Selling Smarter 1

I am scheduled to speak at an entrepreneur's conference in Galway next week and the subject is about Selling Smarter - 6 Keys to Maximising Your Sales Results. Over the next few posts I want to briefly cover what each of these keys are.

The first key covers what selling really is and what we actually sell. No matter where I go in the world no matter what kind of sales audience I am working with - when I ask what is it that they sell, the answers vary between 'myself' to 'solutions' to 'benefits' and so forth. Standard enough responses.

However the real key to understanding what we sell is when we realise that before we offer any of the above - we sell 'good feeling'. We sell a positive feeling that reduces the 'threat level' that new prospects might feel when they meet us for the first time and stimulates the emotions of acceptance and trust.

Dale Carnegie, the great sales trainer, always said that 'human beings are creatures of emotion not of logic'. When we reflect on that and understand that most decisions are emotionally-based - including decisions on price - then we realise that by managing the emotional dynamics of the sale we manage the decisions being made in that meeting.

A large part of the ability to manage those emotions comes from the ability to Connect, Involve and Engage. These skills will be covered more in the new audio CD series R'evolutionary Selling which will be released in May.