8 Tips To Be “Expert” In What You Sell
Tips that will help you build the reputation of the expert in what you sell
The most successful salespeople in the world do not appear as salespeople. On the contrary, they are the ones who convince the people around them that they are experts in their field and can best solve the problems faced by their potential customers. Simply put, if you are a salesperson, you are an expert in what you sell. So all you have to do is find a way for potential buyers to know.
Your prospects know their job well and what’s going on in their business, so you need to know exactly what is going on in the rest of the industry and be able to keep them informed of trends and how to manage their competitors’ issues. Be careful: if your potential customers do not listen to you carefully, it is because you have not convinced them that you are an expert in what you do, and they treat you like a salesperson.
Here are 8 simple tips that will help you build the reputation of the expert in what you sell, so you can gain the trust of potential customers.
- 1. Do not think like a salesperson
- 2. Adopt the doctor's logic
- 3. Put aside the PEP you were taught in the seminars
- 4. Talk openly about what you notice happening
- 5. Ask them to find out what they face
- 6. Learn to stop
- 7. Do not forget the 15% rule
- 8. Get it out of your mind that "now you have to sell"
1. Do not think like a salesperson
If you want to appear as an expert to potential customers you must first of all stop “selling”, which means stop thinking like a salesperson. When you think of yourself as a salesperson, as soon as you find the opportunity, you immediately talk about what you are selling. Instead of trying to recover, they wallow in their sadness and thus, experience more failure. Your goal is to find out if and to what extent the candidate is in control of everything you sell. Thinking carefully and with particular emphasis on what the other person describes to you is the first step in starting to treat you as an expert.
2. Adopt the doctor’s logic
Instead of the seller’s logic, he adopted the doctor’s logic. I have never heard a doctor say to the patient “we have this excellent treatment, let me tell you how amazing the results are! It will change your life. ”Καλο On the contrary, good doctors ask questions carefully to make sure they fully understand the problem before making a diagnosis. Take this approach and aim to fully understand what is most troubling your prospect in this area before you start proposing a solution or solutions.
3. Put aside the PEP you were taught in the seminars
Most sellers are “impregnated” with PEP (persuasion, enthusiasm & pitching/persuasion, excitement & suggestion), as the best technique to achieve more sales. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. If you have to be persuasive to make a sale, is not the prospect the right customer for what you are selling? Does your enthusiasm come out like a sale too, and does it make you look fake? Selling is just the opposite of listening carefully to the other person telling you their problem. So, instead of turning your sales into PEP rallies, choose a more honest tactic, that of trying to understand the problem and suggest solutions. When you do this, potential customers will see you as an expert in what you do and will trust you.
4. Talk openly about what you notice happening
As an expert, you have valuable information about your clients’ industry and they will be interested in learning it. Stimulate them and get their interest from the beginning of the discussion. Prepare to have in mind a small list of indicative problems of the profession. This will show your interlocutor that you understand the topic so that the candidate can be identified and you can start a conversation that interests him.
5. Ask them to find out what they face
After talking about what you know the industry is facing, ask “do you have any of these issues?” Ask simple questions that add value, not generality as you sell, so that the candidates feel comfortable and open up to you about the issues that concern them. Ideally, it would be useful to have some brand opinion somewhere in their area about the problems they face, so you will immediately gain some respect from the beginning of the conversation and it will seem that you are well aware of the issue, and therefore, in the second phase and his solution.
6. Learn to stop
What should be done if in your question “Do you have any of these issues of the space?” does your candidate answer a resounding “no”? This is also a possibility, and if you are dealing with someone who either does not have the problems of the industry or just does not want to start a conversation, he is probably not the right candidate. If this happens to you you should be ready to retire, not because you are not a good salesperson, but because obviously, the person in front of you is not the right candidate. Stop talking and keep your energy for real candidates. The customer will always respect you more when they realize that you are not pushing and you are not trying to sell them something they do not need.
7. Do not forget the 15% rule
The salesperson should never speak more than 15% of the time during a meeting. Talking is not what gives you control of the conversation, on the contrary, the questions are! Use body language and make sure you know what that means, ask thoughtful questions and show interest in accents such as “Are you serious?” these are great tools to help you keep your word. Follow this rule faithfully and the candidates will treat you as a thinking listener who cares, as an “expert”.
8. Get it out of your mind that “now you have to sell”
Let’s be honest, there are days when you start your appointments to sell every sacrifice, to achieve your goals, or simply… pay your bills. Unfortunately, this seems to potential customers. When you show up with an air of success and confidence, customers get the message that you do not need (desperately) the job, instead, you meet them because you think that your proposal can solve their hands in one or the other issue since you are an expert in what you do. So, make sure you behave like an expert.