Let me begin with a question. Why some want to become actors? I could ask this question another way, “Why people applaud when an actor pretends to be somebody else?” I fancy that your answer might be…”People want to be actor because acting is a rewarding skill” Or your answer might be, “Some people go for acting because they have a passion for acting, some go to acting attracted by its glamour and the rest to go gain the needed self esteem.” ….. You might continue…. “Well, people applaud when an actor pretends to be somebody else because actors usually play the roles of the best men and women. These inspire people and they link the acts of actors to their lives. Some imitate, some compare themselves with acts and some just reaffirm their own ways”….
Whatever your answer might be actors want to be the best actors. They might be looking for an Oscar award. On the other hand people like some actors, take them as their role models and dislike some of actors. In short actors sell their performances. People buy them if they like and don’t buy if they don’t like them. Now come to salesmanship…just like acting the success of a salesman depend on the people’s response. The salesman needs to acts the needs of his customers.
What makes one a good actor, the same makes practices makes one a good salesman.
It is now very easy to understand, why a salesman likes to sell? Because each sale is the affirmation of his observations and each sale is saying that his practices is working and he is improving. Each sale is a trophy for a salesman.
Two common things that makes one a good salesman is observations and practice. You might ask, everybody knows that observations and practice makes one a good salesman….what is important is what to observe and how to observe?
I like street smarts than to business gurus because they practically demonstrate rather teaching formulas. I present two individuals from street smarts as model salesmen; a manufacturer-salesman and another one a walking eBay.
Walking eBay,
He was like a local Google… he was actually offering more than what Google can do. Do you have something to sale? Do you want to buy something? Do you have issues with someone to resolve? Do you want to inquire about somebody? Do you want to meet with some local officials? If you were living in the area then the first thing that would come to your mind was the name of this person. I was curious, how could do all these things and how he began to reach here?
He started his business with setting up a grocery store. It was a success. The key to his success was his socializing skills. He was talkative and was spicing his talks with humor so people liked him. His talkative nature were supplying him information about needs and moods of customers. He sold his shop because he had turned himself into a walking a marketplace or in our modern term into a walking eBay. He becomes a link between buyers and sellers. If you had to sell something, you knew either he would buy it or he knew someone to buy it. If you wanted to buy something you knew that either he posses this item or knows someone that wants to sell. Why people approaching him for buying and selling their items. The reason was simple he had plenty of information regarding items and people who sell. He would not sell anything without giving a demonstration. If you were in need of instant cash but you had no customer, he was there. You wanted to buy something but you had not enough cash.. He was there for you to get you what you need. You would pay him later at your comforts. He was not let any deal down. He would facilitate them in whatever means he could.
I liked his ways of dealing. If he had to sell a car, he would make the deal at an auto-mechanic workshop and let the auto-mechanic check the car and talk about it so the customer become satisfied that he is getting the best of what he is paying for. If he was selling a house, he would invite a real estate agent to make his assessment so the customer would know that he got the best deals and he was always there to buy it again in case one had to change his mind. Demonstration, trust and availability are the reasons that people were involving him in their deals especially if one was investing a fortune in buying something.
Now to another kind of street smart, manufacturer-seller,
His sales successes were dependant on two main things, having most skilled craftsmen and introducing new designs into market. He was very good at reverse engineering by getting design ideas from branded products, magazines, movies and news papers. However, the main problem was getting, retaining and managing skilled craftsmen. I liked his methods. He was always wearing exotic items, collecting exotic items and easy to use tech items. Anybody appreciating or showing interests in any of those items, he would offer them in very affordable payments or in return for work. You could own any of his items just by showing interest. It was his way for digging information about interests of his workers and customers. Besides, he was available to any ambitious person in starting a business, running a business or in sales and distribution. The lure of looking unique, owning what you like but couldn’t afford and owning a business of yours were attracting to him, best craftsmen, salesmen and customers.
Both of these street smart salesmen taught me that business is a sport of growth. One can cross easily the five steps of closing a deal by creating opportunities for growth of your customers…….
Before ending my presentation, let me share the most crucial part of a successful salesperson and that is diversification of the personality. A successful salesman needs to diversify himself/herself in order to gain and sustain the customers. Reasons?
If you make a quick online check for any product, you will notice three main categories of customers,
1. Review writers or better to say risk takers; customers who are willing to try new products. These are the most important customers as they influence other categories of customers in buying or not buying a product.
2. Top review readers; People who usually read first few comments that are usually 5 stars rating. If they become suspicious of the top reviews then they go for negative ratings. Majority of people belongs to this category.
3. Negative review readers or highly cautious customers; though this category of customers are not in majority but they can break the trusts or may influence opinions of prospect customers.
A street smart always keep something in his pocket for both; risk takers and highly cautious people as they are key in closing deals. As these two groups of people are quiet different so a successful salesman need to diversify his personality to be able to understand their needs.
(This is my 3rd project from “The professional Speaker manual”..)
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