Category Archives for "heart-centered"

Heart Centered Selling’s not for Wimps

By Johna11 | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing

You need strength, courage and self-discipline to resist the temptations urging you to push for a close too soon. That’s why heart centered selling’s not for wimps.  The rewards, though, are strong bonds with customers.

Heart centered sales and marketing put your prospects’ and your customers’ needs before your own. It takes love for your customers, the kind of love that makes finding out about their needs more important than springing your products and services on them too soon. It’s the kind of love that asks questions, listens to the answers, probes with more questions until you develop real understanding.

It’s the kind of love that demonstrates caring.  Customers feel a connection. They come to know, like and trust you.  From this, you will gain sales, referrals, and friendships. Because they feel the sincerity of your concern, you are welcome and valued.

At the same time, heart centered, soft sell sales requires the strength to protect your efforts. Some people who are more comfortable with aggressive types of sales so they like fighting images here. As much of selling is a head trip, you can defeat yourself before you ever make a sales call if you focus on the negatives and the “I can’t” statements. For this reason, I work with an inner level as well as with outer activity.

There are several things you can do to protect your sales efforts without getting into your prospect’s space and interfering with their right to make a decision.

• Use visualizations to imagine their concerns and to shield your efforts from competitors’ attcks.
• Give prospects and customers freedom to make their own choices. Otherwise, they will feel crowded. Causing a prospect to sense you are a stalker getting in their space is one of the best ways I can think of for a salesperson to be his or her own worst enemy.
• The best technique is to use a heart centered sales and marketing approach. You’ll be different and so stand out because most people won’t take the time to get to really know and understand them. Three ways to show you care and love your customers are as follow:

• o    You need strength, courage and self-discipline to resist the temptations urging you to push for a close too soon. That’s why heart centered selling’s not for wimps, but the rewards are worth it.
• o    Paint a word picture of the benefits they will enjoy when they use your products and services. Help them see and feel the new, better condition of their lives after buying from you.

Heart centered selling’s not for wimps because it takes strength, courage and self-discipline put getting to know and understand your customers first. You also have to be prepared to protect your sales efforts while giving your prospects and customers their space. Three ways to do this are to use visualizations to imagine their interests and to mentally protect yourself from competitive attacks; give them space to make their own decisions; and use heart centered, soft sell sales techniques to focus everything on what they feel they need and want. When you help customers buy, you’ll find selling fun, fulfilling and mutually rewarding.

Have You Heard the MLM Lies?

By Johna11 | heart-centered , heart-centered , Sales and Marketing

First, let me say that I like MLM or multi-level marketing programs in general. Usually they sell really good products. Second, most are honorable and honest. However, some MLM lies show up when it comes to sponsoring and recruiting.

This week I was called by a woman I’d met at a seminar in March. She did a good job of refreshing my memory as to whom she is and how we met. She also got me engaged by asking questions about how the program I signed up for is going for me. Then she told me what’s going on in her world. That lead to her talking about a really incredible program for getting rich. She wanted to send me a CD that I can watch.

Three MLM Lies

Initially she was going to rely on the CD to explain the program benefits. I tried repeatedly to tell her that no matter how good it is, I’m not going to get into it right now. When I explained that I have to stay focused on my present business, she started on the three hard sell MLM lies I’ve heard from network marketers for years.

1. Everyone’s a prospect – this came up when I ask who her idea customers are.
2. It won’t take any extra time. It’s effortless. You just bring it up in a normal conversation. (In this case, I could do it in two hours a week.)
3. There’s nothing to learn. (In response to my comment that I don’t have the time.  I think it is based on the company providing videos and websites for your prospects.)

The funny thing is that as a new distributor or representative, you tend to believe this nonsense and spout it when you talk to other people. In my experience, the up-line distributor tells them that it won’t take any effort because it’s the easiest way to get your new people started. It’s not the most effective approach, though, to selling your products or services. Nevertheless, if enough newbies talk to all of their friends and families, a few will luck into someone who actually wants what they are selling. The rest of your people will get discouraged and quit so you just recruit someone new.

Everyone Isn’t a Prospect

Unless you’re selling water in the desert where there’s no public source of water, you need to understand your idea customer profile. It enables you to be efficient in your recruiting. You may still want to speak with everyone you know – but you will do it conversationally asking questions to see if there is a need or want that your program can help fill.

Hard sell salespeople focus primarily on their own needs so they can’t hear the repeat nos. While I agree that you don’t stop “selling” at the first no, until you find what your prospects want and need, you shouldn’t even be selling yet. You should be asking questions and listening.

Heart centered Multi-level Marketers Listen

If you are a heart centered, soft sell salesperson or marketer, you care about your prospects first, knowing that the sales will follow when you truly can help them get what they need to fix their problem or fulfill their desire. I have heart centered, soft sell friends in multi-level marketing who’ve approached me about their products. When I explained that I need to stay focused on my current business until it’s strong enough for me to add something else, they listen and wait until the time is right for me.

Multi-level marketing is a wonderful way to get started in your own part-time business. You can avoid getting suckered in by the MLM lies if you learn the basics about sales and marketing. You know from your own life, you’re not a prospect for every product on the market. So why did you get involved in this business? Start building an ideal customer profile as it will make it easier to find people who really will excel in business with you.

For more information on what an ideal customer profile is about check out my previous blog posts. One in particular I hope you will enjoy is “Focus Your Marketing on Your Ideal Customer.”

How to Avoid Looking Stupid When Asking Questions

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Sales Calls

I’ve often wondered why salespeople have such a hard time asking questions that dig deeply enough to understand what their customers want. I’ve seen consultants do the same thing. The danger is that we make assumptions and then propose the wrong solution. Because the customer either recognizes immediately that it won’t work or maybe tries it before discovering it doesn’t work, we’ve lost credibility and trust.

Among the many reasons I’ve discovered for not asking enough questions, is that people are afraid of looking stupid when asking questions. They figure that what the prospect just said is probably something they should know so they ignore it or try to bluff their way through it. The result of this approach is to fail to cover something that’s really important to your potential customer, try to fake it when making your presentation about how your products and services will take care of that issue – which you mention but didn’t really understand so your solution looks dumb, or you propose a fix to something that was really a surface issue and not important.

When you operate from a heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing viewpoint, it should make sense that you want to come across sincere and trustworthy. You do this largely by taking time to ask the questions for understanding. People forgive a lot of mistakes if they feel you really care about helping them. This presupposes, of course, that you actually have the in-depth product knowledge necessary to recognize the solution needed once you understand their concerns.

Two key points before you get into your sales call:

• Put your attention on really helping your prospects solve their needs or reach their dreams. The more you focus on the other person, the more you will be able to put the pressure of making salesContinue reading

Social Networking Tip: If you’re going to write me, write to me

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Social Networking

Social networking can be a blessing or just another annoyance. Used properly, it’s a wonderful tool for heart-centered, soft sell salespeople and marketers because it shows you as a person. Prospects and customers want to come to know, like and trust you. When they discover you’re a person too, it can help you to connect with them. Done wrong it merely shows you lack good sense and manners so it will hurt your ability to connect in a positive way. Remember, social networking is about being social and interacting with people. Which brings us to today’s social networking tip: If you’re writing “me” (anyone you want to join your network) to become my friend or make a connection, then write to “me.”

LinkedIn and Facebook as well as most other social networking sites have marvelous tools for inviting everyone in your different mailing lists to join you on their sites. If I know you personally, especially in the non-virtual or physical world of daily living, then you can get away with an impersonal automated request – and I will probably join you because you are my friend out here.

Even then, however, taking a moment to write a little bit extra about why you want me, or everyone else in your database, to join you on this latest social networking site would be nice. For example, “I find that LinkedIn is really popular with business people and has lots of useful forum or groups that I think you might find as useful as I do” would help me to understand it’s value to me.

To connect, make it personal

If, on the other hand, we’ve never met, then I would appreciate knowing why you want to be friends. What do we have in common? Are you a Continue reading

Old Selling Secret Improves Sales

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Are you looking for a way to really impress your prospect? Here’s an old sales secret; it’s one of the simplest ways. Send a handwritten thank you note after your meeting.

Thank you notes work following job interviews too

I had the pleasure of attending a networking group meeting last night for the Career Marketplace Search group that meets at the Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena California. When the guest speaker on Emotional Intelligence had to cancel because of illness, the group coordinators substituted a session on job search skills. I suggested that one technique that works really well for those who actually get the interview is to remember to send a handwritten thank you note. Sandy Edge, the program facilitator, reinforced my point by reminding the group that a couple members of the group had come back to report that they got their job offers because they were the only finalists to send thank you notes.

Use handwritten, personalized thank you notes to differentiate you

While this blog is about sales and marketing, remember that job-search candidates need to sell their perspective employers just as much as you do your prospects. A handwritten note will set you apart. Most people won’t make the effort.

Sending a hand written thank you note isn’t a miracle worker. But it does Continue reading

Hard Sell Intervention Ad Disrespects Customers

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

There’s a marketing struggle for survival going on amongst the traditional, generally hard sell marketers. They are finding it harder to grab people’s attention and offer something new and exciting. The latest hard sell ad is a television commercial in which a discount fashion store chain shows friends conducting an intervention to save another friend from over spending on the fashions she could get for less at Marshalls / TJ Maxx. This attitude shows disrespect for customers’ judgment.

Hard sell reveals I’m right; you’re wrong attitude

You may feel that I am making a big deal out of nothing; it’s simply advertising and a humorous effort at that. Obviously, I disagree. The Marshalls / TJ Maxx TV commercial shows an attitude that is prevalent in hard sell sales and marketing: I have the right to decide for you that you need to buy my product. Because I know better than you do, I can use guilt, pressure or other manipulations to control your actions.

Some people with spiritual training recognize this for what it is, Continue reading

Appeal to Prospectors Instead of Prospects

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Months ago I first heard Judith & Jim, founders of the Soft Sell Marketers Association, talk about using the term “prospector” instead of “prospect.” Although I wrote last summer about heart-centered, soft sell salespeople and marketers needing to pay attention to terminology, such as using “broadcast” instead of “blast” (“Choose More Powerfully Attractive Words“), I resisted changing this phrase I’ve used for decades. Then, the other day I was listening to a Soft Sell Marketers Association teleseminar I’d downloaded. It was a session late last year called “Keywords with Rick Hubbard.”

Prospectors are already searching

Rick pointed out that Jim’s use of the term prospector gave him one word to explain a concept he’d struggled to describe for years. Instead of striving to find prospects, put your attention on attracting people who want your solution to either fix something or to fulfill some desire.

Suddenly, a light came on for me too! This is the very angle I’ve taken with my eBook and lessons on 9 Steps to Finding Prospects Who Want What You Provide. (It is currently my free bonus for signing up for my mailing list.) When you appeal to people who already want to buy the help you offer, you need far less time and effort than you do to create demand in people who don’t yet see they need it.

Use heart-centered, soft sell skills to connect with prospectors

Your heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing efforts connect with “prospectors.” Your knowledgeable questions showContinue reading

Be Enthusiastic – If You Don’t Care, Who Else Will?

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

One of the strongest tools I’ve had in sales is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm sells more than any other skill that I’ve seen. The point is, as the salesperson, “If you don’t care, who else will?”

This doesn’t require you to be really outgoing and dynamic in expression. If it’s a natural part of your personality to be energetically expressive, then that’s how you authentically show your enthusiasm. But if you have a more restrained personality, don’t try to act expressively enthusiastic. People will recognize it as fake, which will undermine your credibility. Just be yourself. Show your belief and excitement about your products and services as you would normally and naturally. Subdued enthusiasm is still enthusiasm. When you speak with conviction and confidence, you will be believable.

Your Voice Tone and Energy May Tell a Different Story than Your Words

Prospective customers want to know that you believe in what you are selling them. If you speak without enthusiasm, Continue reading

How Objections Are Gifts

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales Training , Soft Sell

Have you ever noticed how most people want to avoid conflict? Salespeople are no different. That is why it’s hard to appreciate that objections are gifts. After all, objections tend to come across as either rejections or as pending conflicts.

This is why traditional sales trainers teach you to prepare a list of all the objections you can think of that your prospects might bring up. Then develop strong counters to each one. Then, when your potential buyer raises one of the objections, you can quickly and smoothly defeat it.

See Sales as a Battle, Lose the Customer

The irony of that approach is that each victory you have over your prospect’s objections sprouts another objection. Eventually, unless you just happen to get lucky and find a prospect who wants to buy anyway, your prospect comes up with something like, “Well, let me think about it. I’m not ready to buy right now.” And so, with this effort to be polite, the meeting is over. It’s unlikely you will ever get back in to see that person or, if you are in retail, that he or she will come back looking for you to sell him again.

See with Your Heart to Find Objections as Gifts

The key to accepting objections as gifts is to take a heart-centered, soft sell approach: step outside our own personal feelings long enough to ask, “Why did this customer bring up this objection in the first place? What does she really want?” Change your viewpoint Continue reading

I Wish I’d Listened to My Feelings

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing

The other day I wrote a blog post, “The Strangest Secret to Business Success”  in which I’d commented positively on the points that that three successful businessmen had all made about looking out for the other person’s concerns first. Yesterday I read an email from a friend who advised me that I should be careful about one of the speakers I’d named. He offered no details, but his comment was enough because in all honesty I had had a bad feeling about this man’s presentation. His hard driving approach came off to Dorothy and me as hard sell, i.e. more concerned about his sales than our needs and wants. I wish I’d listened to my feelings before I included him in the article.

Feeling Insecure I Drowned Out My Inner Voice

This is a case of allowing the opinion of others to drown out my inner voice. I could have used my wife’s reaction to his hard driving presentation to bolster my own response. Instead I was impressed by 1) his examples and points, which I still feel were correct, and 2) his testimonials by famous people, like Mark Victor Hansen and Brian Tracy. I wrote off my concerns with his presentation style to feelings of inadequacy, such as “I just must not be ready to play at that level,” instead of to “this isn’t the type of game I want to play.”

I’ve had other times in my life when I had a negative feeling about someone but Continue reading