Introduction
Here’s the thing that very few specialists will tell you because they are specialists in their area of choice. When you seek assistance in developing your sales, they will often concentrate on areas where they have the most experience or confidence. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with that approach, I want to reiterate the importance of getting your foundations right before you spend too much time on specialist sales knowledge.
Get the foundations in place first and then invest in specialist knowledge. Better still, embrace the future, bring your marketing, sales and automation together, and embrace the construction and maintenance of the Value Ladder and sales funnels landing pages to do the work for you.
Your role then becomes slightly different. While you will still need to develop sales skills, you will also need to develop the art of content creation based on your values, principles and personality to enhance the machine (your business) you are building. Content creation is as important in business as presentation skills, and every leader should invest in developing these skills.
C1 Contact
The technique I am suggesting you use is one based on intimacy, demonstrating your expertise but making it very personal in feel, when you get used to our wireframe sales funnel templates you will soon learn that they are all based in this technique.
When you get to the point of talking to the prospect, be it virtually or otherwise, you will still need to make sure that the first contact, as far as the actual sale is concerned, is focused on a rapport to build the relationship with the prospect further. This is even the case with repeat sales with existing customers.
Your marketing, website, sales funnel, and possibly other mechanisms will have already created the first impression for the prospect. You can be sure it was a good one because if that were not the case, they would not be talking to you or following through on your initial calls to action, directing them deeper into your sales funnels, or up your value ladder.
That said, the paradox is that as soon as you go from web-based or electronic contact to personal contact, usually reserved for your bigger ticket items, you have to focus on the first impression again.
Let your culture, values, mission, vision, and brand guide you on how you administer the contact. In particular, what you say and how you say it. It is important to remember all the core selling rules we have already mentioned in the previous session. You can learn all about this in my book ‘making Rain’, should you wish to.
If you are using technology, for example, Zoom or sales funnels or both, some might say you have an advantage; others may take the opposite view. The truth is one system of connecting is just as good as another. Whether technology-driven or in-person, the method you use to create the sale is not the important factor; your mindset is.
The comfort or discomfort you feel is all in your mind, assuming it is not because you don’t believe in the product or service, and all down to how well you have prepared. So whether you are selling face-to-face or using funnels, how you think and feel will always be an important factor in your success. Your thoughts impact your attitude and content production.
My rule of thumb would be to never go into the contact phase without first being fully prepared and without making sure you are in the right frame of mind to give your best performance; nothing less is good enough.