Ask Questions, Build.

In a marketplace where courtesy, product knowledge and attentiveness are the minimum requirement, as consumers we often face the opposite- impolite, unknowledgeable and disinterested staff. While the business culture often shapes the way staff act and react, we are all responsible for our actions and can rise above the status quo to become exceptional selling professionals.

For those looking to become exceptional in their field, here is the equation for the consummate selling professional:

Trust + Value = Comfort

Trust
Trust is a risk, a commitment and a choice. People trust their friends. Why?  Trust is complex and trust is earned. Trust is NOT a prerequisite of a sale, but it is of a relationship. Your personal brand depends on your trustworthiness.  When you earn trust, the risk of buying from you is marginalized. You take away risk by ensuring you understand client needs before you start offering solutions and by reducing barriers to entry for them. Your clients will see from your smart questions, actions and intent that you are looking to develop a relationship, not a sale.

Value
You will not establish value if you are not speaking to the customers’ needs. Nobody is going to buy something from you until your offer is greater then their hard earned cash. Value is established from a complex series of needs- from basic needs of survival to more complex social needs. Once you unearth these needs, you can present solutions with the confidence that they will fulfill your clients’ needs. Asking your client smart questions allows you to define value in your offering.

Comfort
Jeffery Gitomer says, “All things being equal, people will do business with their friends. All things being not so equal, people will still do business with their friends.” Establish value and trust from how you conduct yourself, the questions you ask, and the solutions you provide. If you offer exceptional value and have laid the groundwork of trust, you will have clients that are comfortable enough to buy from you.

People buy for many reasons, but more then anything the decision is made out of their comfort with you. With trustworthiness and tremendous value, you will have comfortable sales today and tomorrow.

Submitted by Ryan Chute President, RAIN Selling Professionals Inc.
Ryan can be found at (902) 402 5921 www.rainmenbasketball.ca