Sales are the lifeblood of any business, as it is ultimately profitable sales that put the money in the bank. Many business owners stereotypically think that in order to bring in the sales, they must train themselves/staff to be pushy salesmen, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Sales expert Richard White explains the principles of soft selling and how tactics such as story telling can help build long lasting and profitable relationships. Most people would tend to agree that ‘People do business with people they know, like, and trust’. If that is true then if we want to increase the amount of business we do from each customer then we should be working on becoming more known, more liked, and more trusted.
The most important of these three elements and where the more aggressive style of selling fails miserably is on the trust element. Unfortunately, many pushy salespeople who have failed to close the deal did not succeed because the customer naturally assumed that the sales person was only interested in their money! Soft Selling on the other hand is about being more effective at building long-term profitable relationships based on trust and a win-win relationship.
Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that pushy does not work. In certain circumstances it clearly does. What I am saying is that it is not necessary and in fact, if you are looking for and easier way to sell and for customers that spend more and more each year then you need an approach conducive to both trusted relationships and sales results. Soft Selling, when done correctly, is such an approach.
Soft Selling does not, however, mean ‘No Selling!’ Far from it. Soft Selling should still be very results focused - just not pushy. The approach helps to reduce the resistance in the sales cycle caused by the prospect ‘keeping their cards close to their chest’.
There is no reason why short-term sales results should suffer. It’s the long-term sales results, though, where the difference is significant. The way you conduct the relationship in the early days has a big impact on trust levels. First impressions last and it is much better to get the relationship off to a good start.
The following are just a sample of the many Soft Selling tactics can help to accelerate both sales and trusted relationships:
Selling Stories
Stories are a fundamental part of relationships. When people meet a typical question is ‘How’s it going?’ or ‘How are you?’ and this is an invitation to share an anecdote about what the person has been doing recently. Anecdotes are stories. The act of trading anecdotes helps to build and sustain relationship. That means that our prospects stories are just as important as our own and listening is an equally valuable skill here too! A great way to get a prospect to talk about a problem is to ask them ‘what’s the story?’
When trading stories we have the opportunity to talk about what we have been doing recently. This is an ideal opportunity to share anecdotes about other clients and the problems we solved for them. It’s like a very short and informal verbal case study.
Telling such stories is like sowing seeds. If the client does not have the problem then it’s just a story. If they do have the problem they will normally comment on it and start a conversation about it. People remember stories much more than they do cold sales pitches and sometimes a customer may come back later when they encounter the same problem.
With story telling, authenticity is key. Such stories need to be casual and unrehearsed to be effective. The formula is very simple and can be mastered in a couple of hours. Knowing which stories to tell to generate leads is a bit of an art form and is more about anticipating the specific problems your target audience are likely to be having.
Getting Introduced
Imagine someone was to call you out of the blue asking for a meeting. The chances are you might be a little busy or sceptical. Even if you were to agree to meet, there is a good chance that things would be quite formal. Now imagine someone whose opinion you value calls you and recommends you meet someone. The chances are you would at least speak to the person. The whole experience would be different. Getting introduced speeds up relationships, which is why top sales people are always looking for referrals.
As well as getting introduced by referrals from existing customers, another important source of introductions are from advocates. These will be people who have a trusted relationship with your target customers.
For example, lets say you are in the business of installing tennis courts. You may get referrals from clients but, if you work at the relationships, you may also get referrals from tennis coaches who may never buy one of your products.
The process of developing a relationship with such advocates is very similar to developing a relationship with customers. It takes effort but it is worth it. Stories about recent projects are great to build credibility and help the other person think about who they should be recommending you too.
Start small and grow
Breaking into larger organisations can be difficult and very competitive. It is much easier to win a small, low risk sale and then pro-actively develop the relationship and the sales from there. Smaller opportunities are less likely to attract competition from the big names. Once you are tried, tested, and trusted then you stand a much better chance against more formidable competition. Ideally the first sale will be an unresolved problem area overlooked by competitors.
A pro-active approach
To be successful using Soft Selling requires a pro-active approach to both relationship development and selling. You do not reduce the activity levels; you just focus on different activities. Soft Selling is not for everyone, but if being a pushy and manipulative is a turn off then there is another way!
About the author
Richard White is a renowned sales expert managing director of business development consultancy Pro-Excellence and founder of TheAccidentalSalesman.com. Richard specialises in working with reluctant sales people, non-sales staff and business owners who find themselves having to sell as part of their job. For more information visit www.theaccidentalsalesman.com.
by: www.bytestart.co.uk
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