the emotion behind what you say, your tone of voice and most importantly, your listening skills. If you only learn one skill the rest of your life, master communication and every aspect of your life will improve accordingly.
When I originally wrote this information a while ago, I had written it for sales people. I urge you to read it with an open mind even if you are not currently selling anything (except yourself because you will never be done selling that). All of the information is still relevant to you if you ever plan to move towards any sort of a desired outcome in your life. In real estate, you need to close deals for your desired outcome of wealth to manifest but in real life, there are 100s of daily examples where persuasion can lead you to a better result.
So What Stops People From Closing?
The vast majority of salespeople fear potential objections so much that they don’t even ask for the close. Over 90% of most sales presentations actually end without the salesperson asking for the close even just one time. Think of all the ineffective salespeople you’ve dealt with in your life. How is their demeanor? What kind of closing questions do they ask?
Closing should be a natural outcome to a well done presentation. Before we look at techniques, let’s understand the difference between poor performing and well performing salespeople. Which one are you now? Which one are you going to choose to be from now on? If you’re not already a great salesperson, make a goal to become one in the next 30 days. All the techniques in the world mean nothing without being applied.
Closing With Ineffective Salespeople
When most people picture a person who should be in sales, they picture someone who is a smooth talker. They are very cunning with their words. In reality, rarely does this type of person ever actually excel at selling. People buy products from people they feel comfortable around and even friendly with. Have you ever went to buy an electronic part and the salesperson wouldn’t stop droning on about every single technical detail and specification of it?
The three most common closing techniques of ineffective salespeople:
- They hint that you could buy the product if you want
- The fantastic and well thought out “So… what do you think?”
- They just keep talking about the product waiting for the potential client to make the first move.
None of those work for a few reasons:
- Most notably, their lack of belief is translated to you
- You can get the feeling that they’re just trying to get you to buy for their benefit, not yours
- Chances are they haven’t actually listened to you through the duration of the presentation
- They give you a sense of mistrust in them
- They are rarely passionate about the product they are selling
- They are rarely passionate about seeing you make the best choice for you
- It seems as if they’re hiding something
- If they just listened to you just a little bit, they might actually understand what you’ve said
- Seriously would you buy something from someone who just won’t shut up if you didn’t previously want the product?
- More often than not, they don’t have money themselves so they are afraid to ask assuming everyone else is as limited as they are
- They project their beliefs onto the other person instead of listening to the other person’s unique problems and circumstances
If you are one of these people, then fear is the primary motivation that holds you back from elite selling. Generally you either have money issues yourself and project that unto others, you are a poor listener, you overwhelmingly fear rejection or probably a combination of all of them.
Fear of rejection can be overcome. The key is to realize that by being scared of rejection, you get rejected all the time. Can you say irony? How do you handle this now? If you realize that this is the most rejection that you can possibly experience can we move on?
What if you could change the world for only a day so that you knew ahead of time that 99% of the people you saw would purchase a large order or in our case, do the deal with us.. The catch was you had only 24 hours to see them. How many people would you see then in 24 hours? If the answer is a hell of a lot, then clearly it is fear holding you back. Learn to master your fears. Mastering fear altogether is a whole different topic but if you’re looking for help on it, having the knowledge to be prepared for any outcome should will make your fears subside. You’ll realize that it doesn’t matter what the other person does, only what you do in response to them. If you know you can handle all the possible outcomes, then you won’t be afraid ever.
Effective Salespeople
First off, if you are looking to be effective in selling. Step 1 is to ensure that you are passionate about your product. Because everybody needs to live somewhere, I think there is always something within real estate to be passionate about. It is your space after all. When you legitimately believe that your client will be better off for having purchase your service/product, your persuasive power goes up immediately. It is true that sales techniques will allow you to be more effective in selling any product and in communicating in everyday life. However, it’s much better to do it with integrity, right? Not to mention much more fulfilling when you see other’s lives improved. The bottom line is to sell something you are passionate about.
In my own personal life, I am very pro health. I eat a lot of organic fruits and vegetables and never have any health complications. I persuade people to do more for their health all the time. In the future I will open up a business related to health and I’m already positive it will be successful because I’ve been persuading people all this time to better their lives. I’m already selling them, I’m just not getting paid for it yet. You’ll find a much easier path to success when you find out what that is for you instead of selling what you must do for a living. There is always a niche or two within real estate that you find passion with.
Here are some of the characteristics of proven winners in sales and the associated techniques. Although any 50 techniques may work, you only need a few of them that work for you and suit your individual personality:
1. They Continually Use Assumptive Language
If your presentation went as it should, it is only natural to assume they would want to make a purchasing decision. Again, being passionate about your product, you’d like to help them. They also use assumptive language throughout the presentation. Choose one that you yourself would feel comfortable and natural saying.
- Mr. Prospect, how would you like to take delivery?
- Mr. Prospect, should I write up this order for the red or the blue?
- Mr. Prospect, how do I spell your middle name on this order form?
- Mr. Prospect, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask, why don’t you get it?
- Mr. Prospect, what’s the easiest way to write this part up? What type of credit card are we going to use?
- Mr. Prospect, are we going to get one or two of them?
- Mr. Prospect, ok I’m filling up the order for 400 of them. No I’m just kidding. One or two will be fine. Standard delivery is ok?
- Ms. Prospect, how many am I going to fill out the order for?
- Mr. Prospect, I’m going to ahead and fill out a contract for the house for ____, is that correct?
- Mr. Prospect, I’m still a little new at this. How many of them is the order going to be for?
- Mr. Prospect, who should I invoice this to?
Take your assumptive language further. Every time your customer agrees to a benefit of a product, write it down on your order form. The first time they will stop you and they will ask what you’re doing. You just calmly respond “Oh don’t mind me Mr. Prospect, I just like to keep my thoughts organized on paper. I write stuff down as I hear it to help keep it organized”. Or you can use some humour “Oh I’m not supposed to tell you this” and then pause, lean forward and whisper, “but the IRS thinks you’re cheating on your taxes again and I’m taking notes on you.” Pause again and in normal tone again “No I’m just kidding. I just keep all my thoughts organized by writing them down on paper. Don’t mind me doing it throughout because it’s just what I do. I do it all the time.” By the time you get to the close, you’ll have all of the information ready to go. Now that’s assumptive power.
2. They Rarely Ask Yes or No Questions
There’s a serious problem with yes or no questions. Most notably, the person can say “No”. Aside from the obvious, when a person asks you “How are you doing?” you automatically say “good” without even giving it a real thought. This is true, right? A lot of yes or no questions will be responded to with “no” without the other person giving it a real honest thought. People are taught to have natural sales resistance even when the product is in their best interest. A lot of times, they are especially like this when it is in their best interest. it’s crazy, wouldn’t you say? Your job is to get them thinking again. They are always infinite choices to choose from so your job is to lead your prospect to the right product choice just like McDonald’s would. Choose questions that either have specified options as answers or make a statement that you believe in followed by “right?” or “isn’t it?” as a token of their agreement.
Mr. Prospect, would you prefer your order in the white or the black?
Mr. Prospect, would you prefer one or two of them on this order?
Ms. Prospect, would you prefer to take delivery on Tuesday or Thursday?
Ms. Prospect, are we going to be paying for this with Visa or Mastercard?
Mr. Prospect, you’re going to go with this order in the black, right?
Ms. Prospect, I just want to get this order information accurate. The correct spelling of your last name is €˜P€¦ R€¦.’ (etc.), isn’t it?
Ms. Prospect, would you prefer if I we ship the order to your home address or work address?
3. They Act As Your Advisor Instead of Selling You
This is the secret of secrets in selling. Don’t sell anything, advise. Great salespersons know that sales will come. They are greatly attached to long term outcomes but not bound by individual sales one way or another. They are very keenly aware that their long term success is assured. Knowing that enables them to play more of the role an advisor.
What if whether the person bought the largest order, the smallest order or nothing at all you got paid the same money either way? What if it made absolutely no difference to you at all what the customer purchased or if they purchased at all? How would your demeanor change?
Most people have a natural barrier to sales because so many people in various markets are trying to sell them junk. Most often after making a large purchase, buyers go through what it is called buyer’s remorse. Typically, they doubt their purchase and they often even regret their purchase.
Have you ever bought from a really professional salesperson? You’ll know it because you actually felt good about it. Let me explain this with a story. I was with a friend and had the benefit of watching a real pro of a car salesman work his magic. She had said that she wanted to spend no more than $5000 on a used car. She wanted it to be good on gas and she didn’t want an ugly car. Most car salesman walk up to you and awkwardly initiate conversation. Then they try to lead towards some car while they smile and nod “isn’t this the car for you?” They might ask a few questions first if you’re lucky. Not this pro. This is how the scenario played out.
Firstly, he came up to us and asked us if he could help us with anything to which her response was a typical “oh no thanks, we’re just browsing”. He very calmly said “if you guys don’t mind, I’d like to tag along with you. It looks bad on us if we don’t show some good hospitality to people who pay us a visit. I won’t bug you guys at all.” He was so calm and nonchalant about it that her reply at this point was “yeah sure ok”. He went on further “It’s such a nice day outside anyways and I’ve been cooped up in the office all morning.” At this point, she sort of began walking again and partly ignored the comment, giving it no response.
We casually walked around for a while making small talk until she finally came to a car that she actually liked. “Wow this one’s pretty cute” she said. She leaned towards the salesman and asked him “how much is it?” It wasn’t posted anywhere on the window. His reply was a very calm “to be honest, this one’s new here and I’m not really sure. I can find out for you in just a minute. Can I ask you something if you don’t mind? It’s the front up here that makes it look cute, isn’t it?” he said referring to a custom decal on the front of the car. He smartly suggested something so that she would offer her own evaluation of the situation.
A little aside, if your prospect won’t tell you what’s going through their mind, suggest something and they’ll correct you with what’s really going on in their mind.
It was a very cunning move for a man who had patiently waited almost 10 minutes without being part of the conversation. “Actually” she replied, “that’s the only part I’m not really fond of”. “Oh, so what do you think is cute about it?” he inquired. She replied, “definitely the colour and the look of it over here. I’m not going to buy a car today though,” she said which is another very typical response or objection which wasn’t at all true for starters. He calmly replied, “my job is to make people happy with their time here even if they don’t purchase. If you don’t come back for ten years I’ll still be looking to make your day worthwhile here” he said very matter-of-factly. He then paused, “I’ll tell you what. I know you’re not looking to purchase but these are fun cars to drive. Let’s take it for a spin for 10 minutes before you guys are on your way. You guys have 10 minutes, right?” The enthusiasm about how fun it was hit you when he said it.
He then came back with the keys and we went for a ride. She obviously loved the car but was still struggling with the usual natural sales barrier. Though this particular gentleman could not have been more dead on which how he had handled her, ultimately the decision still weighed with her. He then went on to ask her a few clever questions to uncover what particular aspects mattered most to her decision, including how it was on gas. There were other factors but I’m trying to keep the story brief.
When he got to price, he very calmly asked her “is price a factor in your decision or can you spend whatever you want within reason?” to which she replied “Yeah, well I can’t spend any more than $5000 on a car before taxes.”
We got back to the lot and he commented to her on a series of points she agreed to. “You like the car? It’s cute enough for your taste right? It’s good on gas as you said you wanted. I haven’t checked the price yet but I’m sure it’s within your budget. Why don’t you get it?” he asked. “Oh I don’t know” she replied. “I wasn’t looking to make a decision today and we’ve still got a few other places to go.” He replied, “I see. You’ve been to a few other places. Where does this car rank so far?” Well to be honest she said, “It’s at the top right now but I still want to shop around.” His response was “I agree with you. It’s important to make a sound decision instead of an impulse emotional buy. Is that why you’re looking some more to be sure that this is your best available option?” She replied, “Yes that’s why. I just want to be sure.”
He came back “well I see that and for this model and shape, I’m confident this is the best you’ll find.” He paused again, “I don’t know the exact sticker price on this car but I’m sure I could let it go for $4500. Although, I don’t want to rush you guys to a decision. It’s your money and it’s smart to be wise with it. I see that you guys just need time to think about it, right?” She responded, “Yes just a little bit”.
He cleverly replied, “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you take it for another drive without me just to sure it in your memory before you guys leave today. You just loved the way it felt behind the wheel so one more trip will help you remember it. Take your time” She couldn’t resist, we grabbed the keys and on we went.
Upon our return she had her check book ready. She bought the car. Before we drove off, he said “I’ll get those decals taken off for you at no charge since you said you preferred it without them.” At this point she felt like royalty and called everyone she knew to brag about her new car. Even mentioning how awesome the guy was there in helping her. No buyer’s remorse there.
The Moral of the Story
When you buy from a pro you leave fulfilled and happy. They have you in mind. The lesson to be learned here: Top sales pros act as advisors.
He didn’t talk about mileage because she wasn’t concerned with it. We didn’t waste time talking about payment methods because he already knew how she was going to pay for it. He only advised on her the criteria she said was most important to her choosing. He let her name the terms and price and simply fulfilled it. We never haggled over price at any point. In fact, the car might have only been worth $3000 but what does it matter if she loved it?
I am a little more observant than her. I happened to notice his picture on the wall as the top salesman in their rather large branch. No coincidence there I might add.
As a technique to take the advisor role a little further, if you’re seated, slide your chair over to be on the same side as your customer. Advisors don’t sit awkwardly across from people, they work together. When they ask why you’re doing it just say “it’s just easier for us to figure stuff out if as it comes up”. I usually throw in a bit of humor and say “don’t worry, I won’t bite you” or “don’t worry, I don’t eat people”.
4. They Listen Well and Their Presentations Continually Invoke Customer Involvement
The simplest way to handle objections is to deal with them before they even come up. Did you know the average person has only a 3 sentence attention span? That means as soon as you say 4 things in a row without their involvement, they’re probably not listening to you anymore. How can you stop this? Very simply by getting them included. If you have an obvious point to make say it but add a simple “right?”, “isn’t it” or “isn’t that right?” at the end of your point. Use their name if you can.
“Mr. Prospect, this is the best quality product on the market today. Top quality is important, isn’t it?”
Another more effective way to do this to ask a question before you make the point.
“Mr Prospect, what would you rather have, top quality or average quality?”
He’ll reply to the obvious point and you show him why your product is the top quality.
Momentarily pause your presentation after a key benefit and say “Mr. Prospect, I just want to make sure I’m explaining this the right way to you, does that make sense how I just explained that?”
Assuming you do this correctly, you’ll deal with numerous objections before they even come up. You can deal with it here and now.
Lastly, this one is this most powerful. Illustrate the benefit. Don’t say your car has the most power, floor it and show them. Don’t say your knives cut the best, take them out and have the customer slice. The more out of the ordinary it is, the better.
There was once a man who was number one in selling hurricane-proof windows. People asked him how he became number one in the entire country in such a fast time beating out every top salesperson the company had in less than one year. He showed them that everyone claimed the windows were hurricane-proof. At his presentation, he paused, pulled out a hammer and hit the window as hard as he could which left no mark on it. How would that impact you if it happened right before your eyes? That’s how you get customer involvement and make your point.
The reason this works is that knowledge and wisdom are two different things. Wisdom is knowledge applied through experience. You may realize how great your product is but the customer does not. Further still, they may not realize how great it is the first time through. By asking them, you get them to stop and think and pull their mind back to thinking about your product where it tends to wander. As that happens, they’ll be forced to agree with your conclusion or not but one way or another they’ll have their own wisdom right then and there.
5. They See Top Prospects
A prospect is someone who has the means to afford the product or service and can definitely benefit from its use. This may seem like an obvious point but you may have a great product, a great presentation and a great close and still not generate the sales you need. If you’re a top salesperson and you’re seeing run of the mill prospects, how are you going to succeed in sales?
6. They Paint Visual Pictures Throughout the Presentation
As stated above, one way to make your benefit clear is to have it used right then and there during the presentation. However, there’s more to great selling than just that. Besides that, some products, like say investments, are too abstract to visually demonstrate. What reasons do you think people buy from you? In a poll I read, over 90% of customers said they purchased because of the salesperson’s enthusiasm and only 7% said it was because of the salesperson’s technical knowledge. You should be technically sound on your product, right? But understand that it is the picture you paint that makes the difference and not the technical detail. You give the technical detail life but illustrating its benefit. If you can’t be passionate about your product, again, find one that you can be passionate about.
Paint visual pictures in the other persons mind. When a person agrees to a benefit get them to picture using it. I start all my sentences with “Ms. Prospect, you’re going to love…”
- the way this car handles in the mountains
- being so relaxed at night in bed when you know the bank isn’t beating your down door anymore
- going to the bank to find out your investments made you this much
- the way this house feels to show off when the family comes to visit
- the way this looks right over there in that room
You break down their natural sales barrier by picturing them already owning it. If you were excited about driving a card in the mountains and you were a prospect, wouldn’t you buy it too? As you they tell you they can use a benefit, throw in a visualisation about how they can use it.
7. They Are Calm and Relaxed During Closing
This may seem like another obvious point but top salespeople are very calm and relaxed during the closing. If you drastically fear the rejection of closing to the point where you can’t even ask, you’re causing yourself a whole lot of rejection.
Success is preparation meets opportunity. The more you’re prepared with handling objections, the less you’ll worry. When you realize that you can handle every possible outcome, it’s much easier to be relaxed. It’s only how it’s going to play out that is the interesting part.
Ask to follow a top salesperson in your company (or in our case a top investor at the investor club) or through someone you know so you can watch them work. The more you see them do it, the more you’ll realize €˜hey, I can do that too’. It is a quick way to turn your knowledge into wisdom. This is a must even if you are at the top. Spend a day with someone else just to learn.
Take responsibility for your results. Everything is in your control. Even the sales that got away, it was you who didn’t find the right prospect or it was you who didn’t build enough excitement in the other to warrant a buying decision. You either didn’t find the right buyer or didn’t handle the circumstances properly. All of it is within your control so when you see that, you see the big picture instead of the individual sales. They are just a reflection of your larger goals playing out. No great salesperson ever needed one individual person to say yes.
There are only about 10 really mean people in the world. They just get around a lot. You can deal with the same 10 idiots. Really, can’t you? Learn to be calm.
When people ask for the close, you’re almost always faced with an inevitable pause. Rarely does a person say yes the very first time without any hesitation.
Poor salespeople take this pause after asking for the close as a no and begin talking again. I bet you’ve all done this at some point. In all selling and negotiating, be patient. I’ve looked potential clients as long as 60 seconds in the face without any conversation to let them decide. How’s that for patience anyways? Can you imagine how long that felt in my head? If anything goes that long and you feel the need to say something, ask for the close again. A huge number of people actually talk themselves out of sales by not just keeping quiet. Your only move should be to lean back and relax. This is good practice for a good poker face too, right? Learn to keep your big mouth shut when it’s required.
Learn 5 closes you can use and how to handle every objection, when you’re prepared, being calm is a natural conclusion. One thing’s for sure, as long as you fear rejection, you’ll get rejected. As long as you know you can handle it, you’ll rarely get rejected.
8. They Are Empathetic But Not Sympathetic
People are going to give you objections during closing and throughout the whole presentation. This is just how things are. When customers give you objections, it does not mean no but rather that they are unclear on a benefit. They have the knowledge but not the wisdom. That is they understand what you have said but their experience does not lead them to see how it will save them money, make them more energetic or whatever benefit you have said it will cause. It is simply a different point of view that is neither right nor wrong. If you are selling a $5000 product that saves them $10,000 then they are simply not clear on how that’s going to happen if they give you an objection. They are not clear on the benefits as you stated them.
A lot of sales people get frustrated when people don’t immediately see a benefit. Life is wonderful because they are so many different points of view. Learn to be empathetic. That means learn to understand their point of view from their unique perspective. That doesn’t mean to be sympathetic. If they say they can’t afford it doesn’t help either of you to say “oh I know times sure are tough”. That is sympathy and allows both of you to stop thinking.
Empathy allows you to strive to see their point of view so that together you can arrive at a new conclusion. If you strive to see their point, it is natural to agree instead of argue. Never ever ever argue in a sales presentation. “I see where you’re coming from Mr. Prospect. No one ever said our product was cheap”. That’s very different than saying “It’s not that expensive” which is disagreeing and arguing. At that point your goal is to show them how the use of its benefits far outweighs the cost and how they can afford it. Poor salespersons will actually get frustrated and say, “No it’s really not that expensive at all”. If you aren’t empathetic, you’re already losing.
The way to be empathetic properly is to always agree with their point as they make it. In fact, you can even compliment them on it sometimes. “Mr. Prospect that’s really clever of you to notice. Most people don’t ask that question”. Agree with it as their truth and clarify with a question to see that you see it as they do. From there you can invite them to a new point of view on it.
9. There’s Lots of Humour In Their Presentation
Smart salespeople know that the close begins long before the close. It begins the moment first contact is initiated, generally on the phone. Most salespersons are forgettable. It’s the unfortunate but honest truth. Adding humour breaks tension, increases trust and makes you more memorable. How funny are you? My presentations are always funny. People don’t realize though that the things I say that seem very spontaneously funny are the same jokes I make again and again given the right opportunity to use them. They work for me, they’ll work for you. Feel free to steal them without crediting the source (ME! Matthew David). When I call people on the phone, regardless of what I’m doing I have a few funny ones that I use repeatedly.
“How Long Will It Take?”
It takes about 24 hours. Don’t worry though, I bring my sleeping bag over. I make eggs in the morning. How do you take your eggs? (pause) No I’m just kidding. It takes only about …
“What are you selling?”
We sell farm animals. I only need to bring over about 5-10 live animals to show you our top notch livestock. They hardly make a mess at all. (pause) Mr. Prospect, I’m just kidding. It’s actually €¦..
In the presentation, you can use things like:
Ok so it does happen to cost $10,000 dollars (or some very large figure for your product) to which they’ll object. (pause) No I’m only kidding. It really only costs…
Yeah and you can use the money you saved to play the lottery. Just when you win, don’t forget us little people. I don’t ask for much though. You just owe me lunch.
It’s going to take a little creativity here but have 5 funny things you can say in every presentation you use but that seem as if they’re spontaneous. It has to be unique to your product and your presentation.
10. They Actually Ask For the Sale
90% of sales end without the salesperson asking for the sale even one time. Also, the average person purchases after the fifth time of the salesperson asking. All you’ve go to do is ask, handle objection, ask, handle objection, etc 5 times and you’ll be a pro. This is exactly I told you that you need at least 5 closes to use. If you know 4 or less closes, that’s why you’re not at the top yet. Are you choosing to get there now? What are your long term and short term goals?
11. They Sell Benefits, Not Products
Customers don’t buy products, they buy benefits. Pros sell the emotion behind the technical detail. This ties in with visualization. If a customer finds that the product makes their life easier, illustrate this with “you know what’s going to be great? Just picture the way the kids will still be whining about dinner and the husband will still need a good kick in the pants but you’ll comfortably know your investments are well taken care of. You won’t need to call me to add to the stress”. That goes a heck of a lot further than saying that it’s an easy to use investment plan, doesn’t it?
12. Continuous Improvement
Top people in anything always strive to better themselves through reading books, taking courses, attending seminars and listening to audio. Your car should be a mobile university on wheels. As little as twenty minutes per day can make all the difference in the world if you’re committed and low on time. Being a pro isn’t a sometimes thing, it takes lots of practice of the fundamentals whether you see or not. Being the best is not a sometimes things, you have to choose it every moment of every day. What’s in your personal development library? Hopefully at least you’re using the material on this website and access to my courses.
13. The Lucky 13 All Else Fails Technique
Ok so you’ve used your 5 closes and you still haven’t finished with this person. They’ve agreed to all the benefits, its use, its price and the whole shebang but at the end of the day haven’t agreed to purchase. Your stalemate at this point should just be a result of their indecision. You’ve added humour, visuals and everything but they’re just indecisive. It happens from time to time. They’re so paralyzed with fear that they can’t decide one way or another.
Repeat after me and memorize this word for word.
“You know, we have long considered Benjamin Franklin one of our wisest men. When Ben felt stuck with a problem as you do right about now, right? (pause for agreement) Do you know what old Ben did? He would grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle and put the reasons for the decision on this side and the reasons against the decision on this side (draw the lines). At the end he would simply tally them up and found the decision was made for him. Why don’t we try it and see what happens?”
Some people in sales may even recognize the close but it’s perfectly ok because it is sound logic. They can’t disagree with logic, can they? You grab a sheet and draw a line down the middle. On the left you go through all the benefits they’ve agreed to. You said it would be relieve their stress, be easier, save money, be fun to use, pay off quicker, be higher quality, etc. You know your product better than anyone else. You should easily be able to spout off 7 or more. Have them name the reasons against it and for God’s sake don’t help them. Agree with them on the points they make. Usually they will get stuck at 3 maximum if they even get that far which they rarely do. There’s only a few reasons against like cost, already own a product of the same type, etc. Tally them up and it generally shows something like 9-2. Close again. Mr. Prospect it seems obvious from this, why don’t you get it? Be quiet and let them speak next.
All that’s left from this article is to use it. Turn this knowledge into wisdom through experience.
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