Are You Selling or Telling?
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed an alarming increase in the number of salespeople who confuse telling with selling. Telling is rattling off all of the features of a particular product or service.
Unfortunately, the telling approach to introducing a prospect to your company’s products and services dramatically reduces your chances of turning a prospect in to a customer. This is due to the fact that salespeople who tell do not leave behind a perception of value in the mind of the customer.
Remember, we humans make the decision to change (products, vendors and/or processes) based on perceived value. Features do not communicate value. What you should focus on are the results that the features of your product or service produce. Results have value; features don’t.
When was the last time that you recorded yourself giving a mock presentation? Listen to yourself, and you may discover that you are one of those salespeople who is engaged in telling, not selling. If you are, you must immediately change your approach and focus on the results that your prospect can expect.
A quick and easy way to identify the results, as well as their value, is to answer the following question: What does it cost your prospect to say “no” or “not now” to the offer to make a purchasing decision? If you can’t explain the cost of postponement, then you can’t explain the value of moving forward. This is a skill that is a must for people who want to win based on value, not based on low price.
Good Luck & Good Selling!!
