Advice for sales persons of all products and services, packaged in personal terms.
Whenever any one of us buys something we’re faced with fear. Except my wife. She has never seemed to manage this reasonable emotion (Just kidding, Honey). But in all seriousness you can be faced with fear of making a mistake; the fear the sales person is lying to you; the fear of parting with your hard-earned money; and in some cases the fear of embarrassment. Such fears paralyze many from decisions that clearly could be in their best interest.
For professionals, like myself who rely on sales for our living and our families well-being, we must find ways to overcome these fears and continue on in spite of them. Because try as we might, these fears aren’t going away. As correctly pointed out by the blog Wheelhouse “Goal-oriented sales people can’t overlook the risk their sales prospect is taking on by giving them their time and attention.” …or the fear that accompany that “risk”.
This subject has been on my mind lately because my wife and I are AdvoCare Advisors, distributors of fantastic nutritional, energy, and weight loss products that have positively changed our lives in the past 6 months.
AdvoCare allowed me and my wife to lose 30 lbs each in just 4 months.
I just can’t belief everyone we know is not more willing to take my word-for-it that this company and these products are “the bomb” (’90s term, right? Oh well). Of course, the fault is with me and not with them. In sales terminology I need to earn their trust, and upon doing so confirm it. The “closing” parlance calls for this confirmation to be acquired by simply asking, “You trust me, don’t you?”. Let’s face it, your best friend and even your Mother withholds trust unless you ask this simple question. Upon asking they tend to feel a little sheepish about saying they don’t trust you. And with the exception of only the worst of us fellow human beings, why would I or any sales person lie to you? Especially if they’re family or friends already? You just need to remind them that they do…trust you, that is.
As for the fear of parting with their hard-earned money you just have to convince those you’re presenting your sales proposition that their lives will be better without that money. In my case with Advocare it’s usually easier to convince someone that they would live and feel better minus the extra 40-50 pounds they’re caring around than it is to convince a another very fit person that they too will feel better, have more energy, and probably look better too. But both are true. But we have to get past their fear.
The fear of embarrassment is easier to overcome. But I’m not like most people. I have a pretty high tolerance for embarrassment. With Advocare there’s the embarrassment of admitting that *gasp*, your fat! My own fear is in approaching clearly over-weight people with a product that I know will help them, and that if they or I are embarrassed by their girth we need to get over it in order to help a fellow human being. The other embarrassing aspect of Advocare and similar products or companies is that they are a Direct-Sales company. This doesn’t embarrass me in the least. But it does others. Here we just have to be tough and correctly point out how AdvoCare does hundreds-of-millions of dollars in business every year and has been in business for 20 years. Direct Sales is a common form of dispensing products and has been used for a variety of companies for well of 100 years. So as the expression goes, get-over-yourself. What’s good enough for Mary Kay, and Avon, and Fuller Brush, Pampered Chef, etc, etc. The list is endless.
Whether you are selling cars, homes, knickknacks, or AdvoCare you will be faced with your prospects fear. Failing to overcome it is your fault. Know that you are doing them a favor by helping them over-come it too.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
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1 Comment
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M Schuett blah blah blah 
Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this post. It was practical.
Keep on posting!