Written by Andrew Holliday | March 18, 2016
Doubling your sales comes down to doing one of three things for people.
- Entertain them
- Inspire them
- Teach them
Just don’t ever try to sell them. Think about it for a minute. What’s the first thing you do when you think someone is making a sales call or knocking on your door selling you something? You get annoyed. That’s the natural reaction to an interruption.
Another example is our habits when watching TV these days. Do you watch anything live? I’m guessing no…why not? Because you want to be able to fast forward through the commercials where you know people are trying to sell you things.
You’re not in the minority. These are the same emotions and habits of the overwhelming majority. Considering this, those of us that sell things for a living (which is pretty much everyone in the world) need to shift our thinking.
Next time you meet with someone new instead of approaching them with the mentality, “what can I sell you?” Try adjusting your thoughts to, “what can I do for you?”
You’ll be amazed at how this one simple little shift can completely transform your sales. When you make the effort to entertain, inspire or teach someone they naturally feel the desire to reciprocate.
And if you take the teaching route, the added benefit is that it positions you as an expert in someone’s mind as you’re sharing information from a position of knowledge.
This isn’t just some meeting hack either. This works across all forms of communication. You can use this for blogs, social media and marketing just as easily as an in person meeting.
Action Steps:
- Honestly assess yourself and how you act in prospect meetings. Do you give the hard sell?
- Review your social media, blog and other touch points. Do you sell on these outlets or work to genuinely entertain, inspire or teach?
- Now assess your personality. Are you naturally funny and entertaining, a great teacher or have you been mistaken for Vince Lombardi? Define the best approach to take based on your personality.
