Doing DEALS: Selling Your Most Important Product
By Forrest C. Greenslade, Ph.D.
From
The Simple-Minded Manager, Cutting Through Your Work-Life Chaos
 LET'S
START OUT with a small survey. How many of you want to be a
failure...poor...a victim? Not many positive responses are there?
It's obvious isn't it? No one actively seeks these goals! No, we all
want success, financial health, and personal control over our own
lives. Well, I am going to give you a sales strategy that will
absolutely guarantee you success, financial security and personal
autonomy. I will also offer you a product to sell that will bring
you profit beyond your wildest dreams.
Selling is not that difficult! Think about it. People want
products and services that solve their problems. Your task as a
sales person is simply to cause a potential customer to recognize
the value of what you are selling. You need to facilitate the
process by demonstrating your respect for the product. You have to
"halo" the product in pleasant associations for the
prospective customer.
Experts will tell you that there are five steps in selling *:
- Find out your potential customer's needs. Turn your
conversations with him or her into interviews in which you seek
information and discover what you can do for that person or
group.
- Gain that person's confidence. People buy products and
services because they feel that the salesperson understands
them. Listen to understand their thoughts and feelings.
- Sell a solution. Effective selling is never a conflict.
You must help people make mature decisions and take actions that
are truly in their own interests. Take a positive
problem-solving approach.
- Anticipate objections. Most objections are actually
unanswered questions. Help your potential customer discover what
question he or she is asking. Guide and respond. Don't argue or
push.
- Make the close. Your entire sales presentation is part
of your close. You are done only when you potential customer
fully understands the savings involved or the benefits that he
or she will receive from the product or service.
Now, here is my sure-fire selling technique. I call it Doing
DEALS. I recognize that to many people the phrase
"doing deals" has negative connotations. To many, the
phrase has a sinister or disreputable image. However, I use this
phrase to describe a selling process -- Doing DEALS by selling
solutions. People buy solutions to their problems. People are not
afraid to buy. They are afraid of being sold or of making mistakes.
So, to sell a product or service you must help people understand how
your product or service will solve an important problem for each
person.
Here is how to Do DEALS by
Selling Solutions:
Demonstrate
- Show the inherent values of your product or service.
Evaluate
- Collect information on your prospective customer's needs and
problems.
Assure
- Communicate your sincere interest in the person.
Listen
- Really understand that person's problem.
Solve
- Close only if your product or service is the best solution to that
person's problem.
If you use this selling technique, if you do DEALS, you will
increase your probability of success, increase your income and put
yourself in the driver's seat.
Now, here is the product that I promised would provide you with
success beyond your wildest dreams.
It is each of you. Yes, you are the only product that will
absolutely guarantee your success. You must sell yourself and your
ideas every day. I don't mean this in a trivial or cynical way.
Selling yourself is the noblest endeavor that you can undertake.
In other articles, I have talked about several strategies for
personal and organizational growth. I talked about how important it
is to be
your own missionary -- to define: who you are, what you believe,
what you do, and how you do it. I said that time's
fun when you're havin' FLIES -- to Focus on long-term goals, to
Lay out a plan, to Implement the plan immediately, to Evaluate your
progress each day, and to Stay on course. I encouraged you to take
good care of your SELF -- to Serve your organization's mission,
to Execute its initiatives, to Lead in its management, and to Follow
it's traditions and values.
Now, I am offering you a tool to use every day in accomplishing
all of the above. It is the unbeatable combination of a foolproof
selling technique and the best product in the world. I offer you --
Doing DEALS: Selling Yourself.
Demonstrate
- Live your values every day.
Evaluate
- Remain objective about your strengths and about areas that you
should strengthen.
Assure
- Communicate your sincerity to each person with whom you interact.
Listen
- Understand others and their problems.
Solve
- Create solutions for others rather than contribute to their
problems.
Most people know me as a rather careful person. I don't go out on
a limb very often. Many know that I am a bit understated. I don't
like to make brash promises. A few know that I am not a betting man.
I don't take a lot of big risks. But I will go out on a limb... I
will state in the brashest terms... I will bet the ranch... If you
use my selling technique -- and if you use it to sell yourself and
your ideas, I will absolutely, 100 percent, guarantee you more
success, financial health and personal control over your life.
So why are you just sitting there -- Go out and get started Doing
DEALS!
* Adapted in part from: The Sales Training
Speech, in The Professional Speaker Manual, Toastmasters
International, 1997.
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