Salesmanship is the gentle art of letting the other guy have YOUR way.
These are the words of my grandfather. Sales is not about forcing someone to buy your product. It's about getting them to WANT it. It's about getting them to want your product RIGHT NOW.
Recently I was dealing with someone who wanted to sell me something. A big something. It really doesn't matter what it is. Selling is, well, selling.
When he was introducing his product, he said things like, "I've sold 4 of these in the last couple months, so I know this product really well." That was his whole tone. It was about him and his sales, not about me, and what I might want to get out of it.
When it got into the negotiation phase it became even more apparent that his goal was not to help me, or even to help his client (he's a broker), but it was to get his commission. Trust? None. He lost this sale.
For me, I want my client to be happy with what he buys from me. Nothing bad can come from that. He gets what he wants; I get what I want. Win-win. I also get referrals and a good word every now and then. I also get paid on time.
The sales system we created at Garden Concepts eventually came to be called The Ten Step Design Process. It's goal was to make the potential client a BUYER.
After all, people DO NOT LIKE TO BE SOLD TO. BUT THEY LOVE TO BUY!
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