Its a Dead Give-Away
Often when people use the word “sell”, the thought that comes to mind is that something has been traded for money, and for all intents and purposes from an economic perspective that is what takes place. What must be kept in mind though is that goods traded for money are the outcome of the selling process and not a definition of the process itself. The most successful salesmen are acutely aware of this distinction, and due to this understanding approach the whole arena from a different perspective than their lesser accomplishing competitors. The word “Sell” comes to us from the old English word “Sellen” which means “to give”. Many would have that the word has lost its connection to its ancient origins, after all if we are giving things away surely we aren’t selling them…right? Wrong, its all about the give.
What a Rip Off
Adam Smith in his perennial economic manifesto “The Wealth of Nations” was quick to point out that every business transaction is moral dilemma. The dilemma arises because the question always remains ‘Is what I am buying (or trading) this for a fair price?’ The Selling arena is at it’s heart a transactional process, and by definition the success of a transaction is measured by how fairly all parties are treated, and not as the amoral will have it who made the most out of it. The Type Win-lose thinking that drives so many unprincipled people to ‘do others in’ under the banner of doing “smart business” is nothing more than veiled thuggery and consumers are very fast to “wise up”. As George Bush so sagely quoted “There’s an old saying in Texas…Fool me once and shame on me…uh.. fool me twice and.. uhm hrm ehm ah err.. foolmeandyoucanneverfoolmeagain ”.
Heads Up
The smart sales person doesn’t ask ‘What’s in it for me?’ (win-lose thinking) he also doesn’t ask ‘what’s in it for them?’ (lose-win thinking). Rather he astutely analyses ‘What’s in it for us?’ (Win-Win thinking). You see he isn’t stuck on what he needs from the world he has shifted his paradigm to higher order reasoning and instead asks ‘What does the world need enough to fulfil my needs?’ This type of reasoning lies at the heart of the “Winning Edge” concept, wherein it is small differences in approach and behaviour that determine whether you win or lose. Winning edge is seen in all types of of competitive arenas, Racehorses often win by only a nose, Prize fighters don’t win by an accumulation of frenetically delivered small punches, they would exhaust themselves that way, victory lies in their calculated blows.
Survival Strategies
The bottom line is that your success in the sales arena is going to be driven by where your head and heart space is at (Psychological and Emotional States) more than its going to rely on how smart you are about your product, or how busy you are being with the business of looking busy (Intellectual and Physical states). Here is a little acronym to help you T.A.C.K.L.E the problem
The acronym stands for: Trust, Adequateness, Congruency, Knowledge, Likeness, Expertise
We build T..rust through our fairness and honesty,
We illustrate A..dequateness by detailing the ‘plug in’ benefits of our services or products.
We establish C..ongruancy by knowing ‘where they are at’ in getting to know their needs and showing how our offering fits that need.
We communicate our K..nowledge by giving them ‘Aha..’ moments in Uses, Applications or Information about our offerings that they didn’t know about or perhaps didn’t even think about.
We establish our L..ikeness by understanding that the only reason we are involved in their business or life is to solve their problems. they need to know that we are on the same side and that we are in this together.
Our levels of E..xpertise will be reflected in how efficiently our offering works and in how effectively it alleviates their problems.
In order to trade in goods and services the first thing we have to do is “Sell” belief. The Dictum therefore is simple..People buy from people the like …and who are like them.
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