THE MAGIC BEHIND THE SALE"I had a singer who came to me and said his manager got him
tremendous fees, but threatened to let him go if he didn't manage
to make more of an impression on the audience. He couldn't
figure out what was wrong. I knew it wasn't his voice, so I told
him to go to the end of the room and come on stage as if he
were before an audience.
"Sure enough, as he walked in he sent out the deadliest subtext
possible: an anxious face, no smile, stiff posture—well, we fixed
all that and he did well. But my point is that the same thing
applies in sales. It's those first ten seconds!"
A young woman who had a great deal of experience in selling
on Wall Street, told me about the "three Be's" in her sales approach:
be specific, be definite, and be confident.
She said, "I plan my sales talk to be specific, to focus in on
one specific part of what I'm selling, and I'm definite in my sales
pitch, but above all, I try to project a subtext of confidence. In
my business, confidence in my judgment is the be all and the
end all!"
"How do you do that?"
"By knowledge. I know my product, my stocks and bonds. I
know the market and know the competition. That gives me the
ability to project complete confidence. You know, if you don't
believe in your product, forget about selling. Get some other job."
A good salesperson is convinced herself before she tries to convince
others.
That confidence, according to another top-notch salesman, comes
from three rules:
(1) Pick the product you like to sell.
(2) Don't ever try to sell a product you don't like.
(3) Don't sell for a company you don't like.