It Had Better Be You

(By Loyd Ford) We work in a “ready, FIRE, aim” business where sellers must know their products and services inside and out to remain agile. No matter who you are in leadership, please know that the more training and education sellers get, the better they will be armed to bring in the most revenue. They will be confident about what to do when opportunities present and seize the day.

However, that training and education should go way beyond product and service knowledge. Education should involve knowing about your prospect’s industry, customers, and environment before they become involved with you. You’ve heard it: Put yourself in their shoes.

The Fastest Kill Of A Sale

Consider that only talking about your product to a prospect can absolutely kill a sale. Your once potential client can be left wondering, “Why is this person talking so much about themselves?”

Ask yourself this question instead. “What does my potential customer want to know about their customers that they don’t know now?” I promise; they will be very interested in that.

The Basic Building Blocks That Create Win-Wins

The more you know about them, their struggles, and their opportunities, the more resourceful you can be in gaining access to their advertising budget.

Let’s look at the four (4) building blocks you can build a bigger sales empire around:

1. Welcome to the 21st Century: where everything is harder and easier than it has ever been. Harder because people have less time, patience, and attention and easier because you have the internet and social media to rapidly be able to learn a lot about someone’s business. You’ve got fast-developing A.I. Use the internet, social and A.I. to your advantage to figure out a compelling story in every interaction with them about their business, their customers, and their opportunity. Not only when you close a sale.
2. Do your research before you connect with a potential client. If you have in-house resources for research on their consumers, use them. If you don’t, create your own story around their customers, your listeners, and what people are saying online about their products and services and what the consumer wants. Every businessperson wants to hear what customers are saying about them. They will lean in if you have real information. Have real information.
3. Place a premium on listening to the client and paying close attention to what they worry about, what they really want, and what they feel has been frustrating for them. It may not be what they say on the surface that spells the truth. It isn’t just listening. It’s listening for opportunities with that person that offers you a key. Use that to open the door. They’ve seen salespeople. They’ve been let down. When you listen, you receive valuable information that will lead to relationship-building and opportunities to solve problems for them. And that will make you more welcome each time they see you.
4. Since we all deal in a world where people actually want to see fewer salespeople, don’t be one. Be someone who brings real value (for them) every time you interact with a potential client. When you do this consistently, you’re seen differently. You can literally become the go-to fix-it person for their marketing and more. 

Notice that each of the four (4) things above are focused on them and not you. This really isn’t about how much better you are than so and so. Keeping your focus on them is harder than you think. We’re all human. 

What do humans like to talk about? 

Themselves. 

What they are doing.  What they can offer. So much focus on Jack or Jill makes them BORING. Don’t be boring.

So many sellers want to show why “we” are better. We always tend to want to show that “we” have a solution sometimes even before we discover what their real problem is.

Every time you have an interaction with a potential client, one of you is more prepared. It had better be you. One of you is listening more to the other. It had better be you. And one of you understands that experiences matter. And you got it: It had better be you.

This is about being prepared, going deeper than other “sellers” and listening for and recognizing opportunities when they happen. It’s about keeping your focus where it should be: Them.

What will happen if you take two (2) weeks and do only what is on this page over and over again? Find out.

Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC). They help local radio with ratings and revenue. Reach him anytime at 864.448.4169 or [email protected]. Read Loyd’s Radio Ink archives here.