One of the biggest mistakes poor salespeople make is that they sell to everyone the same way. These salespeople fail to take into consideration each buyer or prospect has very individual motives and/or reasons for buying what he does, when he does and how he does. One of the keys to effective selling is to sell the prospect the way he is comfortable buying, not the way you are comfortable selling. Let me explain further.
There are four major types of buyers: ones who want quick answers and the bottom line, those that want lots of details and information and accuracy, those that want to create a relationship with you and get to know you, and those that want to make buying a social event and want to have fun.
Each of these four types of buyers must be approached from their perspective or comfort zone. To give a ton of information on features and benefits to a prospect who wants only the bottom line will surely put you back on the street with a NO SALE. To expect a fast decision – expecting to waltz in, give your presentation and waltz out – with the relationship buyer will earn their contempt and lack of trust. The secret, and it really isn't a secret at all, is to have four – that's right, FOUR – distinct selling styles, vocabularies, approaches and presentations.
There is a key sales premise in my best selling book, Soft Sell, which is: your prospect will tell you what you need to tell them to sell them, but you must discover their buying style before you launch into your presentation. Not only must you present differently to the four, you must also close them, service them, negotiate with them and treat them uniquely.
In one of my recent seminars, one of the participants came up to me during a break after we had discussed this idea and said, "I do all of this naturally." I hate to tell you, but our tendency is to sell out of our own unique approach and not tailor our presentation to different buyer's styles.
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Tim Connor, CSP, is a professional speaker and expert in the fields of management, sales, team building, and customer service. He's the author of 19 books and can be reached at 704-895-1230, speaker@bellsouth.net or www.timconnor.com.
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