Sell yourself first, your benefits second and your price third.
People will always buy from people they like. The only exception to that is if the customer is desperate or what you’re “selling” is actually free. It isn’t hard to understand why people will buy from people they like. Yet, I’m amazed at the number of times the salesperson misses this crucial element, all in an effort to jump to the issue of price — just because the customer made some comment regarding the price. It’s better to sell yourself first.
The second most important item to convey is the benefit of what you are offering. Again, salespeople tend to give up on this because the customer asks about price. I’ve been a firm believer in the concept that trust equals sales. More accurately, trust equals profit. The best way to develop trust is for you, the salesperson, to sell yourself first.
Step back in your selling process and strive to find out two pieces of information regarding the customer before you begin discussing benefits. By challenging yourself to learn two pieces of information about the customer, it will help you begin to establish a level of confidence with the customer and thus allow you to be selling yourself.
When I talk about this with sales managers, one of the key things I tell them to look for in their salespeople is their level of sales motivation. The higher the level of sales motivation the salesperson has, the more comfortable they will be in selling themselves first. The lower the level of sales motivation, the more likely the salesperson will jump straight to the discussion on price. They will miss the crucial steps of selling themselves first.
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