Always be closing, how tired of you of hearing that? Sales isn’t what it used to be. Either because customers are more educated, sales people know better, or both. If you ask most of the top sales veterans they will tell you they don’t really “sell.” Most newbies into the game think its all about witty lines and closing questions to pressure or manipulate the customer into a buy. That couldn’t be further from the truth. To me at least, a sale is about helping the customer find what they are looking for, explain to them why it can benefit them, and let them decide based on the information you provide.
Most call centers hand newly trained agents a script with a list of objections and put them to work. This is an outdated approach. A true sales person has to know his product and learn the necessary skills to qualify the customer. Not qualify their bank account, but qualify whether the customer actually has a need for what the salesperson is offering. The reason veterans all say they “don’t sell” is because they have years of experience of talking to people, finding out what they need and providing it for them. They learned how to listen. If you do your job like your supposed to you won’t hear objections, either because you gave the customer what they needed, or you found out the customer didn’t need it.
Closer vs Order Taker
Many sales people will immediately call this approach order taking but there is a difference. Order takers are everywhere, and there is nothing wrong with that, there are many jobs that require just that. The customer tells you what they want, and you give it to them, that’s order taking. So don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying you should be an order taker, sales ability is important. However a closer is not an individual who pressures someone into buying by being really witty, its a person who can convince a procrastinator why it’s important to act now and that does take a certain amount of persuasive ability.
So if you’re new to sales by no means should you ignore learning sales techniques. It’s a must if you want to be successful. The key is to make sure you have the right definition of a successful sales person. It’s not how many people you can trick into buying a product, it’s how many people you can help. A true closer will never sell a product he or she doesn’t believe in. With 10 years of experience in sales and now as the owner of Insurechance.com, I encourage all sales people, young and old, to rethink selling and teach the new generation what it’s really about. Let’s kill off “the salesman” stigma and earn humanities trust again. We’re here to help you off a cliff, not throw you off of one.