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How to Get Prospects to Sell You


No matter what anyone says, I don’t believe salespeople go into business so they can act desperate.

It’s true, if you think about it – most people in sales are there to do the right thing. Earn a living, provide for their family, secure their future. It’s not like they wake up thinking, “How will I intimidate someone into buying from me today?”

Now, I get it. We want to start selling, lickety-split. It’d be nice to start closing sales on Day One. Especially if you’re not out to hurt anyone. It’s time that can mess with our heads. The clock is ticking, and good time management is usually part of winning in sales. Think end of the month deadlines, life cycle of leads, and so forth.

I hate to be the one to tell you, but sales operates like marketing and follow-up. Many people need to hear things a good eight to twelve times before magic happens. If you let anxiety or impatience get the better of you, good intentions won’t matter. You need to send a sincere, patient message to your audience. Over and over.

Being in a hurry to sell sabotages your approach. Prospects want a calm, confident professional. Instead, they get a desperate, pushy salesperson. This is because the majority of communication is nonverbal. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can adjust to send the right signals.


Heart for Sale

Our intentions and motives come from deep within. They’re based on what we believe. That’s common sense, right?

But as we know our intentions affect our actions. You’d think most people would connect them together. But common sense … isn’t all that common.

What’s interesting is salespeople notice this easily when they’re buying from another professional. But as soon as they get back in the seller’s chair… they forget all about it.

What difference would it make if you showed up differently? How would it look? You’d walk into a meeting where the only outcome that matters is serving the other person. Educating them. Solving their problems. Taking their side, instead of trying to push through their defenses.

It would send out vibes that the prospect could sense. They’d know just from the tone of your voice and the gleam in your eye. This changes everything.

Intention - Bill Caskey


The Lows and the Highs

There are people who only care about meeting a quota so they can earn commission. Do you think prospects can smell that? Of course. These are what I call “low-intent salespeople.”

They sell only for themselves. They don’t really care about the prospect. It’s a surprise if they even ask questions about the problem. They’re usually in a rush to get signatures.

High-intent salespeople, meanwhile, are in it for everyone. Of course, they want to succeed, but not at the expense of serving the customer.

High-intent salespeople also maintain healthy concern for their company. They regard sales calls as “interviews” to see if accepting the client solves problems for their firm.

High-intent salespeople also maintain healthy concern for their company. They regard sales calls as “interviews” to see if accepting the client solves problems for their firm. Click To Tweet

The Best Intent = The Best Result

In most sales training, “results” usually means “more money for us.” Let’s flip the switch a little on this, to include process, focus and role reversal.


1. Process

The first thing high-intent selling changes is the overall experience of buying. It begins with marketing. On social media, blogs or anywhere else, are you generous with what you know? Can prospects take a few steps in the right direction, before you need money?

What about your funnel? Do you switch from soft marketing to a hard sell, or do you make time to give comfort to your prospect? Your first call should include a second dose of free knowledge they can use. The conversation should allow them to “brush up against you” and get a feel for you as someone they trust.

To close with high-intent, you need to be even more careful. Every call can have a blind corner or “misread signal” for the seller. How do you handle objections? Can you play with resistance, without being offensive? Can you reflect back to the prospect gently, applying pressure when it’s called for?

The salesperson who masters these subtleties of persuasion is a true champion. These are the ones clients later write to say, “Thank you for giving me the push I needed.”

 

2. Focus

If you’ve never watched a skilled journalist, you might want to pay attention to how they work. Celebrities give interviews to Barbara Walters, Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey because they know they’ll be led into deep conversations – with millions of people watching.

Unlike salespeople, journalists don’t want money from guests. They want something far more important to the prospect … their story! Their background, pains, sorrows, hopes and aspirations. Don’t you think your prospects have stories? What if you’re competing for a piece of business their current vendor is neglecting? In your sales strategy, learn to think like a journalist.

A Word About Detachment

I recommend detachment as part of high-intent selling. But some people hear that and think it means, “Be passive.” Nope. Not at all.

The best definition for detachment is never being more interested in making the sale than the customer is in solving their problems. You are mindful of their pain, but you insist on remaining helpful rather than coercive.

It’s hard to frighten a salesperson who displays calmness, whether or not they actually make a sale. With high-intent selling, you remove pride from the equation and become preoccupied with serving the needs of the person in front of you..

Benevolent detachment sends a message to people: You are totally unafraid of them saying “No.” And that is exceedingly rare among salespeople.

 

3. Role Reversal

High-intent sellers usually end up being “sold” by their prospects. They radiate confidence and plenty of curiosity. They could be mistaken for “The Most Interesting Man (or Woman) in the World.” People insist on doing business, just because they find you interesting.

Some global companies “brand” with their audiences well. High-intent selling is a form of branding, graphic design and flashy logos or not. What people get from it is a feeling. If your prospects feel the difference, they need less persuading than normal.

Take it from me, you want to know what this feels like. The kind of sales conversations you’ll have will make it all worthwhile.

I don’t know if you’re intrigued with this. If you are, I invite you to my website to learn more about The 2X Group. It’s a mastermind we’ve created for sales professionals to help them do exactly what I’ve laid out in this article.

Click here to learn more about The 2X Group. 

 

 

Selling System VS. Philosophy

On this episode of The 2X Podcast, I jump into having a selling system vs. having a sales philosophy. I discuss 5 Elements of a sales methodology and then give you a philosophic approach you can bring to that element.

Sandler, SPIN, Challenger, it doesn’t matter what selling methodology you go by, they all have their own flaws. While it’s great to have a system on how to usher your prospect through the sales process, I want to give you a substitute attitude and approach.

If you like this episode, be sure to share your comments on Twitter with the #2Xlessons

Also mentioned in this podcast:

Can Your Perspective Change Your Life?

The #1 reason people reach out to me is because they are struggling with business development, prospecting, lead generation, whatever you’d like to call it they are struggling to get new leads. The reason they are not successful is because they have a faulty perspective.

On this episode of The 2X Podcast, I’ll give you a framework for you to change your perspective on what it means to generate a lead. All of the Top Performers in the sales world have mastered this and you can too.

If you can master this you can go anywhere!

If you like this episode, be sure to share your comments on Twitter with the #2Xlessons

Also mentioned in this podcast:

How Jason Doubled His Income

“We can easily forgive a child when they’re afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” -Plato Click To Tweet

I started my sales career in living in constant fear.

Why would anyone buy something from me ?

How was I to communicate properly to get people to buy?

How was I to create personal wealth in a profession I knew little about?

What if I failed? Then what?

Relate?

I find most sales professionals do.

The problem is never “what” we sell. Or, “who our market is.” Or, “What the price is.”

It’s deeper than that.

And in this article, I will share with you how one of my clients doubled his income in a matter of 120 days.

I share this not to exert my will on you. Whether you follow this process is your call, not mine.

I share it because I find that when a framework appears, it’s a helluva lot easier to make changes and get results.

I’ve read blogs like this before where the author never gives up the gold. That will NOT happen here. My aim is to help you see what is possible in your world, even if you might not.

I’ve been training sales teams for over 30 years…7500 training session…over 2000 coaching sessions…900 podcasts…and a book, Same Game New Rules, one that many companies use as their text book for new and counter-intuitive training.

And one thing I always find…we all want more.

It’s just the way we humans are built. If we are fully human, we express it by wanting to realize our potential on this planet.

But while we all want more…often, it feels out of our reach.

We find ourselves saying, “Well yes, Bill can do that, but I can’t.” Or, “Well, easy for Jason…he has a (built in advantage) but I don’t have that.”

Yes you do. And we’ll get to that.

Today, I will share with you the story of Jason and how he used our sales philosophy and methodology to significantly grow his business quickly.

He came to me struggling in his sales territory. No, he wasn’t about to get fired – but he was the classic underachiever. On the surface he looked like he could be a killer. But the results were never there. And he was becoming frustrated.

Sales philosophy jason case studyJason was 35 years old with a new wife and a new house. He’d been in his current position for 5 years. He was a pretty good sales person -always in the middle of the pack. But…he knew he could do better.

His manager was always telling him, “Hey Jason, you can crush this thing. You have tons of opportunity in your territory. What’s going on?”

Ever have someone tell you that?

Or have you ever told yourself that? (That might be more painful).

Those conversations shamed him – they certainly didn’t inspire him. He needed a plan and a way of thinking – a philosophy – which he wasn’t getting. He was not a real ambitious bloak – not a trained killer. He’d always been average – earning about $80,000/year. BUT, he knew there was more.

One thing you should know about Jason: A born sales person he was not. Not sure anyone is – but there is a worldview that there IS such a thing.

There is NOT.

And, worse, he started to question himself if sales was even the right profession. Not a good place to be.

As I said at the top, I questioned myself almost every day when I began in sales.

“Is this what I really want to do?”

“Will this get me to my goals?”

“Am I cut out for this?”

Just like me, Jason began to doubt himself and his skills. He lost confidence in his ability and his natural talent.

We call this the “doubt spiral.” And it’s ugly.

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” Click To Tweet

As a coach, if I can’t get the “doubt” turned around, there is almost no hope for high achievement. It will continue to be the same, day after day, year after year.

I want to share how we turned it around. I say “we” because it was both of us.

RESULTS

So in the 6 months I worked with him, here were his results:

  • Tripled his average monthly appointment count.
  • Went from a closing rate of 10% to 65%.
  • Monthly income went up 3x.
  • And the biggest result was his confidence level – hard to measure, but hard to be without.

Finding Help To Tame The Demons

The Process: Sales Philosophy, Methodology, & Process.

As he got down on himself, a friend suggested he find someone to help him…a coach…a peer group…somewhere to acquire the right skills and the right attitudes.

He began to research online. He found a mastermind / learning group I run and set up an appointment with me where he shared his plight.

He was very specific and very open, the first step to getting help and creating change.
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What’s The Big Idea?

The process of creating and documenting ideas is elusive, isn’t it?

Do I keep it in a journal? Do I keep it on my phone? Do I write a quick article about it to keep it fresh?

And what about the BIG IDEAS? How do you “work them out”? Do you even get them?

In this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill addresses a BIG IDEA around your customer – and how to develop it so it’s usable.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

 

What’s The Evidence You’re Successful?

People love “evidence” don’t they? And we should all love it, too.

It’s evidence that leaves clues as to whether you’re on your way to your goals. Or, evidence also helps as you are in the sales process.

In this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill Caskey discusses the various faces of evidence and gives you some ideas on how you can better use your evidence.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

 

What Buyer Criteria Should You Know About?

Aristotle first came up with the concept of Modes of Persuasion (furnished by the spoken word.)

In this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill Caskey takes this and modernizes it a bit to help you see the criteria you are being judged on. That might be nice to know, huh? There are four parts to it.

Suggestion: Have your notebook and pencil out so you can get full value of this episode.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

 

The Prerequisites For 2X Growth

On this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill addresses a very common mistake that most salespeople make when they decide to try and drastically improve their results, they JUMP.

They jump to making more calls, working more hours and desperately making more connections on LinkedIn. Those are all great things, but if you don’t do the prerequisites first, you’ll never get to where you want to be.

Bill gives you 6 prerequisites you can start on today, before you begin your journey to 2X!

Also mentioned in this podcast:

 

The Importance Of Your Sales Funnel

In this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill channels his inner marketing voice and shares what every sales pro needs to know about building a SALES FUNNEL.

Every service/product you represent NEEDS a funnel. And Bill talks about how to start building your’s today.

He also shares some ideas on The Customer Journey.

Also mentioned in this podcast: