Inbound Sales Secret #1: Sort, Don't Sell
My good friend, Patrick McCluskey, who possesses exceptional sales skills, is a serial entrepreneur, and dispenser of wisdom, always says:
"I'm looking for the guy looking for me."
And...
"I sell elegant, million dollar solutions to million dollar problems."
Patrick understands
- the value he brings,
- the problems he can solve,
- the problems he can't solve
and that's what separates the professional salesperson from the rookies.
Amateur salespeople think everyone is a prospect.
Amateur salespeople think everyone needs what they are selling.
Amateur salespeople think "If I can just get 5 no's I'll get to that lucrative and elusive yes," and "objections are just the prospect's way of telling me they need more information."
Why try to get 5 no's to get one yes when you can use your brain and simply get 5 yeses?
Why spend hours or days or weeks in an effort to "overcome objections" one-on-one with prospects who may not be qualified or who may not know, like, and trust you when you can use your brain to prevent objections from ever coming up in the first place?
The old days of "Hi, How are you? I love your broach. If I can guarantee delivery this afternoon do we have ourselves a deal?"...are GONE!
The old school ABCs of selling—Always Be Closing—have been replaced with The Sales Whisperer® ABCDE Selling System:
- Attract
- Bond
- Convert
- Deliver
- Endear
Say Hello To The Recommendation Age
We have moved past the Information Age and are fully ensconced in The Recommendation Age.
There's Yelp, Angie's List, and Reddit.
Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter.
Don't forget Meerkat, Periscope, and Facebook Live.
Not to mention good ol' instant messaging via Text as well as on Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Google+, even YouTube.
They all enable communities to be built and members of that community to participate in a manner and to a degree and with a speed that was incomprehensible when Alec Baldwin was pushing the "ABCs of Selling" in "Glengarry Glen Ross" in 1992 or even on 10/23/09 when I first wrote this.
(Heck, Snapchat, Instagram, Periscope, Meerkat, Facebook Live didn't exist in 2009. Crazy.)
The days of PUSHING your sale are crashing to a halt.
Today, the spoils go to the salesperson and business owner that can PULL in the sale.
That is done by offering value.
By knowing whom you can help and speaking to their concerns so they become comfortable with you and then not only buy but RECOMMEND you to others.
Marketing Is Selling In Print
In past sales jobs, I got into heated debates with both sales and marketing departments who thought I was the one that had fallen off my rocker when I told them, "good marketing is just selling in print."
So what are you doing to sell in print?
What are you doing to attract prospects rather than attack them?
The sooner you learn the former you can stop selling, which will allow you to sort through your available prospects and then solve the problems you can and refer out those you can't.
You'll work less, make more money, earn more clients and their trust and their testimonials and referrals and bring about peace on earth, reverse global warming, solve the social security crisis, and probably regrow your hair as well.
So get started on your attracting and sorting.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.
