THE MOST INTERESTING PERSON IN THE WORLD
“I may not be the most interesting person, but I am the one I’m most interested in.”
—Anonymous
People are far more concerned and interested in themselves and their family and in doing the right thing than they are in having another product, no matter how much they need or want it.
If you don’t show as much interest in the buyer and his concerns as you do in selling, he’ll know that you are only in it for the commission. Be more interested in the customer than you are in yourself, your sales process, your product, or your commission and you will make more sales.
My wife and I recently met with a veteran high-end real estate agent who was showing us a house. As we were walking through the property, I began to tell the agent what was important to us, at which point she cut me off and continued to pitch the house. You’d have thought this agent was a rookie to the business, but on the contrary, she’d been in real estate for more than twenty years. Maybe that was part of her problem. She had joined the ranks of those in the real estate business and had forgotten that she was in the people business.
Ninety percent of all salespeople don’t take the time to listen to the prospect or find out what that person is actually looking for! While this agent has been very successful compared to others, imagine what she could sell if she were genuinely interested in people and in determining what they wanted and needed! It would certainly save her time, as she would then know what to show me and how to sell me. It’s easy to do, but you have to be interested and you have to know how to communicate. Not talk, but communicate! True communication requires finding out what is important to people so you can identify what they actually want and then deliver it. What do people value? What is important? Why is it important? How do they want to be spoken to? What is going to cause them to take action?
Once I was selling a condominium to a couple in Tucson, and I observed that the husband wouldn’t look at me. After a couple of minutes, I bluntly asked him, “Excuse me. Why won’t you look at me?” He was shocked at first, but then he started talking to me. I took interest in him, and when I did he started communicating with me. I asked him what his ideal scene was with regard to a place to live. The question allowed him to open up, and he told me everything they were looking for. During the conversation, the subject of golf came up, so I showed him where the closest course was. He went on and on talking about golf, and he didn’t stop until he’d signed the documents. I barely even sold the condo; I just took interest in him, got into communication with him, and made him more important than the product I was selling. I found out what was important to him, I listened, and then I closed.
COMMUNICATION = SALES
If you don’t get into communication with the buyer, you have no chance of ever making the sale. The dictionary defines “communication” as a process in which information is exchanged between individuals through common symbols or behavior.
Just talking about your product is not communicating, since there’s no exchange of ideas between you and the buyer. In sales we’re interested in communication that gains access to information, which can be turned into action. To gain information means that your communication should include lots of questions. What do you want this product to do that your present one doesn’t do for you? What would your present product have to do so that you would be satisfied with it? On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate what you are using/own now? What would make it a ten? This type of (interested in you) questioning will help you discover what the buyer wants, what he needs, and, most important, to what he assigns value. Additionally, asking questions demonstrates your interest in the individual, and people want to know you are interested in them, not just in a sale.
Years ago I was shopping for a computer and the salesperson started reeling off details about the speed, the memory and storage capacity, the megabytes, and all this technical information that meant nothing to me. I walked away from him feeling like a zombie from all of the technological terms and misunderstandings that he spewed at me, and I didn’t make a purchase. A week later I wandered into another store and met a real salesperson who approached me and immediately started asking me questions rather than spewing data. He asked me if I’d be traveling with the computer and what the three main uses would be to determine how I would be using it and what would make it valuable to me. That salesperson showed more interest in me in sixty seconds than the other guy did in fifteen minutes. He was also genuinely interested in finding the right product for me rather than in making a sale. I told him that I’d been considering buying a particular model, and he promptly explained that the computer I was considering was more than I actually needed and that in the end I would spend more than necessary. His helpful advice increased my trust, putting him in the position to control the sale and keep me interested.