The Most Powerful Force in Selling

The most powerful thing you can do as a seller is to make sales promises that you guarantee—and then keep those promises, every time. That makes your word golden, both to yourself and to others.

This week, we look at #4 in “the only 5 things we need to be happy and successful sellers”:

1. Free yourself from fear and negative thinking.
2. Tap into your personal passion.
3. Create your Speaking Bank.
4. Make sales promises you can guarantee.
5. Master the 10-point Honoring Sales Conversation.

PROMISES ARE YOUR FRIEND
It can be uncomfortable to guarantee promises. I say “promise” rather than “goal” because a goal is something you work toward, but which you may or may not reach. A promise is something that you say you’ll do, no matter what.

I invite you to take a deep breath and remember that Soul of Selling promises are:

• Crafted so that you win. They work for you, rather than against you.
• Truing mechanisms that bring support, direction, and strength—not stress, grief, or threats.
• Guarantees for success that keep you on track, moving forward in exactly the direction you want to go.

CRAFTING YOUR SELLING PROMISE
Crafting powerful promises is half the battle. Soul of Selling promises have 4 characteristics. They are:

1. Authentic. The promise is yours, not something forced on you from the outside. You create it, you are the source of its energy, and you own it.
2. Doable. Promise small, and deliver big. Only promise what you are willing to do, no matter what. Stretch a bit only after you have a track record.
3. For specific sales results, not effort. Making 30 calls (or calling for 3 hours) is worth nothing. Making 3 sales is worth everything. This may sound harsh, but it’s a fact of life: In selling, trying doesn’t count. Trying is admirable, even courageous. But it doesn’t fund a business.
4. Defined by dates. Without a due date, the promise has no teeth—and you never come off the hook! You don’t know when you’re in trouble and may need to change tactics. Your energy hangs out there in space indefinitely. A date on your promise gives you something to bump up against, and a way to win.

SOME SAMPLE PROMISES

• I have 6 new clients by June 30.
• I sell $600,00 of product by March 31.
• I have 60 people in the seminar by August 3.
• I sell 6 cars by December 1.

NO MATTER WHAT?
With some obvious exceptions, yes.

When I stopped smoking in 1988, I enrolled in a program called “Smoke-Enders.” It was so extreme that it was based on “Coke-Enders” and was strictly for hard-core smokers. My smoking “Q(uit)-date” was August 14. I knew that if I ever had another cigarette after that day, I would never be able to trust myself to quit. I would approach each new “Q-date” with a little voice in my head saying, “You didn’t do it before. Why would you do it now?”

Not smoking was really, really hard for me. I walked around the block hundreds of times, ate a lot of candy, drank a lot of fancy teas—but in a way, I wasn’t stressed. I knew that I was not going to have another cigarette, so the question had switched from “Will I or will I not have a cigarette?” to “What can I do to manage the discomfort of not smoking.”

That lifted an enormous burden. I wasn’t going to smoke! I wasn’t a bad person with a life-threatening problem and a weak will! I just had to figure out how to organize my walks, teas, and candy! In a way, I had already won.

The same thing happens when you start guaranteeing your selling promises. You know you’ll do it. You just have to figure out how.

BUT HOW?
This is the whole secret of the Soul of Selling method, and why people who use it produce remarkable results.

I often talk about the Cosmic Hors d’Oeuvres Tray. Say that your selling promise is to empty the tray of all those succulent little morsels. You pass it around, having delightful and honoring moments with each person. Some take an hors d’oeuvre; others don’t. But you have looked each person in the eye, been present to them, and appreciated them—whether or not they took a morsel. You pass the tray around the room again, but still have some hors d’oeuvres left. You are having a ball, reveling in these encounters with people. You don’t mind if you have to go into the kitchen, into the hall, or even out into the street to empty that hors d’oeuvres tray.

It’s easy to keep going until the tray is empty and you’ve kept your promise—because it’s all about your connections with the people, and that’s enlivening and fun.

YEAH, BUT WHAT IF…?
Guaranteeing your promise calls up a million “Yeah, but’s…” You know what they are: What if nobody’s in the mood to buy? What if my mother gets sick and I have to go to Houston? But my daughter is graduating. My kids come first and they might need me.

These things will come up. Count on it! That’s why it’s so important to plan ahead when you can. Some people think that in order to keep a promise, life has to stop. Life never stops, and that’s why they have trouble keeping promises. Plan for life to continue, even when you’re selling. Here are three good ways to do that:

• Expect the unexpected. Know that wild, unforeseen events will intrude on exactly the time you planned to spend selling.
• Make arrangements in advance for what you can expect. Get support to handle the kids and keep the promise. Figure out the graduation party in February. Don’t leave things until the last minute.
• Start early, and keep going. When you plan ahead, you have room for life, for emergencies, and for keeping your selling promise. When you put off selling until the last minute, everything else will intrude.

THIS IS YOUR POWER
The ability to make promises you can guarantee is what sets you apart and makes you a person of your word—doing what you said you would do with mastery and passion.

“No matter what” is what gives your promises teeth. Honoring, respecting, and appreciating people is what keeps you going until you succeed. When you guarantee your promises, every time, you become a master. You start producing extraordinary results on a daily basis. Even better, that mastery spreads into every area of your life.

What do you think about making promises you can guarantee?