How objecting to “being sold to” is hurting your profits

Picture this….

… there you are in the laundry room of the Student Union waiting for the tumble-drier to finish shredding your socks and T-shirts. When suddenly you are approached by a random stranger who strikes up a conversation, probably around the speed at which the tumble-drier eats your coins faster than it dries your clothing.

Everything goes fine … and then the stranger hits you with

“… so, what are you doing on Sunday?”

(uh, could be good, heck, I’m a computer scientist, so being asked out is not something that happens very often)

“… a few friends and I are getting together to XXXX ”

for the purpose of this example, it doesn’t matter what XXXX is (no, it wasn’t about drinking cheap Australian beer) — basically what happened, I was being sold to and I didn’t like it. And I didn’t care about the rest of the message and left ….

Sound familiar? Of course it does. Nobody really likes being sold to.

And, unfortunately, it also means that you are hurting your profits.

Here’s why:

Everytime you shut yourself off to “being sold to”, you stop learning. And that’s a big mistake. Instead, what you could consider doing (if you really wanted to improve your sales skills, and you do, don’t you?), is to fully engage and take note of everthing they do!

Learn how they do it, what sales techniques they are using, how they build rapport instantly (the laundry person had me from the start, and only blew it when he hit on XXXX which wasn’t my cup of tea — at all. Had they asked me how I felt about XXXX, the outcome could have been very different)

Try to figure out WHY they are using certain techniques, WHEN they’re using them and HOW they’re applying them.

Yes, you could argue that you don’t really want to learn from someone who clearly tried to “sell (to) you”. But, remember: there will be plenty of people who do want to hear that exact same message.

So, if you bump into an exquisit sales-person, whether they are selling to you or not (if they’re not, then that’s just you thinking they’re not, because you are actually interested in what they have to offer, see paragraph above), pay attention, take notes and learn.

If you are interested in learning from outstanding sales-people (watch out, are you being sold to right now?…;-), check out Christopher Howard

http://www.christopherhoward.com/

They do a free 3 day seminar where you learn how to break through ’stuff’ that is holding you back.

And of course, as the whole thing is for free, they will offer you the opportunity to purchase some of their products. Btw, I am only suggesting you check it out for 2 reasons: I have been to their seminars (and spent lots and lots of money with them afterwards, and yes, it’s all been very worthwhile), so I’m happy recommending them and b) their sales pitch is exquisit!

So, If you want to learn about selling, go check them out (and don’t blame me for becoming an exquisit sales person yourself). The best thing is that they are very upfront about it, they tell you at the start that they are giving you great free content and that they can do it because they will sell something to those who are interested.

going back to the laundry, yes, even that little pitch in the laundry room cost me. I left in a hurry. Including leaving at least one lonely sock behind… If only all lessons in life only cost a single sock….

Veit