Sales Tips from a Sales Superstar

My wife and I recently found an amazing lifestyle village, where we wanted to stay, so we approached a local estate agent and asked him to sell our current home for us. What astounded me was how quickly he sold it. Within two weeks he had brought about ten qualified buyers through our home and one of them made a very attractive offer, which we accepted. Being a sales trainer, I thought it would be interesting to write an article today, to share my ideas with you, on why I believe he is so successful and why he managed to sell our home so quickly. My goal is to highlight a few key, yet crucial sales behaviours he performs exceptionally well, so that you can see if they can work for you.

Build Rapport with your Clients and Prospects
When he came to our home for the first time he did not jump straight in, getting down to the business end of getting a mandate to sell our home. He first engaged with us, making us feel comfortable, building rapport with both my wife and I, making us feel comfortable and at ease. In any sales environment, this is the key, to making a sale. As you know it is never just about the product or service you offer. A sale is always made on an emotive level. People buy from sales professionals they know, like, trust and who offers them the best value proposition.

Build Trust
Greg started building trust from the moment we contacted him. He called ahead of time to confirm the appointment and then arrived five minutes earlier than arranged, showing us that he was reliable and kept his commitments. He had clearly done his homework and had researched both my wife and I thoroughly. He knew things about recent happenings in our world, he knew things about our daughters recent dance competition, what school she attended, showing real interest in the fact we had just recently changed her to another school, etc. He knew what I did for a living, which places I had visited and which corporates I had spoken to in the past few weeks. All of this information I found out later, he had found by researching my wife and I on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Be Prepared
His thorough preparation was astounding and is a great lesson for any sales professional, who wants to connect with a prospect or customer. The more background information you can gather about any new prospect or existing customer, the easier it is to build rapport with them. Selling is never about just having a great product or service, it is mostly about connection.

When you connect with your clients and prospects on an emotional level, building mutually beneficial relationships with them, they will become loyal fans and will eventually not only buy your goods and services, but will in all likely hood, become a raving fan of yours and help you with referrals. We have already not only referred Greg to a friend of ours, who also wants to sell his house, but phoned Carlos ahead of time and told him about our amazing experience with Greg. As you can imagine Greg, now also has a mandate to sell Carlos’s house too.

When we finally did get down to the business end of things we were very comfortable with Greg, as we saw his genuine interest in us and his attention to detail. His preparation did not stop, with knowing about us. He had researched similar properties in the area, he knew when they were sold, what prices they had attracted etc. When he left us that evening, we were confident that we were in good hands. How do your clients and prospects feel after meeting with you? Are they confident about you and have they seen you value proposition?

Qualify your Prospects
Every single buyer Greg brought to view our home had been carefully vetted and before Greg brought anyone to view our property; he knew their needs were aligned with what our property offered. He has a thorough process, where he discovers exactly what his client’s needs are, so that he only takes them to properties, which could satisfy their expectations, thereby not wasting their time, aimlessly driving around. He is also careful not to offer them too many choices, which could confuse them.

How qualified is every one of your prospects? Do you know exactly what you have to sell and do you then search your environment for your ideal clients and prospects, people or businesses, who need exactly what you have to offer. When you know your product or service, the value it offers and you identify the right people, selling or should I rather say “HELPING” becomes really effortless.

Genuinely want to support and Help
During our discussions with Greg, he realised that we would need somewhere to stay after we sold our house, as we were building and our new house would only be ready in about 18 months’ time. He sent us a number of rental options, without us having even asked him for assistance. This did two things. Firstly he eliminated one of our barriers to selling immediately and he also made a further sale by arranging a rental unit for us. This added service made us trust and like Greg even more and gave him another selling opportunity.

Are you constantly looking for ways to support your prospects and clients? There are often numerous opportunities to help them, upsell to them or point them in the direction of other products or services, which will help them. These are products or services may not even be from your company. Have an open exploring mind and you will see many different ways to help and support your clients and prospects. The more authentic you are and the more you can help them, the greater will be the trust relationship. This will also help you to show commitment, thereby developing a mutually beneficial relationship with them.

Know and Use your Clients and Prospects Names
The sweetest word in any language is your own name. Greg is a master at this, before he arrived he had memorised my entire families names, including that of my cat. He greeted both my wife and I by name as he arrived and as soon as our daughter walked into the room, he immediately greeted herby name too. What was really astounding was that, when Lex our cat walked into the house he referred to him by name too.

No Matter what you Sell, You are in the People Business
As Greg was leaving our home one evening, after bringing some prospects past to view the property, I asked him how he remembered everyone’s names so easily. He simply said that as he was in the people business, it was crucial that he remember people’s names, so he had attended memory classes to improve his memory. Remember Greg never said I am in the property selling business, he like every other sales professional is in the people’s business.

After all, no matter what you sell, it is always people who make the final decision about whether they will buy your product or service. How good are you at remembering everyone’s names? Do you remember the security guards name at the gate to your clients premises; do you refer to the receptionist by name on arrival? All these small touches, where you can positively influence the various gatekeepers along the path to the final decision maker will make “HELPING” your clients that much easier.

If you want to become a true sales superstar, following these few guidelines:

Know what you sell, who wants what you have to offer and where to find them.
Believe in your product or service 100%
Qualify your prospects as thoroughly as possible.
Prepare for each sales meeting, researching and discovering as much useful information as you can about each prospect.
Connect with your prospects and get them to know, like and trust you
Always look for ways to add value to them. Searching for ways to help them.
Know people’s names and use them as often as you can.
Be authentic and really care about your clients and prospects.
Sincerely want to support and help your clients and prospects.
Stop Selling or Telling and start “HELPING” your clients and you will become a sales superstar.