Make Your Customer a Star

FOREWORD:

Mega-Buck Income Sales Pros are the elite, that very special group that comprise the top 5% of all Salespeople in the World. They produce 95% of the Sales that are made and enjoy a level of income and a lifestyle that most people would love to achieve.

The good news is that since Selling is a learned skill, virtually anyone has the potential to become a Super Star. Common sense dictates that the quickest and easiest way to become a Mega-Buck Income producer is to simply search them out and then emulate them. Talk like they talk, perform like they perform, use the very same words and phrases they use, copy their attitude and mind set, or in other words become a chameleon. For the last 30 years I’ve had the privilege of studying these Icons of the Sales Industry. I’ve brain-picked them and yes even trained many of them. In fact, I enjoy the reputation of personally training more 6 and 7 figures a year Mega-Buck Income earners than any other Trainer.

During my 3 decades of research I learned that these Super Stars share many certain traits, habits, and even Skills. The majority of them utilize most if not all of the Super Success Secrets, which are part of this Series of 10 Articles. I will also share with you that I personally used all 10 of these Secrets to double my own personal Income each year for 5 consecutive years, before I became a professional Speaker and Trainer. If we’ve already met you probably know that I love to say; “no matter where you start, the fourth and fifth year get real exciting”.

As you start reading you’ll quickly discover these Super Success Secrets are a combination of transferable Skills and Techniques along with the Attitude and Mind Set needed to become a Legend in your Industry. If you have at least a basic working knowledge of Sales Skills and a burning desire to become great, any one these Super Success Secrets will increase your effectiveness, your Closing ratio, and yes your Income, by 20 to 400%, within weeks and even days.

Although some of these were originally developed and perfected by the top Phone Pros in the World, please rest assured that they also work with face-to-face Selling. I urge you to start by picking just One of the Ten and then implement it as often as possible, each day for the next week. Then the following week pick out another point and concentrate on that each day along with the one(s) from the previous week(s).

Within 10 weeks, you’ll be at or near the top of the Mountain, you’ll be setting Sales Records, you’ll be the envy of your Peers, plus you’ll need a Brinks Truck to back up to the door each Pay Day.

I encourage you to pay particular attention to the Bonus Article I’ve written called “Bumping for Big Bucks”. If you’re selling an Investment where your Prospect can start with a variable amount of money, you will increase your Order size and your commissions, by 20 to 50% OVERNIGHT by adding this Technique to your arsenal.

“If you’ll work at Selling for the next 5 years like most people WON’T,
you’ll be able to live your Life like most people CAN’T.”

MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER A STAR

First of all realize that the average person would rather talk about him or herself then hear about the 10 most famous people who ever lived. In fact, there are 3 things that people care about the most, which are Themselves, their Job or Career, and their Family. Train yourself to be a great listener and show a sincere interest in your Prospects and Customers. This is the easiest and quickest way to develop Rapport. They will end up “buying” YOU and whatever you represent will go with that Sale.

Here’s a few great sayings to remember.
“To be Interesting, you have to be Interested.”
“Make a Friend and then Make a Sale.”
“They don’t care how much we Know until they Know how much we care.”

The Mega-Buck Producers will readily admit that the Sale is actually made during Qualifying. This is when you gather the information you need in order to complete the Sale. Although you might believe you are a good listener, most of the time people only hear words and noises and rarely do they intently listen. You see people are normally too busy thinking about what they are going to say as soon as the other person is done talking.

I urge you to develop your listening skills in 3 critical areas:
[1] What they say
[2] How they say it
[3] What they really meant
Of course, if you’re not sure, ask them.

The best way to Qualify is to use Instructional Statements. I understand that in Selling 101 we learned about Open and Closed Questions and that Open ones were better since they usually give us more information. However if you need to find out 5 to 10 things during Qualifying, it can end up sounding like a FBI interrogation. Instead, start to use Instructional Statements which are less confrontational and much more conversational. Start using;
“Tell me about . . .” and
”Share with me . . .” and
“Fill me in on . . .” to name a few.

In addition, please realize that these Prospects and Customers have probably been Qualified by many other Salespeople, all of which ask for the same basic information. Through the years many of these Prospects have developed “Scripted Answers” to these “Scripted Questions”, which aren’t always the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The simple way to get them off of their “Script” is to start using Continuation Phrases. Each and every time they answer a Question or Instructional Statement, before going on to the next subject, try saying;
“Go on” or
“Tell me more” or
“And then what happened” or
“Please continue”, etc.
Whatever they say next to explain, justify, or enhance their initial response is the now truth.

An advanced technique is to listen for and use the other person’s Favorite Words and Phrases. The average person uses an average of 3 of their Favorite Words or Phrases during each minute of talking. These will be Words of Phrases that we recognize however they aren’t necessarily part of our everyday vocabulary. Write them down and the next time you talk with them, feed back their Favorite Words and Phrases. If you ask someone what amount of extra Money would improve their lifestyle and they answer with; “$400 or $500 a month would sure keep the wolves away”, when you are doing your Presentation you would say;
“Most people feel that an extra $400 or $500 a month would sure keep the Wolves away, how about you?”
99% of the people that you use this advanced technique with will have no concept what is going on. All they know is that they are starting to feel extremely comfortable with you. Why? Because you’re talking their language.

If you’re selling any type of Investment, it’s absolutely critical that you determine their Hot Button. Oh sure you can open some New Accounts without knowing it, however the odds are that you will never do a bunch of repeat business with them unless you know what they are trying to accomplish with their hard-earned dollars. A phenomenal technique to use is the “Banker Question”. You’ll need to change the actual amount depending on the Income and Net Worth of your Prospect, however here’s how it goes;
“Let’s pretend for a moment that your Banker called you tomorrow morning and said that someone had just put $50,000 in your Bank Account and it’s all yours, tax-free, however there is a catch. You have to spend every penny by 5 o’clock tomorrow or you loose the entire amount. You can’t save it or invest it and you have to go buy something. Now imagine for a minute that you have $50,000, tax-free, all your bills are paid and you have to go buy something. What’s the one thing you’ve always wanted to buy for yourself or your family?”

It might be a Boat, a Cruise, a getaway Home in the Mountains, etc., however whatever they say, you simply say;
“Tell me about it.” and listen.
They will now describe it in great detail because that’s really what they want to accomplish. You’ve just discovered their Hot Button.

Another advanced Technique when selling Investments is to ask if they consider themselves to be Conservative or Aggressive. Notice that I didn’t say; “are you”. Always ask if they “consider” or “see” themselves as being Conservative or Aggressive. It’s almost like asking someone if they want you to use Conservative words and phrases or Aggressive ones. Do a little homework in the Dictionary and write down every Conservative and every Aggressive word you can find. As long as it legally fits to describe your Product or Service, use as many of them as you can from the appropriate List. Or you can cheat and use the Lists in Article 3.