Habits are nothing more than actions repeated with little thought.  Habits can be very beneficial when they are the right habits.  I think when most of us think of habits our thoughts automatically focus on bad habits rather than good habits.

It never hurts to give yourself a little check-up to see how your habits are serving you.  Give yourself one point for each of these habits.  Be honest…

• I get too busy and don’t have time to prospect on a daily basis
• When I’m talking to a prospect I’m thinking about what I’ll say next
• I complete my prospect’s thoughts when they seem to have trouble thinking of something
• I interrupt or talk over my prospect when I have something important to say
• I do most of the talking
• I tell my prospect all about my offer in detail
• When the prospect objects I explain why their objection is not valid
• I like to mix things up rather than staying focused
• I work best shooting from the hip rather than from well thought out plans
• I like to ask lots of general questions when I meet with a prospect

How many points did you earn?  All of the habits listed above are poor sales habits that really hurt your ability to accomplish your goals.  If you gave yourself 8-10 points you need immediate help.  3-7 eliminating these habits would have a dramatic impact on your success.  1-3 overcoming these habits would make things a whole lot smoother.

Now review this list and give yourself 1 point for each of these habits…

• I pay close attention to both the verbal and non-verbal cues from the prospect and adapt accordingly
• I consistently prospect every day
• I try to talk very little and listen very closely
• When I ask questions I ask with the intent of understanding what they prospect wants and needs
• My voice projects calm confidence when I speak
• I only talk about things I already know are important to the prospect because they’ve told me
• When the prospect is speaking I’m listening to figure out what’s important, what would help, what would be useful
• I explore objections with the prospect
• I help the prospect preview outcomes
• I spend time developing solid plans and then take actions daily to implement those plans

How many points did you earn from this list of habits?  Obviously, this list represents good sales habits.  If you gave yourself 8-10 points you have very good habits and you are doing very well.  3-7 you have a good foundation and a few additional good habits would really help.  1-2 you would benefit tremendously from more good sales habits.

Whether you liked your score or not pick one habit you would either like to have or remove, and make a focused effort to work on that one habit for the next 30 days.  Repeat the action until it becomes automatic because that’s what makes it a habit.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

In the last post we talked about attitudes.  I pointed out that rather than trying to change your attitudes, which are simply the way you look at things based on your values, you are better served accepting your attitudes and using those attitudes to motivate the actions that produce results.  There is nothing wrong with you, or the way you think.  You are uniquely positioned to fulfill your dreams.

There are four core aspects involved in your ability to sell.  Attitudes is one of those aspects.  The other aspects include: knowledge, skills, and habits.

Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, Habits

Most people think knowledge is the most important when it comes to sales.  Knowledge involves both knowing your product or service, and knowing what to do to produce the sales results you want.  Far too many people waste precious time and miss tremendous opportunities because they think they have to know every gory detail about their product or service.

You could sell all the products and services you want knowing little more than a bare minimum about the details of your product or service.  This is true because your prospects don’t care what your product or service is.  Your prospects only care about what your product or service does that’s important to them.

“Knowing” what to do to sell couldn’t be simpler.  All you have to do to sell your product or service is:

• get in front of people interested in what you can do for them
• set appointments with those people
• help those people make a good buying decision
• maintain your relationship
•  earn referrals

There are literally thousands of books on selling.  You could pick any one and “know” what you need to know to sell, for the most part.  However; there’s a BIG difference between knowing what to do, and knowing “how” to do it.

Skill > Knowledge

That’s why skill is much more important that knowledge.  Skill is knowing how to do what you know you need to do.  Skill is where the disconnect happens.

Most people find it very difficult to read, hear, or watch someone else doing what they know they need to do, and then TRANSLATING that knowledge into their own skill set.  Skill involves:

• taking a concept and applying that concept specifically to your needs
• adapting words and actions to fit with your attitudes
• confidence gained through successful repetition

In sports there are lots of players who know the rules, know how the game is played, and know what they are supposed to do.  Most players never get beyond an average skill level when it comes to implementing their knowledge of the sport.  The very best players develop superior skills not because they have greater knowledge.

The very best players develop superior skills because they work closely with a coach who is able to help them achieve greater skill levels than they ever could on their own.   The coach sees the players blind spots, they help the player build on their strengths and work around their weaknesses.  The coach serves as their rapid translator and skill refiner.  Players who work individually with a coach develop superior skills faster than those who don’t.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself 

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

Before you can answer that question you would have to know what that skill is.  I’ll get to that in a moment.  First, I want to talk about a common deadly mistake made by people trying to sell their products and services every day.  Especially people who previously sold a low cost product.

I Already Know How to Sell

Unfortunately, many people who start a business who have experience selling low ticket products believe they have an unfair advantage because they already know how to sell.  Yes, you know how to sell that product yet if you are now selling a service or a high ticket product the knowledge that led to your success will lead to your failure now.

There’s a big difference between selling a service and selling any type of product.  Plus there’s a big difference between selling a low cost product and an expensive product.  Product sales are transactional and experiential whereas high ticket product and service sales are relational and emotional.

Features Do Not Create Value

Product knowledge can play a significant role in product sales because the customer has a mental checklist of features they want, and features they don’t want.  The product with the most relevant checks on the customers mental checklist is likely to gain the sale.  The only thing standing in the way is cost comparison.

Compared Cost is NOT the Same Thing as Perceived Value

When you are selling a product and you can rattle off features like a machine gun it can work for you because you are rapidly hitting and missing the prospects buying buttons.  When you try the same approach selling a service or higher value product you make a deadly mistake that works to your disadvantage and costs you the sale.  The more feature bullets you fire the less interested the buyer gets, and the more likely you are to lose the sale.

Prospects are very familiar with what a product is supposed to do before they ever decide to buy one.  They know that some versions of a particular product do more things they want while others do less.  Typically the prospect has experienced the product either through a previous purchase or through someone they know having one.

High ticket products and services have far more “features” than a prospect ever wants to know about.  Most of the possible features don’t add value they only add confusion, and confusion leads to “no sale”.   The potential buyer cares far less about how they get what they want than about simply getting what they want.

The single most important skill in sales is the ability to help a prospect uncover and imagine the perceived value of ownership.

As the cost of ownership rises so does the prospect’s uncertainty.  Uncertainty is reduced and perceived value is increased when you help the potential buyer discover:

• How your offer produces or eliminates exactly what they are looking for
• How much faster, easier, etc. this will make things
• How the value of getting what they want is far less than the required investment

These discoveries must be made by the potential buyer with your help.  They must say these things in their words not hear them in yours.  You must help them feel their current frustration along with the feelings of removing it.

I’ve always said you would do far better knowing next to nothing about the product or service you are selling if you’d just meet with people and get to the heart of what they really want.  Once you know that, then and only then, can you develop a plan to help them get that and have them eager to hear it.

Sometimes, like in this case, the damage is in the details and the gold is in the heart.

Coach Cheryl

The objective of marketing is to develop relationships.  The relationships you develop give you the opportunity to hold open honest conversations.  Through those conversations you get to the truth.

The truth about what the other person is looking for, what they want, how they see themselves getting that, etc.

One of the most important concepts to understand when it comes to selling is what selling is really about.  Selling is about making connections.  Your goal is to help the other person make a connection between what they are already willing to pay to get and your ability to help them get that better than their other options.

Now here’s the secret sauce for making sales connections happen… the COMMON ENEMY.  The common enemy triggers powerful emotion along with the desire to act.  You can’t close a sale without emotion and a strong desire to act NOW.

So how do you find this common enemy?  Through the open and honest conversations you hold.

Plus you can look to the world around you and pinpoint common enemies.  Right now a common enemy impacting the decision process for nearly every potential buyer is FEAR.  Your potential buyers fear…

• Getting something they don’t want
• Not getting something they do want
• Feeling powerless
• Financial uncertainty
• FAILURE

To mention just a few of the common fears holding your potential buyers back and preventing them from acting now.

SO… once you understand and tap into this common enemy and how it impacts your potential buyers…

and THEN make a connection to your stuff…

AND THEN demonstrate how you are on their side and want to work with them to TRAMPLE this common enemy…

Your sales will increase.  There’s no way around it.  You are immediately empowered to help your potential buyers get exactly what they want the way they want it.

Chaaaachinggggg!

photo credit: jet200nyc