Do you know that great Salespeople actually hate “selling” ? That’s right ! Not only do they hate “selling”, they also hate being “sold to”.

Why ? This is because it commonly comes across as too being too over-bearing, rigid, unfriendly or even plain obnoxious.

Remember those that never take “no” for an answer despite your repeated refusal ? While we may commend them on their attitude of perseverance and thick-skinned mentality; on retrospect, is there a better way for them to sell, so that they gain better connection and support from the prospect, without coming across as intrusive, over- aggressive and hard-selling ?

So how do great Salespeople sell then ? What makes them so different from their other sales counterparts ?

Well, life’s examples show us that the best sales people are successful not by “selling” but by creating an ideal buying experience.

Let’s take an example of a customer’s buying experience at a retail shoe outlet :-

Typically the sales assistant would come offer help by saying " Can help sir/ma’am ? We have great offers today....Feel free to look around...etc ". Or some may just leave you to your own leisure shopping pace without addressing you; till you look for them to try on a size of the shoe of your choice. Or others may even stand beside and follow you through out the store, which of course can be rather irritating.

None of them are actually helping you with the real buying experience. In this case, it’s either under-selling, plain complacent or over-selling.

Now imagine this scenario - you walk into the store with a friend and the friend tells you that there’s a great offer on, and that he/she has also made purchases themselves already and helps give friendly advice to what looks good on you; goes and on and on about their personal experience about the purchase, and then nudges you to buy as well.

Question : Who would most likely influence you to buy more ? The retail assistant or your friend ?
The answer - most likely your friend. Why ?
This is because your friend helped you to buy. Your friend created an exciting, informative and logical buying experience for you.

So, what’s the lesson learned here ? Let’s look at the following principles in the full article.

Example: In the shoes story, typically they would say : “can i help you, today we have get offer / buy 1 get 1 free etc.”

You can start by asking “how can I help you find your best shoe today” ( Start the journey, by selling the experience ). Then embed the discussion with key information ( ie. instead of “we have great offers today”, you could be saying : ”when you find what you like, you get to choose another one for someone else or use for your other occasions” ). This creates a smoother and more enjoyable and desirable buying experience for the customer.

This brings the need clearly to the surface and starts igniting the buying journey. People buy on emotions first, logic second.

Even the guy hawking products on the street side attracts best results by doing an emotional “I understand how you feel” demonstration > dull knives, dirty clothes problems, etc.

You must lead the journey with enough win-win.

Example : Case of a credit card gold member receiving a call about an exciting Life Insurance plan that was quite appealing. But the condition was that “must buy now”, “it’s an exclusive limited offer”. For more information, talk to the call agent only. No brochure or other form of information available.

In this case, by sheer selling skills, the agent may probably can sell some, due to the appealing offer; but definitely not everyone; because clearly the offer does not cater to the other types that are just about to buy but need the “a bit more time to think through option” ie. people travel differently on the buying journey. Lesson : Keep the journey pleasant, informative and helpful.

Your experience, your challenges, your solution and then your opinion = Consulting. Friendly Consulting.

Example : Special Mattress Vacuum Salesperson > Delivering the Emotional Experience by sharing first, then the influence of logic within the buying process becomes easier.

The Concept

Get a free mattress cleaning with a free demonstration.

The Lead

Referred by your friend, the salesperson’s previous client.

The Value Proposition

Unique solution ( vacuums bed bugs from mattress ) and expensive, but has an easy to own payment scheme.

The Hook ( Emotional Attachment )

Better and cleaner lifestyle. Prevention is better than cure.

The Guarantee / No Risk

Introduce 40 friends. 10 friends buy, you get your product for free. 4 friends accept demo, get a special gift.

Here’s a good example that the salesperson whose style was not the “pushy” type, but yet the sales presentation and offering were brilliantly delivered.

To top it off he had his personal testimony of how he got into the business ( he had asthmatic problems ) and why he is so passionate about the business. And it shows.

The key bottom-line is that the customers felt really good, happy with not just the offer, but more importantly the pleasant and helpful buying experience that they went through. Ultimately they want to help you sell as well. Remember great salespeople don’t need to “sell”, they get their customers to “sell” for them > thus creating another buying experience circle elsewhere.

A good friend of mine, change guru, Dr. Victor Tan said : "Your example / testimony is not the main thing that influences people, it’s the only thing."

You will enjoy great sales success when you live what you sell ! What goes around, comes around. Helping others with a great buying experience will help you experience greater success !

Remember Great Salespeople Hate Selling. They just love and know how to help others buy.