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Anyone who works as a salesperson in a low-volume, high-trust, high-price industry knows the devastating feeling of losing a sale. You watch as all your hard work dissolves like snow in the spring. But what if you could rethink sales and never feel that devastating loss again?
On this episode of More than Corporate, Ari Galper explains to us how we can rethink sales, lead with truth, and remove rejection from the sales process.
This may sound like a huge task, but Galper breaks it down into a series of simple steps in this podcast. He shows us that when sales people
- Build trust with prospects
- Remove pressure
- Focus on helping
- Remain authentic
- And kill old sales myths
they build long-lasting and honest client relationships and make more money. Let’s go through each of Ari Galper’s steps and see how they can apply to your business.
Build Trust with Prospects
The centerpiece of Ari Galper’s new method of sales is trust. He says that building trust with the person on the other end of the phone is the first and most important step in the sales process.
Galper realized that trust should be central to sales when he began parenting a child with Down’s Syndrome. He was inspired by his son’s honest and trusting nature, and realized that by focusing on trust, he could break down walls between himself and the client.
Salespeople lose sales when they fail to build trust with their client, not when their client is not impressed with the product.
The Moment Of Vulnerability
“But how do you build this trust? What you need to build is a moment of vulnerability where you and the client see each other as people trying to help each other.”
Focus on Helping
clarifying your intentions. Generally, salespeople are so focused on getting the “yes” that they become myopic in their intentions.
By refocusing your intentions on helping the person on the other end of the phone call, you can build trust. In order to refocus your intentions, you need to think about why you believe in the product and why you believe in helping people.
Protection Through Help
“If you come to a sales call with the intention of helping, your potential client is less likely to take advantage of you. They will see you as a person, so they will not simply use your knowledge and leave”
Remain Authentic
Try as hard as you can to remain a real person during a sales call. Believe it or not, sounding practiced and polished can actually be detrimental.
Why?
Because a prepared script proves to your client that you are not treating them as individuals.
When you stay authentic and are willing to make mistakes and misspeak, you remind your client that you are a real person. Stay loose, be willing to follow the conversation wherever it may take you, rather than constantly returning to the topic of the product in hopes of a “yes.”
Stay Flexible
“As soon as we go on a sales call, we tighten up, becoming less of our genuine self. The client will notice this, and also feel less comfortable.”
Remove Pressure
Galper tells us a story from his sales career.
At one point, after he thought he had made a great sale, he overheard the prospects talking about how they wanted to use him for information, but they had no intention of buying.
In the episode, Galper deconstructs this story and talks about why people think it is okay to lie to salespeople. Essentially, he says that there is so much pressure in most sales calls that clients do not feel comfortable saying no or being honest to salespeople.
The Invisible River
“There is an invisible river of pressure pushing on all salespeople and prospects during a sales call.
This river makes people willing to behave dishonestly because they don’t feel accountable to each other.
If you can stop that invisible river and be genuine, you will be able to cultivate honesty between you and your clients.”
Kill Old Sales Myths
In the last bit of the podcast, we talk about all of the myths that govern the sales world. Galper talks about three myths in particular, and how they harm salespeople.
1. Sales Is A Numbers Game
Many salespeople think of sales as a game, with the same specific goal for all sales interactions.
When we think about sales that way, we make each sales call uniform and unimportant. Instead, we want to think about a sales call as an opportunity to give and receive help.
2. Sales Are Lost At The End Of The Call
Another myth that we hear all the time in sales is that sales are lost at the end of the sales call.
This myth is patently untrue.
When we get a prospect on the phone, they generally make the decision to buy or not to buy within the first few minutes based on whether they believe you are the right person to solve their problem.
3. Rejection Is Part Of The Process
We are told over and over that salespeople need to have thick skin and need to be willing to face rejection.
Galper dispels this myth, saying that we can actually avoid rejection completely if we focus on building trust.
Rejection is not predetermined, in fact it is triggered by the behavior of the salesperson.
Letting Go
“When we let go of these myths, we can create a new reality of sales. One where we can strip away all the parts of the negative salesperson stereotype.”
Listen to the entire podcast here.
By building trust first, you can revolutionize your sales techniques.
This will not only lead to more sales, but it will also make you and your customers more happy and satisfied.
In order to build trust, you will need to build trust with your prospects, focus on helping, remain authentic, remove the pressure, and kill the old sales myths.
Ready To Design Your Life For Success?
Read Ari Galpers book here
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Also Read 80/20 Sales and Marketing
If you are interested in connecting with Amber, send an email to amber@amberfuhriman.com.
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