Asking for the Sale... A Good Addiction to Have

Asking for the Sale…A Good Addiction to Have

Every successful entrepreneur or salesperson has an unquenchable addiction to asking for the sale.

Flailing and failing businesses are addicted to excuses like, “We cannot compete with XYZ Company’s marketing budget”, or “The economy is tough right now”.

Meanwhile, winning companies refuse to buy the excuses of the masses, and choose to invest their energy into selling themselves and their customers why right now is the best time to do business with them.

3 Reasons Why You May Not Be Addicted to Asking for Business:

1. You Play it Safe

Being a winner in business requires boldness and confidence. Confident companies like Zappos, Southwest Airlines, and Apple know who they are, and why they are better than their competitors.

To build your team’s boldness muscles, begin by asking each team member to write down three reasons why they are awesome, and why they feel your business or organization is awesome. It won’t turn your business into an overnight success, it begins to affirm a “buy in” belief within your organization.

They also understand the importance of a customer’s perspective. I wrote about perspective in in my interview with Tom O’Neal, Rock and Roll’s #1 Photographer.

2. You Blend In

While I am a fan of modeling successful businesses and practices that help you speed up your success learning curve; the last thing you want to do is to look and sound like every one of your competitors.

Camouflage by definition means that you blend in, therefore it is impossible to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Your customer’s minds are attracted to unique and fascinating things. If you don’t constantly innovate, communicate with, and remind your target market why you are the best choice for them, you are dying.

When we help our consulting clients create hyper-targeted marketing campaigns that produce outstanding results, they are always bold, usually humorous, and create a memorable impression… which leads to more business.

3. You Suck at Closing

I don’t know why so many salespeople are afraid of closing. It is no more or less important than listening to your customer, being knowledgeable about your product, or knowing how to describe the benefits of your product or service to customer. It is the point when you either move forward or move on.

The late Zig Ziglar said, “A salesperson who does not close is nothing more than a professional visitor.” There ain’t much money in just visiting!

When we secret shop banks, credit unions, or retail clients, our stats are startling.

-55% of people actively engage the prospect and conversation and ask about their needs and wants

-18% confidently articulate why their business could be a good fit for the prospect

-8.5% ask for the business (or upsell if appropriate)

The worst thing that can happen is that your prospect can tell you is “No”. They cannot shoot you and eat you. Sales Jedi, Grant Cardone, recommends that you respond to fear by taking action! The key to success in business is having an addiction to asking.

What ways to you feed your addiction to asking?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014 at 10:40 am and is filed under Sales Motivation and Strategy . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.