Mahan’s Secret Recipe for Sales Success

by Mahan Khalsa 3. December 2009 08:17
 
 




At 95/5, we constantly remind ourselves to focus on the essentials.  In that vein, here is what I would call the key essentials of this thing we call selling.
  • Concentrate on others’ success and not your own (if you make the client’s numbers improve, they’ll be happy to make your numbers improve.)
  • Let the client tell their story before you tell your story.
    • This won’t always happen.  Sometimes you’ll need to tell some of your story before the client will share theirs.
    • If they never tell their story, it’s a problem.
  • When the client tells their story, forget about fixing it and just understand it.
  • When the client tells their story, listen for the real pain or gain.  If you don’t hear any, say so.
  • Find out how the pain or gain manifests (evidence).
  • Find how big and how bad the pain is—and how big and how good the gain (impact).
  • Try to get the whole picture (context).
  • Find out what’s stopped the client from resolving this before now (constraints).
  • If you hear something that doesn’t make sense, say so—tactfully.
  • With the client, try to figure out how they could make a good decision in their own best interests.  If it doesn’t seem to make sense, say so—tactfully.
    • Present your story in terms of the client’s story.
    • When the client comes up with reasons your story doesn’t make sense, check your ego at the door.
    • Listen carefully to what the real disconnect is. It’s not always apparent to either you or the client.
  • Find out what a good resolution for the client would be, from their perspective.
    • If you can’t resolve the disconnect with the client’s thinking/feeling criteria, see if you can offer a different way of thinking that makes more sense.
  • If the client decides to work with you, do everything possible to make sure they get what they expected—or more.
  • If the client decides not to work with you, understand why.
  • And lastly, if the client doesn’t decide at all, work to establish a series of steps you could take together to allow them to say with confidence either “yes” or “no."

    • And remember—“no” is OK.

 

Currently rated 5.0 by 1 people

  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

Mahan Khalsa

E-mail | Kick it! | DZone it! | del.icio.us
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post RSSRSS comment feed

Comments

Add comment


(Will show your Gravatar icon)  

  Country flag

biuquote
  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading



copyright 2010 ninety five 5. all rights reserved. site created by mezzocode.

ninety five 5

Please join us weekly to gain insight on the latest ideas from our subject matter experts. 

  • Mahan Khalsa
  • Randy Illig
  • Craig Christensen
  • Deena Benner

RecentPosts