1. Get in front of as many individual prospects as you possibly can. Some sales people hide behind email, direct mail, and even the telephone. Don’t be one of them. When you’re in front of people—looking them in the eye and seeing how they feel—you’re in a much better position to create a meaningful relationship.
2. Be more concerned about your prospect’s concerns than you are for your own. The prospect cares more about his problems, fears, or goals than your products, corporate history, philosophy, or even your USP (that overused, greatly misunderstood Unique Selling Proposition) and so should you.
3. Show your concern by letting him do most of the talking. Question: What’s the best way for you to find out what you’re prospect is concerned about? Be quiet and hear what he’s saying.
4. Keep showing your concern by continuing to let him talk. Try this: Carry a crisp $100 bill with you at all times. If you ever feel like finishing your prospect’s sentence for him, get your $100 bill and slowly tear it into little-bitty pieces. Destroying the money now will be much cheaper for you in the long run than finishing your prospect’s sentence.
5. Keep the prospect talking by asking lots of good questions. If you’re asking questions, you’re allowing your prospect to tell you what he truly cares about. You’re also finding out how he plans to buy. (You’re also not boring him by making him listen to stuff he doesn’t care about!)
6. Be sure you listen. Listening is more than just not talking. You listen by using all of your senses and your mental capacities to hear and understand what your prospect is saying. If the three most important factors in real estate are location, location, and location, then the three most important factors in sales are listen, listen, and listen.
7. Keep it simple. You probably don’t need a corporate brochure, fancy catalog, or even a PowerPoint presentation when you meet with your prospect for the first time. Your two ears, inquisitive mind, a pen, and maybe a few sheets of paper are all you need to help you discover your prospect’s concerns.
8. When it’s your turn to talk, talk only about something your prospect cares about. You may be impressed with the awards, testimonials, and industry recognition your products and company have received. Your prospect probably won’t be. Don’t even bring it up (unless he asks, “Would you please tell me about all the awards your company has received? While you’re at it, will you also show me all the press releases you’ve ever sent out?”).
9. Know the difference between a prospect and the man-on-the-street. A prospect isn’t a prospect until you have at least his name, address, phone number, and email address in a database of some sort. You’ll need this information so you can stay in touch:
• Stay in touch by contacting him often
• Stay in touch by contacting him efficiently
• Stay in touch by knowing when you need to contact him
• Stay in touch by keeping track of what you’ve promised, what he’s promised, and what’s next.
10. Set up a system so you will always know where you are in the sales process. Some sales can be made “on-the-spot.” Others may take a little more time. Still others may happen over and over. Map the steps of your selling cycle and make sure you know where each prospect is on that map. If you’re using a database (see #9), you’ll have a much easier time tracking your prospects through your system.
[I wrote this in 2006 to help a client encourage his salespeople to talk less (much, much less actually) and listen more. Writing it today, I would add something about FORGET YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH, but I'll tackle that one in a dedicated post. Seriously, when I have 30 seconds in an elevator with a stranger, I will not at all use it to talk about me. Heavens.]
