New School Selling - How not to be like the rest

Amazon lists 449,578 books on the subject of selling. I have not read all of them or maybe any of them, but I know they mostly say about the same thing. I know this because I have been selling for over 12 years and every salesperson and every buyer quotes these books. And every quote sounds the same. The message of these books is sound. No doubt about it. The problem is that both the seller and the buyer know this message. It is like bluffing in poker with all of your cards showing. How do you use a technique (or psychology) when you are transparent? You do not. That is why selling has become a numbers game where you search 100s of trees and still only find the low hanging fruit.

I am no rocket scientist (as I said I am in sales so that is one testament to my intelligence), but I have discovered a technique (for lack of a better word) that works. It can be uncomfortable.It can be difficult. However, it can be effective in allowing you to break out of the mold and increase sales.

What is the point of sales? Duh. To get the sale. Who is your competition? The other guy. But I am a better salesperson and not only is my product better but it is cheaper. Unfortunately, while all of this may be true it does not equate to more sales.

Your competition is not the other guy. It is status quo. The biggest hurdle to making a buying decision is trusting that you are making the right decision. Unfortunately, this often leads to an endless cycle of thinking about it. No decision is worse than a decision for both the buyer and the seller. Think about it. The seller has (false) hope and the buyer has not made the wrong decision. Ah, everybody is happy, right? No.

So what is this technique that has revolutionized my personal experience with sales? It is simple, really. I do everything that you do right up to the moment of the close and I ask for a NO. What? You are supposed to ask for the order, right? All the books say so. Yeah, how is that working for you?

By asking for a NO, you are changing the expectations and rules that govern how buying has worked throughout human history. In reality, the buyer does not want to say no any more than they want to say yes (status quo, remember?). But if you have positioned your sale properly, the jolt you just introduced to the equation will be so substantial that in most cases you will either get the sale or get to the root of the indecision and be able to address it.

The fact that you are pushing for a not only a decision, but one that does not help your cause, will show that you are comfortable with what you are doing and it will reinforce that you are offering a service and not just trying to empty wallets. It is a simple concept, but try it and let me know how it works for you. It certainly works for me. Good selling (and stop reading all those books).