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What's the difference between telling and selling?

Guest post by: Trent Leyshan

Article Overview: Telling fails to provide your customer with an opportunity to buy-in to the conversation. Moreover, the salesperson hasn't taken the time to acknowledge who the customer really is and what they need or really want, if anything at all. In essence, the salesperson is only communicating to the customer's stated need, which is usually the tip of the iceberg.

What's the difference between telling and selling?

Telling is not selling, because the conversation only flows one way - from your lips into the other person's ears and out the other.

Telling fails to provide your customer with an opportunity to buy-in to the conversation. Moreover, the salesperson hasn't taken the time to acknowledge who the customer really is and what they need or really want, if anything at all. In essence, the salesperson is only communicating to the customer's stated need, which is usually the tip of the iceberg.

You will never see who they really are until the customer trusts who you are.

In the early stages of your relationship the customers doesn't possess enough confidence in you to reveal too much about who they really are, so it's up to you to help them. This is best achieved by engaging the customer in meaningful conversations and making what's important to them important to you.

A ‘telling' conversation is about you, not the customer. It's about what you want - to sell something and get paid. The customer is the means to your end.

Have you ever been out for coffee with someone you just met and all they did was talk about them the entire time? How did this person make you feel? Were you excited to meet with them again? I bet you left the exchange feeling somewhat drained of energy and totally disinterested in this person. Salespeople, like acquaintances, are much the same.

Every customer has three simple words blazoned on their forehead: I AM IMPORTANT!

Selling should always be about first seeking to understand and then to be understood. It's also the art of exploring and understanding what's beneath the surface and really driving the customer's needs or desires.

Understanding what's most important to your customers is not as hard as you may first think. It's simply a matter of asking them. But you must then try to hear and feel what they're really saying. Ask questions and genuinely listen to your customer's response, before hijacking the conversation and launching into your sales spiel! Pause before you respond and actually think about your response before pulling the cord and ripping into telling them what you think they need.

When you believe in yourself you don't need to boast about how good or big you are. You don't really have anything to prove - it's there for all to see. So shut up and listen to your customers! Make them feel important.

You will be amazed at what you will learn from them and where it will take both of you.

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Article Tags: sales training



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Re: Who/what inspired you? - I always wanted my own business, without someone telling me what to do, but never took the step, because I didn't know which business to own. A friend kept pushing me and telling me that owning my own biz will be the answer to a free spirit like me. After a lot of pushing I started searching and learning, but the costs were too high. Then came the online business opportunity, again offered to me by another friend, and he introduced me to internet marketing and the rest is history. The main thing for me was the ability to run a business without selling it directly to people (no phone calls, not standing and pushing products).
Re: How do you overcome the fear of rejection while selling? - Great video Evan, I have not worked in direct sales in the none Internet world, always in the service sector but many years back I worked as service manager for a national brewer here in the UK and the sales manager was fond of telling all his team that they should get used to rejection, it is part of sales. My own take on this has always been that some will, some won't, so what, move on !!. I find this is very true with Internet Marketing and I never take any rejection personally as it is not me that customers are rejecting but what I am selling or the way that I am selling it and both of these things can be improved, regards, Mal.
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hi GT Thank you for this information. I am sure that watching the video gives one a lot more focus than the review, but you have done a great job nevertheless in explaining that there is actually a difference between marketing and selling. I think that sometimes the lines become blurred between the two. MichelleJ


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