Genuine Sales

Everything in life, in one way or another can be classified as sales. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never held a formal position as a salesperson; if you have a spouse or you've ever held a job in your life, you’re in sales. In this article, Chris Brady challenges everyone to examine their current skills by learning the fundamentals to master the art of genuine sales.

Genuine Sales by Chris Brady:

There are seven parts to genuine sales that are worth applying into your life, and if you do, you will succeed in selling just about anything. Here they are:

1. Genuine product enthusiasm
   • You need to “know your product.”
     • This means becoming a subject matter expert.
     • One of the best ways to know your product is to use it yourself.
   • You should have ample stock of your product to actually sell.
   • You should have sales aids to help make the sale.
2. Genuine problem solving
   
   • You need to “know your customer.”
   • What you're really doing is looking for a problem that you can fix. The best way to do that is by mentally positioning yourself on the other side of the table (as if you are the customer).
3. Genuine professionalism
   • You need to “know yourself.”
   • This means emphasizing your strengths and learning to shore up your weaknesses in order to become a true professional.
     • Learn people skills and personalities.
     • Work on your appearance (hygiene, attire, etc)
     • Know how to project your competence. They have to know that you believe and then believe that you believe.
       • Have posture – the invisible and immediately recognizable stance of belief and confidence.
4. Genuine perseverance
   • You need to ”know the math.”
     • Realize that all sales of any kind is a numbers game.
   • Sooner or later there is a customer for what you’re selling. You have to persevere long enough for the law of averages to work in your favor.
     • The more you persevere and improve, the more the math starts to move in your favor.
5. Genuine courage
   
   • You need to “know how the world works.”
   • Learn to laugh at the things that scare you.
   • Not everyone will “get it.” That’s how the world works. You do what you do for the ones who DO get it.
   • Always approach sales with this mentality: “some will, some won’t, so what!”
   • Learn to ask for the sale.
6. Genuine perspective
   • You need to “know the bigger picture.”
   • Truly successful people don’t look for the desireable means (on the journey to get there), they just look for the desireable result- and they’re willing to do all the crazy stuff in order to get there.
7. Genuine finishing
   • You need to “know how to put the finish on your finish.”
   • Learn to live by the principle: Do all things with excellence!
     • Most people fall short of excellence because they think they’re done when they’re done; they just put a check mark in the box and hustle through it.
     • Excellence is finishing it and then putting the finish on your finish. In sales, this is especially important.
       • For example: Ask for a referral and stay in touch with your customer (follow-through with them)
     • If there’s a job worth doing right, it’s worth doing all-the-way right.

Here are a few more suggestions to consider:

• Have a huge names list so you are always increasing your sales potential.
• Use a proven and organized approach (or develop one) about how you will approach your prospective customers with what you’re selling.
• Book solid appointments verbally.
• Learn to make a friend, find a need, and transfer a feeling.
• Provide value confirmation. You can do this by sharing testimonials from other satisfied customers.
• Fight buyer’s remorse by developing a relationship with your customer and caring enough to stay involved with the purchase.

And finally, understand this...

The greatest sale you’ll ever make will be TO and ON yourself:

1. You need to buy-in 100% to what you’re selling.
2. You need to buy-in 100% to the fact that you can do it.

When you've made these two sales to and on yourself, you'll be able to sell your way to the life you’ve always wanted.

(Posted by Kristen Seidl, on behalf of Chris Brady)