Attack Of The Sales Zombies

Lately I've been updating my computer system. Again. And this requires occasional trips to the local computer chain store. For the most part, I'm in and out in a few minutes, knowing exactly what I want and need. But when I'm looking for a more expensive piece of equipment, I have an experience I call, "Attack of the Sales Zombies'.

This is a pretty common experience which most likely we've all experienced: being confronted with a sales robot, someone unable to go it without a script or pitch, someone with no personality, asking the same questions or regurgitating the same thing over and over regardless of what you want.

If I'm in the market for something and a sales zombie comes up and starts with me, I either try to determine if it will be worth helping them out or where the closest exit is. On occasion, I will try to steer some of the ones with potential into an arrangement that will be mutually beneficial. I've found, sadly, that there are some sales people so dead set on doing it by the book that I just have to walk away.

Right off the bat, there are two fairly simple things a sales professional can do to begin to taste the potential success that awaits them when they begin understanding persuasion. The first is: create a rapport with your potential customer/client. Typical sales training, especially in retail sales such as the computer store where I go to buy supplies, suggests a brief 'how ya doing', surface type of greeting. This is not rapport.

Rapport is pausing briefly on how the prospect is doing, and then really getting to the heart of the matter . . ."So why are we here today?" Why are they in the store? "What will having that do for you?" What will the product or service you provide do for them? "Ultimately, what will having this do for you?" The key is to really listen. Don't push your agenda. Don't try to give them whatever it is you need to sell that particular day unless it will truly fulfill their needs.

If you're in real estate and you understand your potential client is selling their house move into bigger one because their family is growing, well, you're not going to sell them a smaller house, are you? No. You're not going to sell them a condo with one bedroom. You're going to keep their needs in mind, combined with their values and criteria and view the inventory that you have with these in mind. It seems obvious, doesn't it? And for higher end sales professionals, it is obvious. But for some, it's not.

The experiences I've had lately in retail have been so incredibly frustrating that I want to give sales trainings at the stores where I shop. So if you're ever in the Seattle-Tacoma area and find yourself receiving extraordinarily persuasive and helpful service at a huge computer store, you'll know why. . .

Article Source: http://www.fubrus.com

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.

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