This week’s Six Minute Entrepreneur lesson is a little bit different because I’m kicking off episode of the Six Minute Entrepreneur, How to Sell series!
Now, if you want to be an entrepreneur, then believe me, the better you are at selling, the more successful you are going to be. For years and years and years, it is a skill I have worked on and honed.
The more successful business people I see are the ones who can sell. So, we’re going to master these skills over the next few weeks and months, and then the world’s your oyster – right?
Even if you get to the size when you can have a sales team, you’re not going to be off the hook because you still need to sell. It could be that you’re selling in a new strategy to the board or you’re floating the idea of introducing a new product line into the company portfolio but you’re still always going to be selling. Even those of you out there that maybe aren’t entrepreneurs, you’re just using this advice in your everyday life, we’ve all got to sell stuff.
Now, I have to confess, I’ve always loved selling. In fact, I’d rather step up and make the sale myself than ever leave it to anybody else in my team. It’s just the way I’m wired, it’s the skill set that I know that I’ve got, you’re either a salesperson or you’re not.
The one thing that I do know is whatever your sales ability is today, it could always be enhanced.
For me, even after 20 years in business, this is still something that I work on in my own personal development on a daily basis. This is how important it is!
I will say the subject of selling is a huge one. And I’m not going to promise that we’re going to master it in one six minute lesson which is why in this case I’m breaking it down into these kind of smaller bite-sized chunks so that you can focus on these simple steps and building blocks that are going to help you enhance and build these skills as we go through this mini series.
So kicking off today, we’re talking about listening. Now for some salespeople this is the toughest skill to develop. In fact they think that the more they talk the better that they’re going to sell and let me tell you nothing could be further from the truth!
The first myth that I want to bust is that people like to be sold to because let me tell you, they really don’t.
Let’s just imagine that you’ve gone into a car showroom and ordered a new car. Then, you meet your friend for dinner that night and they ask ‘oh what have you been up to today’ do you ever say ‘oh I’ve just been sold a new car’ or would you go into your friend and say ‘I just bought myself a new car’?
This is what I want you to think about, the psychology around that. The words are really important here. People buy what they want, but they often use the word ‘sold’ to suggest something they didn’t want, right? The word sell itself often implies pressure. It suggests that the decision wasn’t entirely that person’s decision, and it often hints at an underlying dissatisfaction or some sort of regret.
The chances are, if you’re actually happy with the car you’ve just ordered, you’re going to tell your friends that you bought a new car, right? So just think about that.
When we’re selling, the words that you and your customers use are absolutely critical, which is why in selling, the greatest skill that you can possess is not your ability to talk, but actually your ability to listen.
For all of those of you out there that don’t think of yourself as a natural salesperson, this is probably the first bit of good news that you’ve heard in a long time because yes, the pressure’s off, talk less, listen more!
You’ve all heard that saying, you’ve got two ears and one mouth, use them in that ratio. It couldn’t be more important.
Now the best salespeople are the ones that ask great questions and then let their customers do the talking. This means that rather than telling the customer what to do, they are guided by their customer’s responses.
The truth is, we all like to be listened to, it makes us feel really valued, it shows empathy, it allows us to express ourselves. Customers love to be listened to and I love listening to our customers.
What they say gives me so much information about what’s important to them, what they’re unsure about even how much they’re going to be willing to pay for a product or service and as you listen to your customers, I want you to show that you are listening to them. So you’re going to give them good eye contact, you’re going to show really positive body language, you’re going to reflect back to them what they’ve just said to show them that you’ve been listening and also to check that your understanding is right.
Now, listening also has another benefit, it gives you time to really think about what you’re going to say next, it gives you that little bit of breathing time to get your words totally right in that moment.
Bringing all this together, there are three big takeaways I want you to have from this video.
Number one, the best salespeople don’t sell to their customers. They help guide them to choose what they want to buy.
Number two, two ears, one mouth, use them in that ratio, you’ve been told.
And then number three, let your customers know that you’re listening by reflecting back the content of the conversation and then use that information to shape the next steps.
Thank you so much for reading! As I said at the beginning, this is just the first in a little mini series to help you hone your selling skills. So keep your eyes peeled for the next episode in the How to Sell series where I’m going to be talking about the customer seesaw. That one’s going to be fun!