The most successful salesperson focuses not on “what can I get”, but “what can I give”. By salesperson, I don’t mean you have to be selling a physical product. You can be a broker selling stocks, a financial analyst selling ideas or any professional marketing yourself and your services.
Yesterday, I had the unfortunate experience of meeting an entrepreneur who was only interested in himself and selling his products. The only valuable take away I got from the meeting was a reiteration of the dos and don’ts of successful selling. Otherwise, it was a total waste of my time.
Respect your client’s time
Make sure you check your organizer for the correct appointment time. This salesperson had our appointment time wrong. He called to reschedule two hours after our appointment which I had unwisely accommodated. I personally know a few business people who have a rule to not do business with anyone who is late for their first appointment. Tough as it may sound, they said that it is a good indicator of the trustworthiness of the person.
Practice active listening
Peculiarly, this person who has extensive experience in business consulting barely listened to my words or body language. He was probably thinking ahead what he wanted to say to me. Although I had the initial 10 minutes to say a few words, the rest of the hour was almost a monologue. The majority of the time, he was staring into space instead of looking at me. When the hour was up, I was packing to leave but he was still rambling on.
What’s in it for the client?
I wouldn’t mind listening to a 50-minute monologue had he focused on the benefits that his services would provide me. It was all about his products and product features rather than solutions and benefits for me. Had he listened to me in the first ten minutes, he would have heard that I do not have a want or need for his products. People buy benefits and solutions to their problems.
Respecting your clients choices
Your prospect may or may not decide to buy your product or hire your service. Sometimes the product is right but the timing isn’t. I was quite annoyed to hear the salesperson criticize my business when he hardly knew anything about it. Imagine when you recommend a great investment idea to your client, if there isn’t a strategic fit to your client’s portfolio, he would probably let it pass.
There is much more to successful selling. I hope these are just a few tips to help you with your next sales presentation whether you are marketing your products or your ideas or yourself. Everyone is always marketing something, especially financial analysts .
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