Your Sales SUCK and Here Is Why....

Let me bring this into the real world with an example of what Bill is talking about...

Years ago I bought the sportfishing boat of my dreams. Being as it was for deep sea fishing I also wanted to equip it with some really stout deep sea rods and reels. Specifically, the kind I could use for trolling, which is a method of fishing.

So I went to the local fishing guru, a guy all of us knew and respected, the kind of guy who was always featured in the local fishing rag. A super nice guy who had recently opened up his own bait and tackle shop.

So he takes the time to explain to me the various differences between the rods and reels he sells, and also gives me the benefit of his years of knowledge on why those would be a good choice.

So there I am standing there expecting to make an on-the-spot purchase, checkbook in hand, and then unexpectedly he says to me..."Take your time, and come back when you're ready to decide what you want buy, and I'll be here."

"WHAT?!?" my brain thought? Did I just get broomed? Is this some protocal I'm not aware of? WTF just happened?

I left the store thinking to myself, "I need the stuff before the weekend", and headed over to another albeit chain sporting goods store where I ran into an ex-charterboat captain who was now working the fishing counter at that store.

I told him the same story that I told the other guy, only this time he walks me over to where the stuff was I wanted and goes, "Here, you'll need two of these". as he takes two rods from the rack and hands them to me, and "You'll need two of these", as he hands me a different set of rods from another rack.

He does the same thing when we get to the reel counter and hands me four reels, two of each style, and walks over to the cash register where I write him out a check for nearly $1000 in 1986 money. I walked out of the store with exactly what I needed and used those rods and reels for years.

So what happened there...?

The first guy, who unfortunately went out of business within a year, did everything right except to recognize that I was expecting a "buying experience". I came there to BUY four rods and reels. The second guy did what is called "assuming the sale" and SOLD me exactly what I was looking for.

Now getting back to Bill's last point, I could have forced the sale with the first guy, but since he was the one that indicated, at least subliminally, that it wasn't the right time to buy, I didn't. And the weird thing to me at the time was I got the vibe, call it a lack of confidence to force the sale, that right then wasn't the time to buy. Believe it or not it actually works that way some times.

~Bill

Well said Bill.

That will put it in perspective for those who weren't getting it.

If that isn't a wake up call... "I'm speechless!"

Keyword: [confidence] - Something I had for years in business offline, and somehow have yet to enforce online.

Thank You Gentlemen!!!

-Art

True, I feel the same way too Bill, Its all about the confidence of the seller in his product.

Bill,that example speaks volumes. As a seller, you really need to have confidence in your product/s and be able to read your potential customers so that you know what information to feed them.

Bill Platt stole my next thread topic!

Just kidding . . . sort of. Nice post, Bill. Couldn't have said it any better.

To bring together the thread I started (that Bill mentioned in his OP) with this one, a person can also ask for the sale too soon. If you haven't established the value I wrote about, asking for the sale isn't going to bring many positive results.

Now, Bill, which of us will start the "importance of the PS" thread first?

You should never be afraid to ask for the sale. If the customer isn't ready they will tell you.

A customer wants to be asked to buy. As customers we expect it.

For every "No" you receive, you're one closer to a "Yes"... and you really have to believe in your product. There was a time when I sold a fixer upper to a rehabber, and even though the place was covered in animal feces and rotting garbage, I never hesitated to call it "a beautiful hidden gem with massive buyer potential" during the transaction... If I remembered correctly I closed on that home in less than a week.

This works outside sales too. Embedding a request for comments below posts on my blog increased comments by ∞.

Sometimes I forget to add it to things and remind myself of why being explicit about what you want someone to do is important.

Very well said, Bill. This will keep others who are lost back in track.

Very good information - especially for someone like me who tends to be less aggressive. More like lack of sales experience, but I'm getting there.

On the flip side though... while I totally and completely agree that the seller MUST show confidence in his/her product, the seller can also go way too far in that direction.

I'm talking about pressure sales - not taking "no" for an answer, pushing, and then getting dramatic or upset when the buyer still refuses to buy.

I realize this isn't what you are preaching here.... just making a point that sometimes a seller can go a bit TOO far to the other extreme of confidence.

I am just thinking of a time where my husband and I got roped into a free breakfast at a vacation resort where we were then taken into a room with tables and a sales person sat down to discuss with us the opportunities of owning a timeshare. His intent was to get us to sign up right then and there. While he was completely confident and handed us the pen to sign the "paperwork", we said NO and that we were not interested, nor would we ever be interested in their product and thanked him for his time.

Things got REALLY interesting there... he got up and started intimidating us into why our decision was horrible... he even threw a chair down for the dramatic effect (scare tactic, maybe?) to get us to buy. We ran as far away as we could from this company.

I've also seen instances online where you go through a sales video (great and inspiring) then get told you are getting the best deal for whatever price. If you're not quite ready to buy and try to leave the page, you get a pop up saying, "Wait! If you buy now, I'll slash another $10 off!"... then you try to leave again with another pop up saying, "AND I'll throw in a freebie!".... By the 3rd pop up, I have lost interest... again, seems like too much hoopla by that point (almost seems a bit desperate to me... but maybe that's just me).

Again, I have a LOT to learn and really value this information about asking the buyer to buy your product. In fact, I am going to start going in with that mindset of "assuming the sale".

I just suspect that there is a fine line in there somewhere where a seller can start going a bit too far and end up losing the sale.

Thanks again for the valuable advice!

Elizabeth Fee

No, no and no again.

...(Now you're mean't to keep talking because I haven't told you to "Kiss my fat ass" yet, as Bill put it )

Bill I agree. I meant if they are not interested they will tell you by giving you true signs. A salesperson knows to uncover the real reasons behind a no.

Sometimes the no means "I need to think about it this weekend." Depending on what you sell you close them now and make it no problem for them to cancel on monday. I get this loads in my business and 80 to 90% of them don't cancel.

Sometimes no means the price doesn't fit their budget. Now you find out more about their budget. Often by doing this I realize I have a unit very close to what they loved that fits their budget. Soemtimes we miss these signs during the sales process so never be afraid to find out why they are saying no.

There are so many objections(no's) that really mean "yes but....", once you find out the but you can turn it into a real yes.

But sometiems you will find the no has to mean no because the but is too much. For example someone who wants $15k for their trade when it is worth $5k. The price isn't going to change by $10k and if they are stuck on that price you have to be honest with them. I'd still say I close about 1 in 10 of these guys the following week once they have time to realize the deal is fair. of course if they want $15k because they owe $15k you might not be able to roll that over into the new loan so you have to know when even their yes is going to turn into a no from the bank.

If you found the right product or service for them and it is in their budget you should be able to close most of them because it is what they want.

Thanks for the info Bill, Rich has pointed me in your direction to get to grips with article writing etc so I shall be reading more of your threads.

Just wanted to touch on Elizabeths point also about the oversell with online products. Products were I click the red X and get offered $10 off, and then I click again and get $20 off etc never convert with me because I do not believe in their true value.

What I mean by this is if someone was selling me something for $40 but I said no and they just said have it for $30, and then offered it for $20, I would not purchase because they lied in the first place about its $40 value. If it was worth $40 they would not knock $20 in a flash. If they lied about the value initially (im already questioning credibility) and what's to say they're not lying now when they are offering it for $20? It may just be useless info and therefore I'm not going to pay anything for it.

Hope that makes some form of sense.

Thanks again

G

Wow- that's an awesome story, Bill.

It also proves that "being nice" isn't going to get you the sale- you have to want to help the customer, even at the risk of being rejected.

You are absolutely right sir, this is why anyone starting a business should learn at least some basic sales skills, and once they will, they will never miss a chance to close the deal!

A good source I recommend to anyone eager to learn how to sell is the free ebook from Bryan Tracy "24 Effective Closing Techniques Up".

That's one of the best ways I've heard about "components of a landing page" basically. While I don't have my own product or anything like that, I do have a couple of affiliate websites and the ones that makes the sales here and there are the ones where I have bought the product being offered to learn about the topic. Then blog about it using the information. When you're educated on what you're selling it's a lot easier than just turning up at clickbank, grabbing a link and throwing it around.

Great way of explaining it, Bill.
Cheers

Okay, that goes to show that if your copywriting sucks, your sales will ultimately suck. It won't be a bad idea to copy successful salespages and model yours after theirs.

Provided, of course, you also believe in your product.

Bill, I'll try to keep my typos to a minimum today

Wanted to ask if I can also "swipe" your OP for my blog; it would follow very nicely to yesterday's post. Also, what site can I link it to for you?

Paul

Great post