Sales Gorillas Carry The Biggest Sticks!
Sales Gorillas Carry The Biggest Sticks!
You see; the sales process is face-to-face. It is one-on-one communication at its best, efficient, succinct, and persuasive. It is the correct psychological sequencing and presentation of thoughts and ideas carrying with it, action-oriented impact. It is the ‘how’ of saying something, rather than the ‘what’ we say, and is the essence of building a bonded connection between two strangers meeting for the first time. For those companies and individuals mastering this art of persuasive communication, they become the ‘sales gorillas’ of the marketplace carrying the biggest sticks through a jungle filled with ever-increasing numbers of competent competitors!
Effective sales communication represents how we package ‘word symbols’ for painting the most seductive picture about our product or service. It is the process of using facts, figures, percentages, quantifiable testimonials, and relevant customer stories to help persuade, build credibility, and provide instant trust with those customers who stand before us.
Why is this important? Because, information that is most relevant are the only facts your customer will take away from the sales communication process. If we fail to impact with information that is important to them, then our sales efforts become no more than ‘dust in the wind.’ In short, the customer is selfish and wants only what is best for him or her. Understanding this important point is a most crucial aspect of good salesmanship, and something you must never forget.
However, when scrutinizing sales don’t be misled by the major misconception that a salesperson should do all the talking. Maybe in the ‘old days’, but not in today’s world with instant customer sophistication and broad knowledge gained through a few well-targeted keystrokes. Today, the sales process is one of interaction, of including the customer and respecting their opinions. More than ever before, customers are informed and want to be included as a part of their own decision-making process. This is not only a desire on their part, but is essential for quicker closings on the part of the salesperson.
Additionally, for building those lasting relationships great salespeople ask numerous questions in order to keep their customers actively involved in the sales process. They speak only 40% of the time, while listening 60% as a coveted rule of thumb. The rewards for this interactive course of communication are many, but those that really stand out are:
1. Quicker credibility
2. Instant and enhanced trust
3. Faster closings with less friction.
4. Higher referral rates
You may be asking what the best types of questions are for holding to this rule? Well, I like to call them, questions of preference. They are open-ended questions that ask: how, why, what, when, and where? They are not questions to be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, but questions that reach deeply into the customer’s gut and invoke feelings, rather than thinking. They are what the customer prefers over all other things! These types of questions move directly to the heart of a customer’s likes and dislikes. They help to quickly identify major objections, while providing stepping-stones for positive sales discourse as the sale process continues unfolding. And most of all, asking questions of preference shows you care about your customer’s desires and respect their views enough to include them in the sales process.
Let me ask you a relevant question. When was the last time a salesperson really cared about what you thought? Weren’t you impressed when they did? Wasn’t this the salesperson you wanted to help by referring others, by going back time and again to spend your hard-earned dollars with him/her? Well, you get the point. Being helpful, informative, and allowing your customer to become an integral part of the decision-making process, is salesmanship at its finest.
In summary, find what is most beneficial to your customers. What is it in your product and service that sets you apart, that will get a prospect’s juices flowing? How can you best communicate this by packaging word symbols so your presentation evokes the kind of information and emotion needed to easily close the sale? When you master these persuasive sales communication techniques, you will find yourself quickly becoming a ‘sales gorilla carrying the biggest stick in the jungle!’
About The Author:
Greg O. Bacon is the founder of MXMRQ® Corporation and Results Now!™ Business Growth Advisory Service helping business owners from $0 - $50 million annual sales to grow and increase their profit potential to its fullest. Information, examples, and consulting fees for your business can be found at: www.mxmrq.com. Permission to reprint this article is granted if full author credit and website reference is kept intact.
Sales Gorillas Carry The Biggest Sticks - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bacon's Website.
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To my way of thinking, marketing is the process of differentiation, getting qualified prospects to step forward and identify themselves, and for having customers choose your company and brand over all others. However, this is where marketing ends and the sales process begins.
You see; the sales process is face-to-face. It is one-on-one communication at its best, efficient, succinct, and persuasive. It is the correct psychological sequencing and presentation of thoughts and ideas carrying with it, action-oriented impact. It is the ‘how’ of saying something, rather than the ‘what’ we say, and is the essence of building a bonded connection between two strangers meeting for the first time. For those companies and individuals mastering this art of persuasive communication, they become the ‘sales gorillas’ of the marketplace carrying the biggest sticks through a jungle filled with ever-increasing numbers of competent competitors!
Effective sales communication represents how we package ‘word symbols’ for painting the most seductive picture about our product or service. It is the process of using facts, figures, percentages, quantifiable testimonials, and relevant customer stories to help persuade, build credibility, and provide instant trust with those customers who stand before us.
Why is this important? Because, information that is most relevant are the only facts your customer will take away from the sales communication process. If we fail to impact with information that is important to them, then our sales efforts become no more than ‘dust in the wind.’ In short, the customer is selfish and wants only what is best for him or her. Understanding this important point is a most crucial aspect of good salesmanship, and something you must never forget.
However, when scrutinizing sales don’t be misled by the major misconception that a salesperson should do all the talking. Maybe in the ‘old days’, but not in today’s world with instant customer sophistication and broad knowledge gained through a few well-targeted keystrokes. Today, the sales process is one of interaction, of including the customer and respecting their opinions. More than ever before, customers are informed and want to be included as a part of their own decision-making process. This is not only a desire on their part, but is essential for quicker closings on the part of the salesperson.
Additionally, for building those lasting relationships great salespeople ask numerous questions in order to keep their customers actively involved in the sales process. They speak only 40% of the time, while listening 60% as a coveted rule of thumb. The rewards for this interactive course of communication are many, but those that really stand out are:
1. Quicker credibility
2. Instant and enhanced trust
3. Faster closings with less friction.
4. Higher referral rates
You may be asking what the best types of questions are for holding to this rule? Well, I like to call them, questions of preference. They are open-ended questions that ask: how, why, what, when, and where? They are not questions to be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, but questions that reach deeply into the customer’s gut and invoke feelings, rather than thinking. They are what the customer prefers over all other things! These types of questions move directly to the heart of a customer’s likes and dislikes. They help to quickly identify major objections, while providing stepping-stones for positive sales discourse as the sale process continues unfolding. And most of all, asking questions of preference shows you care about your customer’s desires and respect their views enough to include them in the sales process.
Let me ask you a relevant question. When was the last time a salesperson really cared about what you thought? Weren’t you impressed when they did? Wasn’t this the salesperson you wanted to help by referring others, by going back time and again to spend your hard-earned dollars with him/her? Well, you get the point. Being helpful, informative, and allowing your customer to become an integral part of the decision-making process, is salesmanship at its finest.
In summary, find what is most beneficial to your customers. What is it in your product and service that sets you apart, that will get a prospect’s juices flowing? How can you best communicate this by packaging word symbols so your presentation evokes the kind of information and emotion needed to easily close the sale? When you master these persuasive sales communication techniques, you will find yourself quickly becoming a ‘sales gorilla carrying the biggest stick in the jungle!’
About The Author:
Greg O. Bacon is the founder of MXMRQ® Corporation and Results Now!™ Business Growth Advisory Service helping business owners from $0 - $50 million annual sales to grow and increase their profit potential to its fullest. Information, examples, and consulting fees for your business can be found at: www.mxmrq.com. Permission to reprint this article is granted if full author credit and website reference is kept intact.
Sales Gorillas Carry The Biggest Sticks - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bacon's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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