If you want to close more sales, there is one sale you must make before most of your prospects will buy.
You need to sell yourself.
Your customers are more interested in YOU than in what you’re selling.
To make more sales, concentrate on selling yourself.
Sure, your product or service has to be a fit with their needs.
But many potential customers want to feel comfortable “buying” the person behind the sales.
Make no mistake. If they don’t like you, they won’t trust you. And if they don’t trust you, they won’t feel compelled to buy from you.
Here are 3 things you can do that will boost your “likeability” factor and put yourself in position to close more sales.
1. Simply be yourself.
We’ve all met people who are trying to be someone they aren’t. And what happens? Everyone starts to feel uncomfortable. You need to be yourself.
That will put you in the best position to help your potential customer. When you’re yourself, it’s natural. You are who you are.
Customers want to buy from people who don’t play games, who aren’t arrogant and whose company they enjoy.
Of course, being yourself doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful not to offend someone. That isn’t acceptable in ANY situation never mind a selling environment.
When you’re relaxed, so is your customer. There’s no tension.
When you believe in your profession, believe in what you sell and are honestly interested in finding a mutually beneficial solution, your customer will see the real YOU and one of the major barriers to making a sale will disappear.
2. Be a listener.
Although it’s important that youknow know how to communicate well, there is one skill that will do more to increase your likeability that anything else.
And that is the ability to listen.
You’ll often hear someone remark that, ‘so a so is a natural salesperson, he has the gift of the gab.’
Frankly, a salesperson who knows how to listen will likely be far more successful that the smooth talker and the reason is simple.
No prospect or customer likes someone who talks a lot. But they DO like people who will listen. This is critical in the selling profession.
If you’re the only one doing any talking, your customer will find you boring and probably think that you are inept, without even giving any serious consideration to your product or service.
Make it a point to listen twice as much as you talk.
3. Use laughter to diffuse anxiety.
Never forget the power of a sense of humour. Especially if it’s a big part of who you are.
That’s not to say you use it at every turn. You don’t need to try and be a comedian or tell jokes non-stop. But it’s important to understand that laughter breaks down barriers and helps your customers feel at ease.
It can be particularly powerful to laugh at yourself and not take things so seriously. Use your own judgment. Your ultimate goal is to create a bond so that both of you become more relaxed.
Although just being yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin is easy to say, it’s worth spending the time to practice it if it doesn’t come to you naturally.
Your customers are really buying YOU and that’s what you should always be selling.
