Networking Done—Learn To Sell

So now you have a business and need to gain your first, second, or just new clients. You have already made a huge effort building up contacts and now its time to launch into what is an alien field for many consultants—that most frightening of all steps—selling! It’s easy for those of us with the ‘gift of the gab’ and even simpler for those of us referred to as ‘natural salespeople.’ Right?

The Good News Is …

As a consultant, you should be able to meet my next request. Sit down and pin back your ears for some really great news—there is no such thing as a natural salesperson. And having ‘the gift of the gab’ (better expressed in my view as being ‘gobby and full of yourself) does not have anything whatsoever to do with competent and professional selling. In the same way that very good consultants get tainted by the actions of a few bad ones, such is the way for salespeople.

Just like good consultancy, selling is all about preparation and attention to detail and any of you can choose to learn how to sell. Selling is the simple art of conversation. Each one of us can win new business from new customers, or from existing customers, in other words—SELL. How so I hear you ask? Absolute gem coming up so pay attention. This is why:

‘People do business with people they like.’

Who Wins Business

Now unfortunately, I am able to claim to have been a ‘salesperson’ for more than 30 years. Although this does not necessarily make me good at selling, it means that for 30 years I have been reading books about how to sell, attending seminars and being told how to sell, going to training courses to be shown how to improve my selling skills and spent millions of hours with those ‘professional’ salespeople. After this extraordinary amount of money has been spent on learning how to sell do you know what I have discovered?

‘People do business with people they like.’

Learn how to be liked (yes this is something you can learn) and you will never look back. Being liked is not about being the centre of attention, nor is it about being the life and soul of anything, or being in the limelight. Here is the second absolute gem:

‘Be genuinely interested in the people you meet.’

The Listening/Speaking Factor

Regardless of how we were created, the end result was that we have two ears and a single solitary mouth. If you practise to make sure that you always, without fail, use this equipment in the proportions that you have them, you will have taken a huge step toward being a very successful winner of business. In a clear sentence I mean, speak for no more than 1/3rd of the time and listen for the rest. In fact if you can get this to an 80/20 split, you will be flying!

When you are doing this, however, it is essential that you use your ears to listen and not to hear. It is just as important that in your early client meetings, you use your mouth to ask questions about the person, their business and their problems. Do not use your mouth (until much later in the process) for speaking too much about yourself, your business and your product or service. This is because in very simple terms, no one is interested except you. The key to being liked is as I said before is simple:

‘Be genuinely interested in the people you meet.’

Six Principles

Altogether there are six basic principles you can put into action to be liked by most people, causing you to become hugely successful at winning business. It might surprise you to know (in my opinion) that a huge proportion of people currently employed as salespeople are actually not very good at it because they have read too many books, had too much sales training, or have the dubious benefit of learning from experienced salespeople who weren’t very good themselves.

Imagine that! A whole bunch of salespeople who think they can, but actually can’t. This leaves the field wide open for any of you reading this and willing to put in the necessary preparation and effort. When you think about it, it’s not all that different from what you do as a consultant. The idea is to learn (read and listen) all about your prospect’s business issues and at the right time, suggest solutions incorporating your skills.

So back to those six actionable points. I should say that these are not my words of wisdom. These wise, wise words were written in 1936 by Dale Carnegie and despite many attempts over 30 years I can confidently tell you nothing more pertinent has been written since. When I attend colleges, universities and seminars to listen to how selling is taught, the good ideas in modern fancy language, which are supported by theories, all basically say what Dale said more than 70 years ago!

• Become genuinely interested in other people.
• Smile.
• Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest & most important sound in any language.
• Be a good listener and encourage others to talk about themselves.
• Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
• Make the other person feel important—but do it with sincerity.

Now is that simple or what!

Many thousands of pounds have been spent on building me into the ‘salesperson’ I am today. Yet I can honestly say the best money spent was in 1978 when my manager gave me Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ book.

Although I can’t make a present of the actual book to each of you consultants, I can make a gift of the knowledge and suggestion that you rush out as soon as possible to get yourself a copy and read it cover to cover. It will take you less than a day and yet the knowledge will last you a lifetime. Even if you choose to never engage in an actual sales appointment, these principles will make you an even better and more skilled Consultant. In fact—these principles can make us all better people if we practise them. So what will you do now?

Let me know how it goes for you and what successes you gain from it—phil@scarletopus.com.