When salespeople struggle to sell, it’s usually due to their idea of sales. Use these tips to reframe your perspective and convert leads!
1.YOU VIEW SALES IN A NEGATIVE WAY
If you negatively view sales, you will believe that you are manipulating and hurting, more than persuading and helping. Salespeople feel this way because they think sales are meant to force someone to do something they don’t want to do. Sales is not about force, aggression, or manipulation. Selling is about honest problem-solving. Sales is more an art form than it is a science. It’s about understanding first your customer’s needs and wants, and their reasons ‘why’ they want to change or don’t want to. Once you truly understand your customer’s needs and wants, you can only offer a different perspective that they may listen to or think about.
2. YOU’VE EXPERIENCED NEGATIVE EXAMPLES OF SALES
Maybe you have a picture or feeling about what selling is. That picture could be from a depiction of a salesperson in a movie or a commercial. That depiction was possibly negative. This representation made it seem that selling is about the con, or about lying and manipulating to get your money. Sales naturally carries a negative connotation. Reframe your definition of selling and your depiction of a salesperson. Salespeople motivate. They get customers to believe in an idea that someone can HELP their current circumstance. Selling isn’t about making someone feel patronized; it’s about having empathy and having an intellectual conversation with another human being. Paramount gives our customers options. We help them explore the opportunities by showing them a different perspective. This is the Paramount Difference.
3. IT’S DIFFICULT, YOU ARE UNAWARE OF THE MECHANICS, AND YOU ARE FOCUSED ON THE PAIN – NOT WHERE THE LEARNED SKILL WILL BRING YOU
Cold calls can be tough, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. The first call can be hard can have you feeling several ways. Some people have never experienced rejection and might not know how to deal with it properly. Just because a batter has struck out ten times in their last ten at-bats does not mean the next pitch will be a strikeout. The home-run ball is coming, sales come down to process, and the ability to stick to your goals. In the eyes of the best sales reps, GOALS ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE. If you think selling is regurgitating facts until someone says yes, forget it. Everything you do in life from learning, riding a bike, playing a sport, or learning to type will be tough in the beginning. It’s a game, and it’s the most essential part of the process to understand that all games have a failure.
4. YOU BELIEVE IT CAN’T BE TAUGHT AND YOU NEVER HAD A GOOD MENTOR
Salespeople aren’t born with sales skills. They obtain them overtime. Salespeople need to find the right mentors to show them what it takes to become great. Selling is psychology. The training program at Paramount is led by leaders that can guide you through all parts of the sales process. We teach our representatives that scripts and words are meaningless until you understand:
•People
•Rapport Building
•Urgency
•Problem Solving
People are different and require different needs. At Paramount, we tailor our representatives to adapt to every type of person and circumstance. It’s not just about converting leads. It’s about nurturing leads, creating a lasting impression that drives brand equity for your organization.
5. SALESPEOPLE NEED TIME TO FAIL
Once you understand the basic mechanics and have a roster of mentors to learn from, you need to use them. Sales is like any sport or skill; you need to practice. Sure, a salesperson can have all the skills and knowledge in the world, but they need to refine those skills for consistent success. There will be time to celebrate your victories, but reflecting on failed conversions is the best way to grow in this industry. When you win, you win. When you lose or fail, you learn. So fail. Quickly learn from your mistakes and remember the next pitch approach.
