This probably goes against everything you’ve ever heard, but I promise you, every sale you come across in life is the same.
What does every sale have?
The Hunt - desperately searching at work, in your commute, and even in your personal life for someone who you think might qualify for what you’re offering.
A Prospect - a qualified business / person who has a use for your services.
I don’t care how great a salesman you are, if there is no use for your product / service (i.e. you sell cars and the person doesn’t have a driver’s license) you’re never going to sell them and you'’ll waste everyone’s time…including your own.
A Process - every industry’s process and below timeline may vary slightly, but most will take the following form:
Prospecting - usually involves you trying to get in front of the person who makes the decisions on the product / service you’re selling.
Information Gathering - you have to learn about the person / business to make sure they really do have a need for what you’re selling and get them to come to the conclusion as to why what they have doesn’t work, or why they could use something to improve their day-to-day life.
This is an important step in the process, probably the most important that most rush through. It’s crucial to not show too many cards here and draw out as much information you can from them while peppering in the right amount of information about your product / service to intrigue them (more to come on how to master this process).
Presenting - You have a qualified, prospective client sitting in front of you that you’ve established has a need for something you have…time to put everything you learned to the test and give it everything you got.
The Close - There comes a point in every sale that you have to flat out ask for the business. It’s uncomfortable, it’s awkward, but you’ll never get anything if you don’t ask for it.
An Objection - To be safe, 90% (probably more) of your sales will have some kind of objection to them…
“I need to think about it.”
“Not a great time.”
“Not interested.”
“Let me check with my spouse, CFO, etc.”
The list goes on and on, but every objection is just saying one thing: “I DON’T FEEL COMPELLED TO MAKE A DECISION.”
Everyone needs to feel the need to see things you way. If they say anything else but “yes” or “okay,” then you need to address this head on. This is the part that you actually have to sell, everything before this is a repeatable process.
Close them again - even if you overcome any and all objections perfectly, they aren’t going to just say “hand me that pen!” You have to still ask for the business. And if you thought it was awkward the first time, try asking again after being told no once…or twice.
Remember, every sale is the same. In the following weeks, I’ll tell you how to find the best prospects, get into any company, uncover their pain points, present your material like a pro, handle any objection that comes your way, and close them.
You can get anything you want out of life, but no one’s going to hand it to you. You need to take it.
STAY TUNED & STAY HUNGRY
-RYAN