by Christine Sutherland
After decades of studying elite sales professionals, and teaching and measuring sales skills to a broad cross-section of sales people, I’d like to pass on to you the 7 ways in which the elite performers assure their success. Use this article to identify and master the skills that you’ll require as part of your repertoire if you’re to truly gain total control of your earning capacity.
INCREDIBLE RAPPORT
Matching and mirroring (which you may have been taught) is merely the kindy level of rapport. Top performers have such incredible rapport skills that they’re often able to build rapport very rapidly, even with people who initially don’t like them.
Let’s hope the online dating gurus don’t ever find out that this highest level of rapport even exists!
It probably wouldn’t do much good anyway, because they’d use it to try to manipulate, and manipulation is an automatic rapport breaker. To achieve the results you really want, these rapport skills must be used to enhance your relationships so that your level of connection with people is deep and genuine.
How can you gain those deeper rapport skills? Of course you’re not going to develop them overnight, but you certainly can develop them very quickly with practice. Have you ever seen the rapport building exercise that the synchronised swimming teams do before each performance?
In order to ensure that they perform “as one”, these teams use eye contact and breathing rates as an aid to match their internal states. If you were to ask them, you’d also find that they have an intention to match each others’ heart rates. Sound a bit “woo-woo”? It works.
CAN YOU BE A REAL MIND READER?
This goes beyond rapport and is in fact the ability to read your clients like a book.
These days you can use cutting edge accelerated learning techniques to move you toward a state of deep competence as quickly as possible, so that you learn to appreciate what your clients are thinking even before they realise it themselves.
How would you like to know the difference between “yes/no”, “like/dislike”, and “ready/not ready”? Useful?
To gain this skill, again practice with your fellow sales team or with some good buddies who’ll be patient! Have them silently think of questions that have “yes” as an answer and questions that have “no” as an answer. Once you’ve experienced this with several people, you’ll quickly begin to get a sense of these factors even before the person themselves becomes aware of it.
CLIENT TRAITS THAT YOU MUST KNOW IN ORDER TO MAKE SALES!
Although therapists work with several personality traits, most of them don’t know THESE! These are the traits that predict how a client will go through the decision making process – the traits that give away the very factors the client needs in order to say yes. Can you see why I say they’re essential for you to know? (And they should be essential for therapists too!)
Some people try to make out that these traits are “rocket science” and I’ve seen trainers charge thousands of dollars to teach them to people. The irony is that you already have the ability to recognise these traits IMMEDIATELY once you merely read and understand what they are. Almost everyone does.
Take a look at the following trait and you’ll see what I mean. This particular trait is called “match/mismatch”.
Have you ever met anyone who seemed to disagree with every single thing you’ve said? If you say “up” they say “down”. If you say “black” they say “white”. If you try to agree with them, they change their mind. You just can’t seem to win with this person, who habitually mismatches or finds difference with everyone else. The technical term for this trait is “polarity responder”, but you’ve probably already given them your own term: “pain in the posterior”!
Just as irritating as a mismatcher is a “similarity responder” who will find a way to agree with everything you say (it doesn’t mean they’ll follow through on that by the way). They perceive everything as familiar and “same”, and find it very difficult to disagree, or cope with things they don’t understand. They will fill in the blanks in their imagination, so that it looks just like something they already know.
Real Life Example
Let’s say Fred the sales professional is visiting Macy the general manager and Macy seems “disagreeable”. First she explains a problem on the manufacturing line, but when Fred repeats her statement later, she denies there is a problem! Macey is such an extreme mismatcher that she even mismatches her own statements. (Christine’s note: as hard as it might be to believe, such extreme mismatchers do exist. They’re rare, but they do exist!)
Fred, realising that a mismatcher is one of the easiest people to influence (if you can be bothered), merely says, “Macey, I don’t know that you’d agree with me that there could be a better way to run that process, but I wonder if you wouldn’t find it easier to ”
Fred could go on to say (getting closer to wrapping up the deal): “Macey, this particular model isn’t for everyone and it might not be attractive to you ….” (she’ll be thinking “oh yes it is” because she can’t help herself). Once you fully understand all the personality traits you’ll find it impossible to clash with your client’s “style” ever again.
MILLION DOLLAR QUESTIONS
Elite sales professionals use 3 little questions to understand the client’s needs on a very deep level.
These 3 questions can rightly be called “million dollar questions” because they absolutely highlight the client’s core values in relation to the product or service being offered, and even tell you the precise words the client needs to hear in order to make a decision to buy.
There are 2 reasons why these questions can be regarded as “gold”. They increase your chances of selling by at least double, and they simultaneously build an incredibly deep level of understanding between you and your client, meaning that it’s also more likely that you’ll receive terrific referrals from this client far into the future.
HOW TO HAVE ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER YOUR SALES INCOME
Can you simply decide how much commissions you’ll earn in any given month and have 100% confidence in hitting or exceeding that?
Top sales professionals certainly can and do, because they know the simple statistics that matter to every sales person, and they can turn them into a mathematical equation that literally gives them fingertip control of your income.
You’ve heard of Frank Bettger? He was possibly the first person in the world to turn his sales activities into a documented system that worked. Nowadays of course there’s just a little more to it, but not much!
What sales activities do you get involved in? What result can you attribute to each (even if it’s just a guess at this stage)? If you wanted to double your income, what would you have to do? What activities would you dump and what would you keep?
But to actually come through on this equation, you have to plan, document, track and analyse each activity. Otherwise you’re still flying blind, and you’re not being accountable – not even to yourself. If you are prepared to do these things then I’m excited for you, because you’re nearly there!
ABRACADABRA! FEAR OR DOUBT GONE!
Have you ever known what you had to do, and certainly been capable of doing it very well, and yet you procrastinated or self-sabotaged so it still didn’t get done? This is what fear or niggling doubt can do, so obviously it needs to go!
What if you know you should feel confident about making those calls or speaking in front of that group, but you still feel sick in the stomach every time you think about it?
A fast and easy way to eliminate these problems has been available for several years now, but only a few especially-skilled therapists know about it.
It’s a technique called “NeuroStim” and it’s so effective that it’s been tested in clinical trials to eliminate depression and even severe chronic pain in just days. Permanently. It’ll make mince meat of your performance anxiety!
NETWORK LIKE THIS AND YOU’LL ENJOY A HUGE PAYOFF!
In the old days we always recommended that our clients and students join a business networking organisation in order to build relationships that would benefit them personally and professionally. We toiled conscientiously and for years to teach a philosophy and methodology that we knew worked.
Sadly, we don’t see any evidence at all that the organisations understand the principles of effective business networking.
So these days, to be successful, you need to form your own self-generated networking group in such a way that it MUST provide not only great referrals, but mentoring, advocacy, joint ventures, and the sharing of expertise and resources. All in business hours!
The advantages of turning your back on the networking organisations and building your own private network are gigantic. You’ll save time, money and effort, and you no longer have to tolerate boring or rude networking practices. You’ll no longer rob yourself, family or friends of time that should be spent with them. You’ll have REAL friends in business who enrich your life personally and professionally.
COULD YOU DO IT TOO?
Of course you can always learn more or enhance existing skills when it comes to your ability to communicate, but if you’ll only master these 7 keys skills you’ll soon be amongst the elite and you’ll certainly deserve your place there!
About the Author:
The free ebook ”
Speed Business Networking – The Manual” describes the detailed philosophies and methods that deliver effective networking. It’s available to individuals and networking organisations who want to network more humanely and more productively.
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