Sales Training Tip. Positioning yourself as being in demand.
As a salesperson, it’s important to always have the sales prospect see you as “in demand”. In other words, they have to see evidence that you are someone that buyers seek out, and that people are trying to buy what you sell. Why? Because if everyone wants what you sell, it must be great…and the impulse to want to buy…what everyone else is buying is almost irresistible.
One of my favorite things to say is “We keep running out of these” and “Our problem isn’t selling these, our problem is getting them.” And in retail “We’ve had too many people buy these recently, I’ll have to check to make sure we have on left”.
Have you ever pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant…and it was empty? I have, and sometimes I’ll just pull out and go somewhere else. Why? Because evidence of low demand may mean something is wrong with the restaurant…or something is wrong with the food. If nobody is eating there, maybe the rest of the town knows something you don’t. Was there a story in the paper? What could be wrong? All these alarms are going off in your mind.
It’s the same when you are selling. Your language has to imply that everyone is buying from you…and they are next. When I was selling vacuum cleaners in people homes, on the last appointment of the day, I would sometimes say (as long as it was true) “I started with three machines in the car this morning. I hope you don’t want two, because I only have one left”
Sometimes, if I were running a little late for an appointment I would say “I had to stop by the office an pick up more inventory. I’m having a good day”.
In the video, I bring up how actors talk about getting a part in a movie. They always make it sound like they were pursued…that they needed to be convinced that the part was right for them.
Maybe some actors are really in such high demand that they can be really selective. But not most.
One of the most profitable images to put in a print advertisement is an image of the business…with a long line of customers waiting to get in the door. Why? Because “if everyone wants to get in there….it must be great”…and there is always the thought of “What do they know that I don’t?”
It’s why everyone shows up for a crowd. The bigger the crowd…the more people show up for it. (OK, that was a joke)
You can create an image that you are in demand all through your presentation. You can even imply that you are in demand...when you are cold calling. You can find out more by reading Sales Prospecting.
Claude’s Books;
One Call Closing: The Ultimate Guide To Closing Any Sale In Just One Sales Call https://amzn.to/3Ack5f4
Sales Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide To Referral Prospecting, Social Contact Marketing, Telephone Prospecting, And Cold Calling To Find Highly Likely Prospects You Can Close In One Call https://amzn.to/3u21EpO
Selling Essentials: Your First 90 Days In Selling https://amzn.to/3OqKxpK
Selling Local Advertising: The Best Kept Insider Secrets To Create Local Advertising Sales, FAST! https://amzn.to/3NnAUa7
Instant Sales Boost Podcast Website https://www.instantsalesboost.com/
Claude Whitacre has over 40 years of direct sales experience. In that time, he has trained hundreds of salespeople He is the author of six books on the subject of selling, as well as hundreds of articles. He has spoken to over 200 audiences across the US on how to how to find highly likely prospects and closing in one sales call.
Retiring in 2022 from actively selling, Claude wanted to give back to the sales and marketing fields by teaching the strategies and techniques that have proven so effective in his own selling.
One of the many strategies and practices Claude implemented over the decades is working with over 200 top salespeople on real sales appointments, in 71 different industries. He would work with them for a day, prospecting and going on sales appointments, with them. Then they would work with him in the field for a day. Eventually, Claude determined that about 98% of everything he used in his own selling was actually learned from top salespeople outside of his own core industry.
To pay forward what Claude has learned, he wanted to give salespeople the opportunity to benefit from what he did....learn from the best salespeople, experts, sales authors, and trainers from all over the country.
This podcast is that effort.
Claude has videos and articles on the following subjects.
Sales prospecting, cold calling, referral prospecting, social selling, referral selling, sales prospecting training, referral prospecting training, sales prospecting techniques, how to get the best referrals, how to cold call strategically, best cold calling techniques, sales training, best closing techniques, answering sales objections, and one call closing.