There is one main reason why used car salesmen have a bad wrap. They do not sell themselves, they sell the product. Remember, people buy from people they like, not people that push a product or service. Selling yourself is just as important as selling your product or service. Sales comes down to building relationships.
So, how does someone go about selling themselves and not pushing their product or service? Here are a few ways to get started.
Know Your Strengths
Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Do you know your own character, feelings, motives, and desires? Knowing this information is going to help you become a better salesperson. If you know this information it will help you double down on your strengths and increase your confidence. A confident salesperson will sell more and build stronger relationships. Play to your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses. This will help you create a better sales strategy, helping you close more sales.
Know Your Target Audience
Do you know who you are trying to sell your product or service too? If you do not know your target audience you will continue to miss opportunity after opportunity.
Think of it this way. If you shoot for the moon and miss, odds are you are going to run out of fuel before you hit the next star. You are not going to hit the moon, you are going to be stuck in the vast openness of space. This is just like knowing your customer. Knowing your ideal customer will help you build a story and solve their problems. Knowing your target audience will also help in your prospecting because you know where to look.
Get to know how your target audience thinks, talks, and where they get their information. Knowing this information will help you close more sales and increase your conversion rate.
A Story Will Relate
Does your product or service inspire you? Does your product or service drive you to help others? Does your product or service make you want to be a better person? Tell your story about why your product or service inspires you, why it make you want to be a better person, or how it has helped you in your daily life. Your story will help build credibility and connect with your customer.
Preparation
Do you do any research on your potential customer? Do you know their name, where they went to college, or their position within their company? Before you make a sales call or show up for your next sales meeting, make sure to do some research. At a minimum know a little bit about their company.
Think of it this way. If you are looking for a sales position, you are going to learn as much as possible about the company and the person that is interviewing you. A new sales meeting is no different than an interview. A little bit of research will go a long way to help close that deal.
Ask Questions
Are you asking questions to learn more about your potential customer? If you are asking the right questions, they will tell you exactly why they need your product or service. Maybe it will not be directly, but if you are listening to them, they will open the door. The trick is to ask the right questions and pull out their pain point. Then you can show your customer how your product or service can help solve that pain point.
Once you ask the right questions, your stories are going to really help you solve their problems and close the deal. Make sure you are asking questions about them. Remember, people like to talk about themselves, just be ready to listen. Listen to understand, not respond.
Be The Expert
How well do you know your product or service? I hope you are the expert in your industry. Get to know everything about your product or service. Get to know stories about how your product or service has helped others. Put your customer at ease because they know they are buying from the best in the industry.
Start reading books about your industry, read the blogs of your competition, and attend industry conferences or trade shows. Become the expert salesperson that helps and provides value to the end customer.
Conclusion
Stop being the used car salesmen. Start selling yourself and build stronger relationships with your potential customers. Get to know your customer and provide a solution that is going to resonate with them. Remember, people buy from people, not from robots.