No one likes to be sold to, but almost everyone likes to buy.
Creating buying experiences enrolls prospects in a mutually beneficial experience that gets them buying. And keeps them buying.
Watch the video to learn more.
All posts tagged: buying
Sell More Without Doing More Selling – Scott’s Sales Yoga Thought for the Day
A while back I was asked by Donald, a CEO I advise, for my top best practice on increasing revenues generated by his sales team. I told him what I tell all my clients: the most effective way to sell more is by doing less selling. I could tell by his expression this was not the answer he expected, and he confirmed this when he asked me to explain.
His staffing and RPO company, like many organizations, was engaging buyers in a selling experience. They used a number of the traditional techniques: feature-benefit selling, employing trial closes, and controlling the conversation. His sales team was quite good. They continually outpaced the market, growing two or more times faster than the competition. Yet, when surveyed, buyers admitted they were merely tolerating the sales approach by his team. When asked what would make their experience better, they indicated that they liked to buy, but hated to be sold.
This is true of all buyers. Which, by the way, is why we refer to them as buyers (instead of something like “sellees”). Buyers enjoy acquiring things, be it products or services, that improve their circumstances. They resist, despise, and even retreat from being sold. Being a buyer feels empowering, while being sold to often generates feelings of overwhelm, anger, or even powerlessness.
By using a Buying Experience Strategy Template (B.E.S.T.), Donald’s team is on pace for their best year yet. In a recent survey buyers noted a marked difference in their buying experience with his company. One comment in particular, summed up the feedback: “While I’ve always liked what they sold me, now I even like how they sell me.”
To help you get started, I’ve included a process visual illustrating the distinction between a buying and selling experience along with four questions from the five-part BEST system.
- What do buyers dislike about their current sales experience?
- How does a buying experience differ from their current sales experience?
- What needs to change in your sales culture to create that buying experience?
- How will we engage Radical Accountability for this change?
Yes, you can sell more without doing more selling. You reduce your labor intensity when you do while increasing the satisfaction of your buyers. That’s something you both can be totally sold on.
Create a Buying Experience with HalfTalk
Everyone sells something, be it a product, service, idea, outcome, or skill. Yet, no one really like to be sold to. Just the thought of having to go through a sales process fills many people with dread.
Everyone buys and most people enjoy the buying experience. This process often starts with excitement at the idea of acquiring something new and ends with the satisfaction of having it in hand.
The disconnect between the joy of buying and the loathe of selling tells us that most companies and their salespeople are doing a poor job of closing the gap between these experiences. If they have been through sales training or read sales books, this means they are either not using what they’ve learned, or what they were taught is not what customers want to receive. From my experience, it’s often more of the latter.
Most sales professionals agree that selling should focus more on listening and less on talking. Yet, most sales methodologies are hyper-focused on perfectly scripted, feature-benefit laden diatribes that even salespeople wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of.
That’s why, in Sales Yoga, we sell our way to more deals using HalfTalk. By talking half as much as we normally do, we immediately shift the dynamics of the conversation, weighing in favor of truly making it all about the customer. They say more, we hear more, and along the way, if we ask the right questions, facilitate a process where the buyer closes themselves on the deal. No coercion, convincing, inducing, or even seducing required.
HalfTalkers create buying experiences that people enjoy being part of as they are completely heard, served, and satisfied in the process. Sarah from Boston, a HalfTalker for the past decade, shared in a recent conversation that every year she gets a little better at HalfTalk, yet, those incremental improvements have generated 30% or more growth each and every year. “My buyers tell me how different the buying experience is with me,” says Sarah, “and with the amount of repeat business and referrals I receive, the proof is in their loyalty.”
So, go forth and HalfTalk. You’ll sell more with less effort as a result of engaging people in a sales process they run to instead of run from.