Along our journey to discovering the modern day sales presentation, I have shared with you insights that have revolutionized my sales career. I hope the importance of seeing your sales presentation in a new light, re-establishing the bond of trust with your customer, and connecting with your customer, has resonated with you and has impacted your sales career in a meaningful way.
Now, I’d like to share with you the importance of examining and creating your own selling style and how it sets the tone for your sales presentation.
In previous articles I have spoken of ways that we have missed the mark in sales training as an industry. This has led to the birth of three negative selling styles that have given us all a bad reputation.
At this point you may be asking, “What is a selling style?”
Well, a selling style is simply the way that you choose to sell your customer. It defines who you are as a sales associate as well as how you are perceived by your customers and colleagues. Let me better explain this by stating the three negative selling styles that you will find on today’s sales floor if you take the time to look.
The first is the “look-at-me” sales associate. This type of sales associate truly believes they know everything and can’t wait to tell you all about it. Usually, they are very skilled and knowledgeable in the art of selling their product. The only problem is their selling style is ruled by vanity and selfishness.
Here are some examples of a look-at-me sales associate: A customer comes in and shares that they just got back from a wonderful family vacation in the Bahamas. Instead of acknowledging the customer’s trip and making it all about their customer, what do you think they will do? They will proceed to mention that they have been there 15 times already or talk about their trip to Hawaii. Their response screams “look at me!”
Another example is one I am sure many of you can relate to – watching the look-at-me sales associate try to sell a product to someone who already knows what they want. The customer simply wants to get in and get out with their product. But, because they fell victim to the look-at-me sales associate, that, unfortunately, is just not going to happen. Thus the sales associate proceeds to talk for 30 minutes about their knowledge and skill of the product while the customer tries to politely find a way out. This screams, what? Yep. You guessed it, “look at me!”
Many of you may be laughing to yourselves now, knowing all too well how life working alongside a “look at me” sales associate can be. Watching them work can quickly roller coaster between being amusing and entertaining, to incredibly sad and frustrating because they just don’t get it.
The next negative selling style that you will have seen utilized is the bad fisherman technique. The sales associate who subscribes to this has a strict routine and refuses to change it up for any reason. You see, at one point they very well may have been catching fish with this exact selling style, but after a while their hot spot has been fished-out. They show up to work every day doing the same old thing, only to find that the fish are not biting that bait any longer. They refuse to find a new selling style or hot spot where success may be found.
In other words, they have become a very bad fisherman.
The final negative selling style is the heart transplant selling style. This sales associate is always choosing to focus on the small and insignificant parts of selling instead of taking care of the heart of the matter. In a bridal sale they will focus more on the certification of a diamond rather than finding the mounting style that she absolutely loves.
They don’t realize that if you connect with your customers and establish a bond of trust early on, you won’t need to spend so much time on the little things like certification. The only reason the customer needs certification is because they don’t trust you. I very rarely ever have to use a cert when selling a diamond ring. By the time we find the setting, I generally suggest what they should put in the middle based on our conversation and, most of the time, I get the thumbs up.
There are factors at work that bring all three of these negative selling styles to life, and qualities like selfishness, fear and greed are at the forefront of the issue.
In the modern day sales presentation I encourage you to find a new selling style filled with passion, energy and a serving attitude. Make your customers’ needs the focal point of your sales presentation. Try to see the sale through your customers’ eyes. Make their experience a fun and entertaining outing. Strive to be seen as a trustworthy, fun and knowledgeable associate.
In closing I encourage you to do some homework to help you discover and create your own selling style. Within two of my past articles you will find many of the answers to your questions of how to create your own selling style that is successful. The articles are, “Sales Truth #4: Serving while Selling: A Forgotten Past-time” and “Sales Truth #6: Creating a Show-time Experience.” They can be found on this website under columnist Brian Barfield.
For more insight you can purchase my book titled “Modern Day Selling: Unlocking your Hidden Potential.” It can be found online at Amazon, Books A Million, Barnes and Noble and many other websites. Next month we move forward in The Modern Day Sales Presentation with insight into managing your sales presentation.
Have a beautiful month.
Brian Barfield is a two-time published author, world-wide, who specializes in offering fresh new insight in retail sales training. Modern Day Selling offers a unique perspective in teaching sales associates how to reconnect with their customers and how to achieve greater success in their sales career. For more information please visit his website www.moderndayselling.com. Brian also offers in-store sales training and can be reached at brian@moderndayselling.com.
