The second skill is the ability to think like your prospective customer.Every customer wants to feel good after parting with his money to buy your product or service. At every moment he is to spend money, there’s a ‘war’ going on in his mind for him to decide between the two options of: keep his money or part with it. So the pull force of attraction to make him part with his money must be greater than his desire to keep his money.How do you achieve that? Give him the opportunity to buy a good product or service, save him money or time and let him feel the joy even after parting with his money. Even if you sell coffin, your grieving customer wants to experience the joy of giving a befitting rest to the departed loved one. In my case, I knew my classmates’ desire to have a neatly peeled,near-white coloured, sweet and appropriate sized Ireke and would experience joy even if they part with their money for such.
It was the same thing I applied when I imagined how buyers would feel after parting with their money to buy the mobile app of “1000+ Practical Business Ideas and Directory of Money Sources” once they got a quality content and the guaranty that subsequent updates with new business ideas, fund sources etc will be free for life after the first and only purchase.To sell, you must think like the buyer and radiate the emotional energy that matches the way the customer thinks or behave. The best time to do this is before you sell to the customer. It’s akin to saying that you are in the same emotional and spiritual frequency with the prospective customer and you two (seller and customer) can walk together in agreement(Amos 3:3).As a man thinketh so is he, becomes apt. You want to be happy to sell and as you genuinely work towards creating and giving joy to customers after parting with their money,you become more of the customer in your thoughts and processes and win over more prospective customers.
The third step is :Locate your prospective customers.This is very important in your business. There are businesses that has its customers online but it’s focusing on reaching them offline and some businesses suffer because they’re located far from the customers.In my case, my customers were my classmates and I spend zero cost on reaching my customers.If you diligently apply yourself to finding where your customers are located you would have covered a significant milestone in your quest to sell, sell and sell.If you are presently adopting several methods to reach them and it’s not providing sales, don’t give up, keep trying.One day, you will hit the bull’s eye.
The fourth skill is very simple especially if you are the patient type:Listen carefully and attentively to the customer. If you are not a patient person, then you don’t have any business with sales until you acquire the skill of patience.Most customers know what they want and even when their descriptions of the features and requirements of a product or service they need appears blurry, they still manage to know what they don’t want. So if you persuade or trick him to accept what he doesn’t want, you will lose him and the likely referral.
While he is addressing you,look at him in the eye and nod your head to show that you are following his explanation, if it’s over the phone,encourage him with words like, ‘yes’,’okay’,’please go on’ and when he’s finished,go over the list of his requirements you have noted with him and seek his concurrence. This is a very good and effective way to show to him that you are genuinely paying attention to him and his opinion forms the basis of your next action. Are your customers presently ‘talking’ to you and you are not listening or you are listening but not paying attention or taking notes? This is the easiest way to lose a customer and you must avoid it. In my book “1000+ Practical Business Ideas and Directory of Money Sources”,I explained a similar process of handling customer complaints and advised that you look it up. If your desire is to sell, you must listen to your customer.(to be concluded in my next post)
Sunkanmi Vaughan is the host of ‘Bizlifelines With Sunkanmi Vaughan’ on radio and author of the most comprehensive business opportunity handbook; ‘1000+ Practical Business Ideas and Directory of Money Sources’