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Are you selling with ‘inspiration' or ‘desperation'?

Guest post by: Trent Leyshan

Article Overview: Let's be honest, we all get desperate from time-to-time in different ways. When times get tough we become more self-focused than normal. We have bills to pay and we need to stay afloat financially. This is the harsh reality, but make sure if you're in this state it's not permanent - or the negative effects will be.

Are you selling with ‘inspiration' or ‘desperation'?

Inspirational selling comes from a place of contribution. Desperation is selling from a place of contradiction.

Let's be honest, we all get desperate from time-to-time in different ways. When times get tough we become more self-focused than normal. We have bills to pay and we need to stay afloat financially. This is the harsh reality, but make sure if you're in this state it's not permanent - or the negative effects will be.

Selling with contradiction is when you sell a product or service without believing in it. What you say and believe is not congruent. In contradiction sales models the monetary exchange takes precedence over the value and benefits being created. Conversely, selling with inspiration means you dont need to sell, but the customer wants to buy. Why? Because your offer adds real value and benefits you and the customers understands. Therefore the line between you, your value and the customer's benefits are aligned. This makes the selling part relatively easy if you're talking with the right customers.

I'm not going to get on my moral-soap-box and proclaim - I've never been desperate in business - of course I have. In the early part of my sales career, I was desperate more times than I care to remember. There have been times in the past, if I didn't make a large sale on a particular day - I had to reduce costs and fire staff immediately as a consequence. Thankfully in most cases my powers of persuasion and poker face prevailed.

From personal experience - being desperate is not pleasant and it's an exhausting place to be in all the time. To achieve genuine long term success you need to sell with inspiration! If you can't get up every morning motivated, you're in real trouble because no one is going to do it for you. One of the biggest tests for any salesperson is how they perform under immense pressure -and if you're resilient and made of the right stuff you may even thrive in it. Many salespeople crack under pressure. They have a couple of poor months and get desperate. They start cutting corners and looking for the quick-wins. This is the beginning of the end. The quick wins seldom come, and never, ever, when you're desperate.

Do you know people do when they get desperate? They gamble, make poor decisions and take uncalculated risks hoping to get lucky. I'm here to say, dont bank on luck, ever! It's impossible to replicate. Desperate salespeople rely on luck and have no strategy, no passion and most certainly no interest in their customers best interest. How can they while focused on their own survival and self preservation? Desperate salespeople simply sell to get paid.

Salespeople are desperate because their financial survival hinges on winning business and making sales. And every month the scorecard goes back to zero and they have to climb the sales mountain once again. Anyone who has scaled to the top of the mountain knows how gruelling it is. Which means, more often than not, the next month is spent convalescing - this then creates lumpy sales curves: one month is great sales, the next is poor and so on. Is it any wonder so many salespeople burn-out or suffer mental and emotional fatigue conducting their business in this manner?

If you're success relies on selling - you must become what I call a ‘sales athlete!' To be the best of the best in sales you need to take an approach akin to any professional sportsperson. Elite athletes are dedicated to their craft. They are passionate, determined and disciplined in their approach and they have a strategy and process - both of which are refined and developed on an on-going basis. They have benchmarks, goals, and targets. And in highly competitive sports they spend significant time collaborating with team members and studying competitors to develop their game theory and relevant tactics. And very rarely will an elite athlete not love their sport -most only quit or retire when they stop enjoying it.

Now compare all the above characteristics to the average salesperson and you soon understand why most are desperate and ineffective. There is a proverbial chasm between ‘sales athletes' and all-so-ran salespeople's behaviours and habits. Sales athletes compete at a small fraction of their time and then rest, refine and develop skills. On the contrary most salespeople compete 48+ weeks of the year and conduct little, if any, time in reflection, refinement and skill development.

Sales Tips to sell with inspiration instead of desperation:

• Become a ‘sales athlete'

• Compete less and spend more time refining and developing skills

• Take regular breaks to rest, recover and rejuvenate

• Understand your competitive forces and develop appropriate game theory and tactics

• Dont bank on luck - have a process and stick to it

•

•

• Do the exact opposite of what the most are doing in your industry. Give customers a choice - either the ‘same' or you. Get your sales team together and collaboratively craft your company's Unique Selling Proposition. You must have something that differentiates you in some way from everyone else in your space. And this point of different must add significant value to your customers.

Step 2: Understand that ‘buying' means buying-in and contributing to your customers by taking a genuine interest in them and their best interests. Move from a ‘self-focused' state (all about me and what I do) - to a ‘selfless' state (all about others and how I can help them).

Remember never lead with the sell, always take the time to understand your customers and what really driving their needs and desires.

Step 3: Rethink your ‘value proposition', and redefine what you do and how you contribute with real value and benefits.

Step 4: Get out into your market place and buy the pants of your competitors!

Business is tough sometimes and competition is as fierce. Today with more people selling (than ever!) the challenge for businesses is coming-up with unique and compelling ways to outsell their competition. But let me stop you right here! Dont make the same mistake - instead create new and interesting ways that enable your salespeople to buy more!

Sellers are a dime a dozen. On every street corner we see brands on billboards adorned with friendly images and pithy strap lines. Turn on your TV and there are more ads selling you things you don't need or want. Pick up the phone and more often than not it's another selfish stranger trying to sell you something. It's all the same, because no one is prepared to change.

In the heady pursuit of success, the fatal mistake many salespeople make is they sell and self-promote all the time, not leaving much time or opportunity for the customer to buy. What this does - much like TV ads that are in your face so much - is it trains people to switch off. People love buying, but hate being sold! So don't ruin it for them, give customers the opportunity to buy-in before you rip into your sales spiel and tell them how good you are and why they should buy from you.

Sales Tips to sell with inspiration instead of desperation:

Step 1: Do the exact opposite of what the most are doing in your industry. Give customers a choice - either the ‘same' or you. Get your sales team together and collaboratively craft your company's Unique Selling Proposition. You must have something that differentiates you in some way from everyone else in your space. And this point of different must add significant value to your customers.

Step 2: Understand that ‘buying' means buying-in and contributing to your customers by taking a genuine interest in them and their best interests. Move from a ‘self-focused' state (all about me and what I do) - to a ‘selfless' state (all about others and how I can help them).

Remember never lead with the sell, always take the time to understand your customers and what really driving their needs and desires.

Step 3: Rethink your ‘value proposition', and redefine what you do and how you contribute with real value and benefits.

Step 4: Get out into your market place and buy the pants of your competitors!

Related Articles
  How to Use Inspiration or Desperation to Sell More
  The difference between selling with 'desperation' and 'inspiration'?
  What Exactly Are You Selling?
  Finding Inspiration
  Why Leaders Need to Read the News
  When You Receive Inspiration, ACT
  Stop Selling Now!
  Inspired Women Entrepreneurs Achieve Success
  Art Of Selling
  What To Do When You're Lacking Inspiration
  Are You SUFFERING From This Rainy Day Sales Mistake
  The Time for Action is Every Day
  The Difference Between Moving Bolts and Moving People
  What Are You Harvesting?
  Inspiration Is The Foundation For Motivation
  Successful Entrepreneurs Stay Inspired
  Three Places To Look For Inspiration
  Six Ways to Lead Your Sales Team Through Tough Times
  There's A Reason Holidays Are For Kids
  Aspiring Best selling Authors - Distractions Can Hamper You

Article Tags: Sales Training



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