TOP 10 SALES CONVERSATION POINTS: Challenge and Opportunity Gone Wild

Soul of Selling Step 5: Conduct the Honoring Sales Conversation.

Ever wonder how to begin a sales conversation? Move it along to the next level? Close it with grace and aplomb?

Sales conversations are the Challenge/Opportunity paradigm on steroids. The Soul of Selling‘s Honoring Sales Conversation guides you step-by-step through this unique process.

THE HONORING SALES CONVERSATION
This conversation gives you the 10 essential points or touchstones to make sure you:

• Create and keep a warm, appreciative connection with people.
• Speak in an inspiring way about your offer.
• Hear what they need to say before they can buy.
• Close the sale in a way that makes both of you feel like winners—whether or not they buy!

THE TOP 10 POINTS
Any great sales conversation includes these 10 points. In The Soul of Selling, I cover each point in depth and show you how to use it in a variety of situations.

1. See people’s value. Don’t wait for people to prove their value to you. Instead, decide ahead of time what value you will see in them. You might decide to see them as open, or as wanting to have a better life, or minimally, as willing to listen to you!
2. Make this value the foundation of your conversation, whether or not they buy. Even as they voice their concerns, and even if they say “no,” continue to honor, respect, and appreciate them.
3. Connect with them. Before you start talking about your offer, be sure you are connected to the other person. You might do this with warmth, humor, some small thing you say, a handshake, or a smile. You know when you’re connected to people, and when you’re just talking to them. They do, too.
4. Share your Vision. This is where you use your Speaking Bank, weaving together your talking points in an inspiring way that speaks directly to where the other person is.  Sharing your Vision is not so much a speech as a conversation about the features and benefits of your offer. Bring your passion, whether that passion is quiet or effusive, and keep your attention on the other person.
5. Discover the value they see in your offer. This may be the most important guidepost. People need to know exactly how your offer will make their lives better or easier—and so do you! This is where you return if the conversation loses focus.
6. Invite them to participate. This is “the ask.” This is where you pop the question. Two things to remember: 1) People are waiting for you to ask them to buy. If you don’t, the conversation gets strange and often goes off course; 2) The ask doesn’t have to be a big deal. It can be more along the lines of, “You wanna do this?” Not asking people if they want to buy is like telling a friend what a great dinner party you’re having Friday night—flowers, delicious food, candlelight—and then not inviting him or her.
7. Hear their objections without getting hooked. “I don’t have the time,” “I don’t have the money,” and other objections are natural reactions to the ask. Sometimes these objections are valid, and sometimes people just have to voice them before they can move on to “yes.” Let people know you’ve heard them, but don’t close the door on the sale.
8. Take them back to the value. Remind them of the value they saw. Then use The Scale to help them get clear. Ask them to put the value they hope to get from your offer on one side of an imaginary scale, and their objections on the other side. Which side wins? This way, you’re not pressuring them and they’re not rejecting you. They’re just reporting what they see the scale doing.
9. Close the sale. Ask them again to participate. “So, after looking at the scale, what do you see? Would you like to schedule a consulting session?”
10. Validate their choice, even if it’s not to buy. Honor their choice. Stay connected with them, and let them walk away feeling better about themselves than they did before the conversation—regardless of what they choose.

THE HAPPY ENDING
You may not do these steps in order—but if you touch each point, your sales conversation will leave everybody clear, and everybody smiling.

If they say “yes,” great! If they say “no,” you’ve been a terrific person and can walk away with your head high, happy to have the next conversation. They also feel good about themselves—and about you. People who are honored. even when they say “no,” are people who come back!

What else do you include in your sales conversations?

Soul of Selling Step 1: Put down your baggage and fix what you can.
Soul of Selling Step 2: Pinpoint your passion.
Soul of Selling Step 3: Create your Speaking Bank.
Soul of Selling Step 4: Promise your results.