Sell or Be Sold(27)

This is a perfect example of a business that has implemented poor policy in an effort to prevent people from shopping competitors. Some genius in management came up with a policy that not only prevents people from buying, but also makes no sense to the buyer and probably no sense to the salesperson. This results in a complete waste of advertising dollars, creates a confrontational environment, destroys sales, and creates high employee turnover.

Processes put in place without considering the effect on the customer will inevitably be ineffective and destructive. People are always going to be more important than any processes, procedures, or policies.

People write checks; policies and processes don’t. Products are dead matter and people are alive. Products can be replaced, but people can’t. Products don’t sell themselves, but people do. Never forget, people buy products, and it’s your job to sell people on your product, not to sell your product to people.

Caring about people is senior to the products and the processes you use. Be genuinely concerned that your customer is getting the right product. Make the individual more important than the individual sale, and you’ll make more sales. Be interested in what the person is trying to accomplish and what problem he’s trying to solve, and treat people as individuals—as living, breathing individuals who are irreplaceable. Stay interested before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale—and even if you don’t get the sale. Don’t ever let the process be senior to the people!

You’re not in the real estate business, mortgage business, insurance business, investing business, newspaper business, clothing business, acting business, hotel business, seminar business, or whatever “business” your industry calls itself. Quit the business you think you’re in right now and get into the people business!





CHAPTER EIGHT QUESTIONS


While it is important to be an expert on your product, why is it more important to become a people expert?

What is the 80/20 Rule?

What are people most interested in?

What is the most important part of the definition of communication?

Write three examples of how to get someone to exchange communication with you:

1.

2.

3.

What one thing should always be kept senior to the product, policy, or process?





CHAPTER NINE

THE MAGIC OF AGREEMENT


ALWAYS AGREE WITH THE CUSTOMER


ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS agree with the customer.

This is the single most important and the most commonly violated rule in all of selling! If you want agreement, you’ve got to be agreeable with your customers.

This vital rule must not be confused with the old saying, “The customer is always right,” because customers aren’t always right. If you’ve ever been with one, you know what I’m talking about. The point is, right or wrong, agree with the customer. Agree as you write the deal; don’t disagree and fight the deal!

You can never expect someone to agree with you if you’re disagreeing with him. It will almost never happen. People are attracted to products, ideas, and people that represent the things with which they’re in agreement. This is a fact of the universe! Your friends are those people who most agree with your core beliefs. Your favorite family members are the people you want to spend your time with during the holidays. These are the people in your life with whom you’ve got the most agreement. People who agree with one another move toward one another, whereas people who disagree move apart. The common saying that “opposites attract” doesn’t happen to be true in sales. In selling, likes attract, and like is born out of agreement. I like you because I agree with you at some level.





IT ONLY TAKES ONE


When there’s not enough agreement between two parties, there’s no agreement at all. This is the reason that partnerships fail, marriages break up, and you don’t have more customers buying from you. Most people think that it takes two to have an agreement. But the truth is, it only takes one to agree, because once one opposing party agrees, there is no longer any disagreement. The salesperson who wants agreement must give agreement to the customer before agreement can be achieved. Even when a buyer is making ridiculous claims or exaggerations, agree with him. Just because you think what he’s saying is ridiculous doesn’t mean he thinks it’s ridiculous. If he thinks something is black and you think it’s white, you’re both right. However, if he thinks something is black and you want to get the sale, you’d better agree with his reality that it’s black. If he thinks he should wait and think about it and you disagree with him, you’ll solidify his need to wait and never get him to close. However, if you simply agree with him that thinking about it is a good idea and let him know that you agree, he’ll be more attracted to you and move toward you, not away from you. Once you’ve agreed with him, you can go ahead and explain that thinking will not change the fact that this is the right product, that he can afford the product, that his company will save money because of the product, and that by making a decision to buy it now he can shift his attention to all the other things he has to think about. Agree with him first, and that will bring him up to another way of thinking.