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Avoiding a Deadbeat Sales Attitude

by Paul Montelongo

It never ceases to amaze me that there are professional sales people that are about as enthusiastic as a sedated mortician is.

Having a deadbeat attitude in the presence of your prospects and your clients is a poison that will kill your sales.

You know this. Most salespeople know this. Yet, they continue to have an apathetic attitude. And they wonder why their sales suffer.

Emotional buying reasons.

Enthusiasm is highly contagious. People buy products and services for one reason only. That reason is that it initiates some sort of feeling, some sort of emotion. Here is a brief list of the feelings or emotional reasons that your prospect will buy from you.

They sense a degree of variety or excitement in your product or service. Why else would someone lay down their cash for a skydiving adventure?

There can be a feeling of security or assuredness that your product will give them. For example, alarm systems, guarded communities, extended warranty plans and life insurance may fall into this category.

Perhaps they get a feeling of possibility or opportunity. The opportunity can be something that translates into more revenue for them or more freedom. Take a look at the stock market and you’ll grasp this point.

Your prospect can even buy based on fear. It could be fear of the loss of a good deal. Fear that they will miss an opportunity to save money or fear that their buying choices will not look good to their peers and friends.

Your prospect will also buy from you based on their feelings of perceived convenience. For example, when someone buys a new home, a primary consideration is the location of the neighborhood. Is it close to schools, work, church, shopping, gymnasium, relatives and friends? If the answer is yes, their level of convenience is very high.

It is all a perception.

There are many other emotional reasons that people will buy your product and service. The key point is that it is all a perception and your level of enthusiasm about your product and service is a dominant factor in their decision to buy from you.

Once you have tapped into their real reasons for buying by asking a series of quality questions, it all boils down to your enthusiastic attitude about your product. After all, if you are not genuinely enthusiastic about your offering, how can you expect your prospect to get excited?

If it is true that you buy based on your feelings, then why doesn't every salesperson in the world try to stimulate feelings of happiness and security in the mind of their prospect?

Negative thoughts and emotions will kill your sales. Here are five ways to avoid a deadbeat sales attitude. By the way, if you already are Mr. or Ms. Positive Attitude, you will really enjoy this refresher course and you can testify that these steps really work.

Harness the power of your body: Every move that you make with your body sends a direct signal to your brain. That signal tells your brain that you are happy, sad, indifferent, puzzled, inquisitive, certain, stressed, positive, joyous or a zillion other emotions. The happiest, most positive minded people in the world show it all day long with the power of their body. A smile, a grin, a deep breath, elevating your eyes, upright posture and walking with the gate of a prize stallion will help you to increase your sales. As you interact with your prospect, move with confidence and poise. Have a warm, friendly smile. Be pleasant and add a little humor to your presentation. You don’t have to be a Jim Cary jokester, but humor is contagious and laughter creates more oxygen flow to the brain.

Check your inner conversation. I read recently that the average human has 40,000 thoughts every day. When I read this statistic, I immediately thought, "Who counted? I can’t imagine how researchers arrived at this statistic. What if it is only half true? Or what if the real number is double? Regardless of the accuracy of this estimate, imagine the implications of this revelation. What are you doing with the tens of thousands of thoughts you have every day? Arrange your thoughts to think of the opportunities that lay in front of you with every prospect. Continuously think of the ways that you can serve your customer rather than what is in it for you. And focus on the long-term benefits of connecting with your prospects in a deep meaningful way.

Prepare, prepare, and prepare. Did I mention that you should prepare? Preparation reduces fear. When fear is reduced or eliminated, your thoughts and actions are not hampered or restricted. You can act naturally and comfortably with your customers. You will not be unduly concerned about what you are going to say or do next because you are prepared. You will know your product, the benefits of your product and you will have answers for common objections and questions that your prospect may have. There is no such thing as a lucky sale. A sale happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Concentration of focus. You ability to focus on the positive outcomes of your sales presentation will determine your level of sales success. In other words, are you concentrating on what you do want to happen rather than what you do not want to happen? Focus on your sales objectives and goals rather than external influences over which you have no control, like a loose economy or market timidity. The thing you focus on will expand to become your reality.

Be authentic. All of the sales strategies in the world will not help you one bit if you are not a genuinely authentic caring person. Your customer knows when you are faking it. Your customer knows who really cares about them and their needs. Your customer knows when they need to wear their boots, because the buffalo fertilizer is getting thick. Be your unique self and your customer will gravitate to you and trust you. The biggest benefit in being authentic is that you will be living your life with self-confidence, high values and integrity. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Avoiding a deadbeat attitude will help you sell more, earn more and achieve more. Your level of career satisfaction will skyrocket. Happy selling to you!

Please feel free to forward this article to anyone you know that is interested in professional and personal development. Copyright © 2004, Success Concepts, Inc. This content may be forwarded in full with copyright intact.

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