Have you found that the world of selling has changed a lot
from what it was, even just a few years ago?
This is what we're seeing across the board.
And we live in an unprecedented time of science
and data that really supports what's happening out there
and what's really working in the marketplace.
There are specific strategies that are backed by science,
by the Psychology of Selling that are going
to help you become so much more effective,
every single time you're in front of a prospect.
So in this video, I'm going to show you the psychology
of selling in today's market.
Check it out.
(ethereal music)
Number one, what you learned from 2015 is now old school.
It may not seem like it was that long ago
but 2015 was a long time ago.
Things have completely changed.
And yet most sales training hails from at least that time
or before, there are very few strategies and methodologies
that are based on what's truly happening right now.
When we're applying concepts in selling
that were developed or were geared towards
the world of 2015 and before,
that stuff is so old school,
the world has completely changed
and we need to update our approach.
So my challenge to you is to leverage strategies
that are current right now,
all of the changes that have happened
have all boiled down into the fact
that the strategies that might have worked back
in the day, simply won't work.
Number two, bring some insight to the table.
Now, this is one of the ideas that is so critical right now
because prospects are so bombarded by information
and salespeople that they don't really know how
to sort through it all.
And what they know for sure is
that they don't just want some sales guy or sales person
who's just going to pitch them
on their product and offering.
Instead, what prospects need is real insight upfront
that demonstrates that indicates to the prospect
that you are an expert in what you're talking about.
Not just some low level sales person
who's just going to suck their time.
You must bring insight to the table early on.
Number three, earn the discovery questions.
Now, it's pretty common to understand
that we want to have some kind
of a discovery conversation where we are asking questions
of the prospect.
And that's still accurate,
but, what's changed is that you don't just get to jump
into discovery with prospects a lot of times.
You have to earn that discovery
with that insight that we just talked about.
So thinking about how can you demonstrate real expertise
to get the person to actually be willing
to answer your questions?
Because if you're not doing that, what you're likely
to hear from the prospect is some version of,
"Well, can you just show me what you guys do?
Can we stop with all these questions
and can you just show me."
You need to earn those discovery questions.
Number four, stop probing, probing is a very
transparent approach to asking
some kind of a random set of qualifying questions
that are going to feel
a little uncomfortable to the prospect.
The purpose of an effective discovery is that you're
asking a series of questions that are slowly leading up
to helping you understand
"Yes, are they qualified or not?"
But B, you're also unpacking for them
the core challenges that they're facing.
So you're actually creating value in the process rather
than just probing them with different qualifying questions.
So stop the probing and start really thinking about how
can you be asking questions that are slowly but surely
creating value in the eyes of the prospect.
Number five, they don't care about you.
This is a really, really important distinction
that I think a lot of salespeople, feel hurt
when a prospect doesn't do what they wanted the
prospect to do.
And that's simply because the prospect doesn't care
about you, and it's not because they don't care
about you as a person.
Maybe if they saw you hanging off a bridge
they'd still grab your hand and help bring you over.
But they don't care about you in so much
as they don't really care whether you make the sale or not.
In fact, there's a lot of times
a misalignment of incentives.
You want to make a sale and they may or may not
want to purchase whatever it is that you have to offer.
So we have to remember that
if a prospect doesn't behave the way we want them to,
it's not them, that's doing it wrong.
It's something that we did.
And we just have to kind of take ourselves
out of that situation
and just recognize, they don't care about us
and that's okay.
We can slowly but surely demonstrate value to get them
to at least want to engage in that conversation.
Number six, getting them talking is everything.
The data is unequivocal, prospects that do a significant
amount of talking, particularly during the discovery phase
are much more likely to close and salespeople that are
really good at getting their prospects talking
are going to be the highest performing salespeople.
That may have diminishing returns at the far end
in terms of like a prospect just going on
and on for an hour, right?
That's not productive, but in general, if you can get
your prospects talking, whether it's on a prospecting call
or on a discovery conversation
or even during the presentation, that's a great thing.
Getting them talking is really going
to help pull them in and make them feel like they've
participated in defining what it is that you're ultimately
going to present.
Number seven, fit is more important than close.
This is really counter to what most salespeople
have been taught, right?
We've all been taught that the close is everything
here, go for the close.
You've got to ask for the business, right?
But that's not really the case.
What's most important is determining whether you
and the prospect are a fit for one another.
And that means whether they are a
fit for what you offer and whether you are a fit
for what they are looking for to solve the challenges
that they have.
Determining that is so much more important
than having some fancy close at the end.
Because if there's no fit
then the close ain't going to happen.
So don't worry about the close.
Instead, focus your energy on determining fit.
Number eight, "I'm not sure that you should
do business with me."
This is one of the most powerful phrases that you can use
in a selling situation to diffuse the sale.
If a prospect says,
"Well, why should I do business with you?"
How do most salespeople react?
Most salespeople start beating their chest
and start talking about how great their product is
or how amazing their service is or how they've been
in business for 557 years, or, that you get me
and I care about you, you've read all this junk, right?
That's what typical salespeople are saying
when they're asked, "Why should I do business with you?"
Instead, what I challenge you to do is flip the script,
leverage the Psychology of Selling to really pull the air
out of the room.
Instead, when they say, "Why should I do business with you?"
What I'd prefer you say is something like,
"You know what George?
I'm actually not sure that you should do business
with me, would it be okay though if I ask some questions to
determine whether we're a fit and then I can answer
that question," they're going to be like,
"Whoa, this is so different
and now I don't feel that pressure."
Number nine, you are a doctor.
This is the ultimate in the Psychology of Selling
is that you are that psychologist.
You are that psychiatrist.
You are that doctor.
And your goal is to get as much information
about what's going on in their world.
As it pertains to whatever it is you offer
to really determine fit.
You walk into a doctor's office and you say,
"Hey Doc, my elbow hurts."
The doctor doesn't then go into a sales pitch on the surgery
that they can offer on your elbow, of course not.
Instead, they start to pull you in.
They ask you questions about the elbow.
They examine it.
They start to understand what's going on
and that's exactly what we need
to be doing in sales.
So there is the Psychology of Selling in Today's Market.
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