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How to Sell like Mike, Not Ike?

How to Sell More By NOT Being A Hurricane

Being in Texas we are all affected by Hurricane Ike. In Dallas we experience rain and wind that kept us inside most of Friday. Our thoughts are prayers are with those affected by this storm.

Are you or your sales team a hurricane or a gentle breeze? Do you rush in and show up and throw up? Do you think just because you show up people show do business with you?

If you have this mentality you have a long way in learning ‘real’ sales strategies.

Most beginning sales people, business owners and entrepreneurs have a skewed perception about how sales are to be conducted. They think just by showing up and doing a presentation a customer should do business with you. That’s not the case.

Most people hate sales people and they hate to be sold. They do however like consultants and want to do business with someone that will stick around a while. They don’t like hurricanes to stick around. Follow these simple rules and you’ll be in like cool gentle breeze, something people want to stick around.

1. Talk about solutions you offer to your clients. Don’t talk about how long you’ve been in business even if it’s been 100 years. They don’t care.
2. Talk about benefits of them using you over your competition. Something like, I’m here 24 hours a day, I’m here to help you become more successful; is much better than telling them you are better, faster and cheaper.
3. Follow up. Don’t just come in like Ike, blow through their office spouting what you can do (showing up and throwing up) and then leave.

You should plan for two things to happen before you enter a meeting and after.

1. What is the one thing I want to get out of this meeting? It’s not a sale…it’s about building relationships.
2. What is the one thing I want my client to get out of this meeting? What is the one thing I want them to remember when I leave?

After leaving your meeting you should ask yourself:

1. Did I accomplish my one thing I wanted to get out of the meeting?
2. Did I accomplish my one thing I wanted my client to remember about me?

In like a lamb, out like a lion is not the maxim of the day here. For most of us we want residual clients not a one time hit.

Be like Mike (your author), not like Ike.

Catchy title huh? I really do Rock. You really do suck; and yes I really am going to tell you why.

I started my Sunday morning with my typical ritual, getting up early, taking a fresh cup of coffee from my Keurig coffee machine and heading out to my patio to enjoy my cup ‘o’ Joe and a good cigar and my favorite reading materials, one of which is CIGAR MAGAZINE.

The night before I had stopped off at the cigar store and they had the latest ‘CIGAR MAGAZINE’. I don’t mean some cigar magazine; I mean my favorite cigar magazine aptly called CIGAR MAGAZINE.

There are a hundred reasons why CIGAR MAGAZINE (CM for short) is so much better than CIGAR AFICIONADO (CA for short). One, CM appeals to the average Joe, like me. CA appeals to the massively wealthy. You know, the people that can afford $12,000 bottles of Hennessy or $250,000 cars or $45 cigars. CM gives me stories about people like me, the business owner who rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars a year but still struggles to keep the lights on. Or the guy on the corner working at a $10 dollar an hour job but enjoys the weekly smoke at $5 a pop. That’s why CM’s market is growing and CA’s is shrinking. It appeals to the average person. Frankly, it rocks and CA sucks.

I do not own a $250,000 car. I still drive ole trusty, my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with is 154,000 miles, hanging headliner, it’s cracked vinyl dashboard and it smells like a cigar ashtray. The real reason I keep it is because it fits my butt. Frankly, it rocks. A new car is coming but it’s going to suck because the wife has stipulated no smoking in the new vehicle. The Jeep still rocks. Guess who’s keeping the Jeep for Saturday evening drives around the city?

I live in a modest home regardless of my huge winnings in business. I buy nice things but only because they last longer. I don’t buy useless things anymore, I buy things that will make me more successful, or healthier, or will make my life easier. I don’t buy just to buy but I do buy and I hate to be sold.

I was at the furniture store on Saturday. The sales guy rushed us at the door. That irritated me right away. He followed us around the store in fear his fellow sales people would steal his commission. He sucked. He sucked because he kept telling me about all his sale items. “Hey, look at this; this is $300.00 for this sofa.” Do I look like a guy that would buy a $300 sofa or a $2000.00 sofa? I’d prefer a $2000.00 sofa at the $300 price. But my mother in law, being an interior designer has taught us how to look for quality. You do that buy turning over the furniture and looking at the way it’s built. She says if you can take one leg off the floor and the other 3 stay on the floor, it sucks. This guy just sucked. Get a real tie.

I say all of this because I want you to ask yourself, “Do I rock or do I suck?”

Do you try to sell your customers and prospects or do you act like a consultant and find out what their needs are or do you sell them something they don’t need.

Do you spend time with them getting to know them, their wants, desires and needs? How will they use your product? What are the benefits of what you offer compared to your competitors? How will what you sell make their life easier, better, allow them to do things faster or make them look good?

The old adage selling is not telling is true. Especially in small business.

So how do you go from sucking to being a rock star to your prospects and clients?

1. Don’t sell. Ever. Start off by asking questions. Open ended questions are best. Like: ‘What is keeping you awake at night?” How do these products or services benefit you in the long run? If you could design the perfect __________ (who you are) how would that look to you?
2. Don’t’ sell on the first appointment. You haven’t earned my friendship or respect to do so. Find out about me. My likes and dislikes. Find out about my lifestyle and what problems I have.
3. Talk in a conversational tone. This is a relationship, not a sales call. (even though we do want to make a sale we do not want to sell…ever. Find our about your prospect. Ask questions then shut up and listen. God gave sales people one mouth and two ears…for a reason. Talk little, listen more.
4. At the end of your first appointment you should be asking, “What’s next?” “Where do you want to go from here?” And let them tell you. Do not set the appointment yourself, let them mention it. Then suggest you take their top 3 problems, go back to your office and come up with a solution for each problem and then come back and ‘discuss’ these solutions with your client. See, you are not selling you are offering solutions.

By taking the pressure of the sale off your client and yourself, you’ll be rocking, instead of sucking.

Your competition sucks. You rock. My competition sucks, I rock. Why? I’m not in the sales mentality but rather in a relationship building, consultants mentality.

I guarantee if you follow these simple rules for the first appointment you’ll close more deals with people that want to buy. And, you’ll rock your competition. They are probably still trying to sell. Sales people rarely get first appointments.

I don’t sell but merely be a friend and consultant to my prospects and clients. I offer suggestions and solutions. Sometimes I refer them to my competitors because I’m a consultant and that means making the right decision for my prospect not my pocket book.

If you are still selling, then you suck and I rock.