Electric Heating Systems

In this latest post on "selling" guidelines, here are the first three of twelve great "rules" of good sales techniques for new products in tough times.

1 - People buy people
It is a truism: people buy people, not their products. You might be selling the first ever fountain of eternal youth. But unless you can connect with people on a personal level, you will never sell it. People connect in business using the same cues as they use to make friends. People trust their senses and can sniff bad vibes from a mile out. Never get tied-up bringing other people down or overselling the truth about yourself. Be gracious and courteous. Even if a sales bid work out poorly, write and thank people for the time they spent with you. (Did you know a "no" list is a great source of referrals?). Let the competition be competitive and pushy. Never ever knock them yourself. (They could be working harder for you than you - or they - realise!) People buy people. Work on the following "rules" for selling YOU. Don't keep looking over the garden fence at what the neighbours are doing!

2 - Sell you
People buy people. This means cultivating chemistry between yourself and other people. This is in itself a social skill, but consists of finding what common ground exists between you and another person. Some people can do this instinctively (a guy I knew had the knack of getting people to completely open-up to him within five minutes of meeting him. It was a gift. He did it through being very cheerful: having no axes to grind: finding common ground and then he'd suddenly throw in to the conversation a direct question - never quite on subject - directly related to you as an individual. It was an amazing technique. You just had to answer him honestly. He'd then side with you and move the conversation on until the next question. You never felt awkward or like he was probing. But it was an enormously effective information-gathering technique. And he got on with everybody. So become a people expert. Actually LIKE people. Be interested in them. Find your common ground

3) Ask questions
There is "asking questions" and "motivating people to give information". We're so wound-up in sales of "finding out peoples' needs and wants" yada, yada that we sometimes think it requires the Spanish Inquisition to determine these. Actually to get information, you often don't even need to ask questions.

The relevant technique in psychology is called "motivational interviewing". Its basic premise is that you get more "out" of someone (I know that's the wrong phrase, but you know what I mean) if you approach them on the back foot. You get less from people or get shown the door if your questioning sounds adversarial ("You do what?") or like you're playing "topper" ("You do that?"). Let's see these in action.

DON'T
Don't do what one software salesman once said to me back in my banking days as he looked over at the notes I was scribbling. He said something like "Ah! Note taking. You should do what I do and create a mind map. Would you like to know how?"
I said something like "No".


DO
Do "side with (then question)" someone. I bracket the "Then question" bit, because simply getting on side with someone often opens them up to offer you both the question and answer you;re looking for.

The thing is that rightly or wrongly, people vest a huge amount of themselves in the status quo - even if they know in their heart of hearts that things need to change. Don't ever knock the status quo. It is personal space.

So, for example using motivational interviewing you may well want to find out what sort of heating a prospect client currently has and find out its strengths.
"Yes, well, oil heating has been around a long time and it really does warm you up!" (You can actually leave this statement without tagging a question onto it. It is just begging for someone to open up to a "yes-but" sort of answer). But if you want to you could say "I wonder why people want to change?" or something like that - i.e. ask them what the issues are).

Other person: "Yes, it does work, but I'm beginning to wonder about the cost / environmental impact / etc".

You: "Yes. It is a bit expensive isn't it. I know some other people are worried about its health and environmental effects as well." (Again you can leave this open-ended - or add "Have you thought about cost savings from alternatives?" etc.) And you're off.