Sometimes, the grind gets people down. Busy schedules, stress related to sales budgets, and a myriad of external pressures weigh down on the minds of individuals trying to sell their product. It is tough enough to convince a buyer that they should purchase your product instead of the product offered by your competition. After all, each organization typically maintains certain competitive advantages over the other. It is far more difficult to get that individual to buy your product if you truly don’t believe that your product has any competitive advantages over that which you are competing against! <<<<One of the most important concepts of selling effectively is maintaining congruency between your actual beliefs and those which you present. >>> If you walk in looking disheveled with a dirty sample product and a weak sales pitch, who would be interested in your product? The bottom line is that you need to believe in the package that you are selling, and just as importantly you need to believe in your own ability to sell it. I am not saying that you believe in it so strongly that you are only willing to sell it at exorbitant price levels, but you need to have confidence that there is some value that your organization can bring to your target market. Furthermore, you must identify exactly what that value is and quantify it for yourself and your customer.
It is also important to believe in your company. If you work for a company that is making capital investments in its future, you need to be able to effectively communicate the positive vision of the future that will result from those investments.
Finally, if you want your customers to believe that you are a professional, you need to dress the part. It has been said that the clothes make the man, and that statement does have some merit to it. When you are in front of a customer, you are not just selling your product or service. You are selling yourself as well. In order to dress the part, there are several things to keep in mind. I know some of these recommendations will sound superficial, but when dealing face to face with people it is often difficult enough to keep their minds on the task at hand. Even the most perceptibly insignificant distractions can knock them off course and detract from your selling efforts. The first key is making sure that you are never dressed more casually than your customer. If you anticipate that your customer is going to wear a suit and tie, it would be inappropriate for you to show up wearing anything less. Although it is often acceptable for you to be dressier than your customer, as sales people typically have a day full of calls and must be prepared for every one of them, the closer you match your customers the better you will be received. A significant imbalance between your dress and your customer’s can result in an alteration to their perception of you and may modify their reception of your message. For example, if you were looking dapper in your suit and tie and you were to visit a client that typically wears jeans and t-shirts, he or she may not see you as someone that they can relate to.
If you are required to fly to your destination and pack your clothes in a hanging bag, I would highly recommend ironing your clothes prior to wearing them. In order to reduce the amount of wrinkling, one useful trick is to keep the clothes in the plastic bags supplied by the dry cleaners when you pack them.
- Communicate the Vision
Know your Strengths and Weaknesses and Build on them
Not only do you need to identify your weaknesses, but you also need to do a self-assessment to identify any obstacles that may be impeding you from reaching your goals.