I think that’s completely untrue.

People love to buy, which means they love being sold.

What they really mean when they say they hate being sold is they hate feeling pressured to buy something they don’t need or want.

Or, even if they might need whatever it is they are selling, if they get even the slightest whiff that the salesperson is only out to get something from them, the walls of resistance and objection immediately go up.

No one likes to feel suffocated.  Neither does anyone like to be chased (or worn) down until they finally fork over their money.

So, at best, the consumer perception is that sales professionals are a necessary evil.

Despite what they may try to project, many sales people themselves aren’t particularly fond of their customers.  In this Internet Information Age, people are more and more educated and the assumption (which you’ve undoubtedly heard if you’ve been in sales for any length of time) is that “Buyers are Liars.”

This presents something of a dilemma for the spiritual, magnetic entrepreneur — who also necessarily is a sales professional.  They strive to approach sales and marketing from the perspective of positive energy exchange, where both parties are enhanced when the marketing and sales processes are employed.

And even they in times of stress (when you “need” to make the sale to pay the rent or the mortgage, for example) are tempted to resort to this adversarial relationship between sales person and client/customer.

Thinking of these things reminds me that we sales professionals need to be alert and conscious that our intentions and actions are congruent with a progressive, spiritual paradigm of marketing and sales.  The traditional model has effectively dishonored both buyer and seller for centuries.  It’s led to this perpetual tension between salespeople and customers (“Salespeople are all Proverbial Used Car Sales People only out for themselves” and “All Buyers are Liars.”) that is present in the Collective Imagination long before anyone opens their mouths.

With these thoughts swirling around in my head, I watched the following short clip on YouTube of Mike Moore (of Making Customers, Inc.) giving a training lesson about this very thing.

The clip is only 1 minute 38 seconds long but still makes a powerful point:

What more can you and I consciously do to move toward a more empowering and powerful relationship with our leads, prospects, clients and customers?

- – -
Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, under a Creative Commons license

I have to admit that when I first began using GoDaddy, the upselling was a little confusing. Now, however, I “get” the routine and even have come to expect it.

In fact, I have even made purchases based on their recommendations, very happy they had made the suggestion.

Not only does GoDaddy earn more money (if I make this additional purchase) than they otherwise would have had they not made the offer, it’s also an amazingly helpful way to offer me more value. This is because the suggestions are based on a very real potential need.

(Additionally, in all the cases I have noted, making the purchase right then would cost less than coming back to make the purchase later.)

I think of when I waited tables, and I frequently upsold my guests on simple things, like appetizers, salads, and desserts. If I was really on my game, I would have been “reading” and engaging my guests before and throughout their dining experience to determine the more relevant items to suggest.

For example, if they had just been out with the family on their boat, sailing on a hot, summer day, they might enjoy a tall, refreshing glass of our fresh squeezed lemonade or ice tea.

Or, maybe they are visiting from Alabama and might like to experience a taste of home: Our Signature Flaky Crust, hot-out-of-the-oven peach cobbler a la mode, made with organic handmade ice cream from a local ice creamery.

If you were my guest and none of the suggestions tickled your fancy, my guess is you wouldn’t be upset that I offered them to you.

But how good would you feel if it was exactly what you wanted?

What a great feeling that someone was paying attention to you, noticing your needs and wants, and offering you relevant solutions!

Our clients come to use for solutions to their challenges. When they complete whatever it is they purchased from us, they usually will not spontaneously ask what else they can buy from us.

This may happen, but it’s not a reliable sales strategy.

Instead, clients are looking to us to have their best interests at heart and to be thinking about ways we can further serve them. They already know and like us, and we’ve already earned their trust. What an inconvenience for them to have to go down the road, do research, ask their friends and colleagues, etc., in order to find what it is they need!

We may have a product or service offering that is just what they need. Or, we may know someone who can support them.

Either way, upselling is serving. It really is a good thing, because rather than withholding something you know can help them, you honor them by giving the suggestion.

Then they can decide whether to say Yay or Nay.

And, the more we appreciate that frame of reference when someone is upselling us, the more our own clients will be inclined to appreciate what it is we are upselling to them.

So, let me ask you: “What grade would YOU give yourself at this point?”

Inspired by Kim’s question and by Coach Christian Mickelsen, I sent the following “Sky-Rocket Your Sales” coaching session offer to members of one of my email lists, and I’d like to make it also to you.

Regardless of where you are in your business, there is tremendous value in checking in from time to time to make sure your headed in the direction (and at the speed) you desire.

What better way to kick off the second quarter of the year than with a coaching session focused on you and your sales goals?

It’s pretty challenging to achieve the success you deserve when you don’t plan for it.

So here’s my invitation to you (Thank you Christian and Kim!):

- – -

If you’ve been struggling to close enough sales and you’d like a major breakthrough, then I’d like to invite you to take advantage of a special, “Sky-Rocket Your Sales” personal, 1-on-1 coaching session where we will work together to…

=> Create a crystal clear vision for the sales success you desire (we’ll set targets for prospecting activities, and ‘close ratios’ that will give you the lifestyle you desire)

=> Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your sales success (we’ll pinpoint specific areas that cause breakdowns in the sales process so you can make immediate changes)

=> Leave this session renewed, re-energized, and inspired to break your personal sales records and enjoy a great income.

If you’d like to take advantage of this very special, very limited, and totally FREE 30 minute “Sky-Rocket Your Sales” coaching session, copy-and-paste the following questions into an email message, answer the questions, and email them to tshombe @ yoursignatureconsulting.com (remove spaces between before and after the “@” sign):

1. How long have you had your current sales position?
2. What kind of product/service do you sell?
3. What are your sales commission goals for the next 12 months?
4. What were your sales commissions from the last 12 months? (ballpark)
5. What do you see as the major challenges holding you back from selling as much as you want?
6. On a scale of 0-10, how important is it for you to overcome your challenges and achieve your sales and lifestyle goals today?
7. Full Name
8. Email Address
9. Phone #
10. Time Zone

Check off the areas you’d like to work on…

__ Finding a Great Prospect List
__ Prospecting
__ Assessing Needs
__ Presenting Your Offer
__ Overcoming Objections
__ Closing the Sale
__ Getting Referrals & Up-Selling
__ Other

Since we’re making this offer for the first time right now and we don’t know how intense the response will be, we can’t guarantee a coaching session for everyone.

We’ll take as many people as we can and then start a waiting list.  You can expect to get contacted by our team to schedule your session within the next 3 business days.

If you don’t hear from us, it means we’ve received more requests than we can handle right now and if something opens up we’ll get in touch with you at a later time.

Again, to take advantage of this offer, simply answer the questions above, copy-and-paste into an email message, and send to tshombe @ yoursignatureconsulting.com.

Warmest Regards,

Tshombe

- – -

I’m looking forward to hearing from you, you Magnetic Entrepreneur, you!  Together, we’ll create a powerfully magnetic sales success plan for the second quarter and the rest of the year!

Secondly, with the specific client in mind, you need to appeal to them in a way that engages the emotions (people nearly always buy based on emotions – how they perceive making the purchase will make them feel – especially high-ticket items, and later justify the purchase based on factual information) and compels them to see, feel, and experience what their life will be like to have what it is you are offering.

Good marketing (tailored to a specific market segment) is good marketing, and here is an excellent example:

You can check out the full story and the insightful comments below the video by clicking here.

This example, of course,  is of a higher-end real estate transaction opportunity which may or may not pertain to you, but how can you use the same principles (and technology) to engage the senses and the emotions of your audience?

I’m honored to have a man of Jonathan Farrington’s stature write this guest post on The Magnetic Entrepreneur weblog.

Enjoy, and take notes!

~ TB

By Jonathan Farrington

This post is in response to a comment that was left regarding my recent webinar – “How to Become a Sales Superstar in 2010”

The question was:

“Why does Jonathan put knowledge at the very top of the pyramid? Can you touch on that? What knowledge is he defining, specifically?

Knowledge of the product/service, or something else?”

I am delighted to be able to offer this expanded response.

I first began to recognise the need to be able to benchmark sales performance more objectively and more rigorously over twenty five years ago: The motivation to do this was strong because I knew I was wasting thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds on sales skills training programmes which were not providing me with a proper return on my considerable investment. But I needed to prove my theory because without an accurate analysis of my requirements, I would continue to abdicate that responsibility to the training providers, most of whom had only their own interests at heart.

So with this quote from Drucker, “The most effective way to manage change is to create it” firmly in my mind, I set about my task; a task that became a journey, which began in 1981 and is still ongoing.

By taking an analytical approach, I arrived at the following equation:

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success.

My initial reasoning was this: Attitude is fundamental to any achievement because individuals with the right attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential Skills, recognise the control that Process brings and have the desire to continually expand their Knowledge.

Skills are the ‘tools of the trade’ and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.

Process brings organisation, efficiency and control, both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.

Then there is of course a need to build in knowledge and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self!

So you see, at the bottom of my pyramid, is the foundation – attitude.

But never think that you can remove any one of these four factors from the equation – you do so at your peril. Each is equally important if you are to achieve sustainable success.

You can also catch his hugely popular daily blog at The JF Blogit – http://www.thejfblogit.co.uk

Isn’t it interesting that buying and selling is what makes the world go ’round, and so many entrepreneurs and sales professionals persist in struggling with the whole idea of “having” to sell.

I believe much of this has to do with the Myth of the Used Car Salesman in the Popular Imagination.

It’s the image of a sleazy swindler, trying to take you for all you’ve got.  He’s pushy, manipulative, and is only concerned with one thing, and that’s making sure he makes the sell no matter what.  It doesn’t matter that you don’t even want what he’s selling.

How magnetic or attractive is that?

It’s little wonder people in business for themselves who consider themselves ethical and heart-centered are uncomfortable with selling, and don’t particularly want to refer to themselves as a salesperson.

As I’ve said, I call this the Used Car Salesman Myth.

Is this image true?

Well, myths are considered true or false depending on whose belief system we’re talking about.  For example, we are familiar with the Greek Myths, as in the trials and triumphs of Zeus, Aphrodite, Odysseus, etc.  In modern times, some might refer to the Great Deluge in the Days of Noah as a myth.

For our purposes, however, the truth value of the myth is not the point, or even that important.

It’s the fact that we act as if it were true.

There’s another example I’d like to share with you of this phenomenon.  It’s what I call The Management Myth.

I can stand in front of a group of business managers or CEOs or human resource professionals and put forth the assertion that the tradition top-down, hierarchical, rule-with-the-iron-fist model of management doesn’t work. Rather than motivate, it actually DE-motivates.

When I ask whether they agree, 100% of them affirm my assessment of the situation.

“This is great news,” I congratulate them.  ”But, I can guarantee that most of you — even though you agree with my assessment of the futility of managing in this way — most of you,” I repeat, “will go back to your offices or places of work and manage in accord with this proven ineffective model of management.”

“Either that, or you will fail to manage at all for fear of falling into the trap of the old paradigm I’m calling The Management Myth.”

Does this make sense to you why the truth value of a myth — including whether you and I consciously believe the myth — is of little or no consequence?

So it is with the Myth of the Used Car Salesman.

We struggle with sales and selling because are thoughts and feelings about the matter are incongruent.

We have to adopt a new internal story, a new Sales Myth paradigm.  And that means we must wake up and consciously choose in the moment to do and be something different.

Otherwise, the default is either to act like the Mythical Used Car Salesman acts (How many times have you caught yourself saying or doing something your parents said or did that you vowed you’d never repeat?!) or shy away from effectively selling your goods or services at all for fear you might come across like that Used Car Salesman.

Wake up!  Debunk the Myth!

Choose a new, more empowering sales story for yourself.

These masterclasses are about $60 for non-members, but my fabulous friend (the Sales Coach & Fundraising Auctioneer) Lori Richardson gifted me this one for free.  (Thank you Lori!)

The topic was “How to Become a Sales Superstar in 2010,” and it centered around Jonathan’s 4-tiered Success Formula Pyramid.  The four tiers are Attitude (the fundamental foundational piece), Skills, Process, and Knowledge.

As we find ourselves beginning the last month of the first quarter of the year, how are you setting yourself up to be Sales Superstar this year?  Where can you improve in these 4 areas?

Here is a graphic depiction of Jonathan Farrington’s Success Formula (Click to Enlarge):

I just learned that you can download (or listen online) this webinar from the Jonathan Farrington’s Blog, or by clicking HERE, but I want to offer a few of my notes on each of these four components to Sales Success Superstardom — a position that is absolutely within your reach.

1. Attitude:  Jonathan says there are two types of personalities:  The “running away” personality, which describes people whose behavior is driven by the desire to avoid pain, and the “running towards” personality, defined by people who are in control, prepared, and allow themselves plenty of time to accomplish what they set out to do.

   Which personality are you cultivating?

   Jonathan puts Attitude at the bottom of the pyramid, the fundamental component of success in sales.  Plan for success by improving and nurturing your “running towards” attitudinal personality, mindset, and action-orientation.

2. Skills:  Sales professionals and teams tend to perpetuate mediocre results because they assume that skills are needed, but have no diagnostic approach to ascertaining exactly what skills are needed, how and when they are needed, and how they will be assessed and measured before and after the training.

   Skills are another foundational component for success, but it must be the right skills at the right time with a specific, clear, and tangible Return On Investment (R.O.I).

   Key Point:  Your training is your responsibility, and it must be continuous and ongoing.

3. Process:  Many sales professionals are resistant to employing process in how they approach sales.  To them, it feels like a time-consuming chose.  Yet, the most successful sales professionals embrace a sales process, which actually saves time.

   In the age of Sales 2.0, exploring and incorporating social media and online tools (examples:  SmartSellingTools.com and FillTheFunnel.com)  in your sales process is essential to sales success in 2010.

4. Knowledge:   Knowledge itself has several components beyond Product Knowledge.  How would you rate yourself in the following additional areas:

• • Industry Knowledge
  • Sector Knowledge
  • Company Knowledge
  • Competitor Knowledge
  • Commercial Knowledge
  • Self Knowledge

That sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

It is indeed a lot to take in, assimilate, and put into systematic action.  But, do you think you could make just a 1% improvement in 1 or more of these areas each day or each week?

It’s the small, incremental approach to improvement that wins the race every time.

“Every journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step,” quotes Jonathan.  ”Why not take that step today?”

Tom is the CEO of Ziglar, Inc. and the son of the famous best-selling author, sales professional, and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.

What a tremendous honor it was to interview Tom on the Sales Success Series!

I normally have people register for the specific Tele-Interview they are interested in in order to get access to the replay recording, but for February’s interview with Tom, anyone can access it.

Surf over to http://SalesSuccessSeries.com/tziglar.com/replay.html to listen online or download a copy to your computer.

(Forgive the recording quality.  I learned later I’d forgotten to mute the telephone lines so there a little bit of ‘echo’ and background noise.  But, the content is still great!)

There’s so much of value both to sales professionals and to all of us that came out of the interview, but here are a couple of highlights and quotes from my notes (filtered through me, of course!):

=> “The real economy is between your ears.

=> “Long-term success is impossible without Integrity.  With Integrity, you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide.”

=>  We can operate from the knowledge that we’ve already ‘won the game.’  That way we can be bold and step out and not worry what other people think.  We’re responsible to tell the truth, but not responsible for how people respond.  Because of this, we don’t have to worry when make mistakes, which is very freeing.

=> One of Zig’s mentors is Rabbi Daniel Lapin, who said there’s a Hebrew word that represents “solving somebody’s needs.” (Tom didn’t know the Hebrew word itself.  Anyone out there in BlogLand know?)  It refers to two different situations:

1. After someone needs something, you help them
2. You help someone before they know they have the need

So if you are in sales with the right motive (situation #2 above), you’re on a higher spiritual plane because you are anticipating a real need and supplying the solution.

=> Tom’s favorite quote from his dad is:  “You are what you are and where you are because of what’s gone into your mind.  You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”

=> How can people get started ‘changing their mind’ and incorporating in their lives the Ziglar “Pure & Simple Philosophy”?

• “You can make radical changes in minute steps”
  • start slow and build up: read or listen to something inspirational for personal and/or career development for just 5 or 10 minutes each day (example:  Sign up for the Ziglar newsletter at Ziglar.com)
  • each day find somebody to give an “I Like”.  These gifts of love and encouragement are powerful:  Tom’s dad created an “I Like” pad.  At the top of each pad was “I Like” followed by a blank and the word “Because” and more blanks.  The idea is to fill out and give away one of these each day.
  • if want to change a behavior, decide to make 1 different choice

=> The biggest roadblock to success is not having a goal to begin with.  Decide what want and how you’re going to get it; start small and build up.

5 Core Steps:

1. Write specific goal down
2. Write down the benefits of getting the goal (If the benefits aren’t worth what it’s going to take to get there, you’re not going to do it.)
3. Identify the knowledge, people, and skills needed
4. Create an action plan
5. Execute the plan

=> “Where there’s struggle, there’s life.”  Example of Ty Murray, the bull rider.  Sometimes when a bull rider is bucked off, the rope gets caught and the clowns need to come out and get the un-catch the rope.  The safest position the bull rider can be in is to hug as tight as possible the bull’s neck.  He must literally “Embrace the Struggle.”

=> This story was the inspiration to title Zig Ziglar and his daughter, Julie Ziglar Norman’s new book, Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life’s Terms.

Tom also spent time at the end of the call answering great questions, such as:

• How does a person deal with difficulties and remain positive in the face of trials?
• How do you fire a client?
• Why you need to read and apply Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
• What is Tom most proud of?
• And more, of course

These highlights just touch the surface of this fine interview.

Be sure to get your copy (and listen for the lesson Tom teaches his team with the help of his homemade hot sauce and the family dog, Max!)

In fact, you may find that you are doing more repelling than attracting.

Why is this?

Well, there can be many reasons why the magnetic poles between you and your ideal clients are all askew, but a foundational piece may be a focus solely on what YOU want, rather than what your (potential) clients want.

Of course, you want to sell your products or services.  As an entrepreneur and/or sales professional, that is one of the main reasons your business exists.

But the problem with focusing on making the sale at all costs is the tendency to become blind to the wants, needs, and desires of the client.

Understanding this mentally is easy, but actually catching yourself in the grip of this blinding challenge is another question entirely.

The sales profession is unfortunately set up to orientate and incentivize extreme laserlike focus on quotas at the exclusion of all else, such that the whole game of selling sees leads, prospects, and clients as a numbers game rather than a magnetic, spiritual practice.

You especially see the results of this institutionalized mentality near the end of every quarter.  At this time, you can feel the crescendo of feverish madness, as sales professionals neglect family, food, and fun in the quest for whatever financial or material carrot is dangling in front of them.

This, of course, is counterproductive.

On a conscious or unconscious level, people feel and are repelled by your desperation and have-to-sell-now energy.

I was talking recently with a salesperson who had actually bothered to find out what made his client tick.  He learned what he liked and had even given thought to the perfect gift that would be meaningful to this qualified prospect.

Unfortunately, he lost sight of this as the end of the quarter drew close and the sale remained pending.

The salesperson did not get the sale, and he attributed its loss to this suffocating “pushing” energy that motivated him to go against his intuitive sense to do the right thing.

So what to do?

1. Acknowledge and recognize the tendency to put the blinders on and to forget to inquire about, discover, and engage the prospect or client’s wants and desires.  Sometimes awareness alone is curative.
2. Make a commitment to build into all of your marketing and into your sales process a Client Attraction Plan that actually attracts (rather than repels) your Ideal Clients.
3. Use quotas for guidance and accountability, not as tools to support a winning-at-all-costs attitude.  Quotas should guide your actions and mark your progress, not override your values.
4. Enroll in my upcoming Get Your Year In Gear! Coaching Program where together we create and implement a Magnetic Client Attraction Plan that is fun, sustainable, and client-focused.
5. Have fun!

Another colleague is in the medical field and expressed how much he hates having to sell a client on another visit or series of visits.

It’s a common challenge.  “Sell” is a dirty four-letter word to so many solopreneurs — especially to those who consider themselves “heart-centered” entrepreneurs.

I can understand that.

No one likes the feeling of being manipulated, hounded, chased or hunted down by a too-enthusiastic (to put it nicely) salesperson.

However, provided you have done the research and are connecting with someone who needs and wants your services, clients and prospective clients WANT you to offer them your services.

In fact, if you know your service or product is the best thing for them and you genuinely are interested in their well-being, you are doing them a disservice if you do not market to them and make appropriate offers.

That said, selling the person is really the very last thing you want to be thinking about anyway.  When you go out on a first date with someone, do you immediately ask them to marry you?

(I hope not!)

What is needed is a specific marketing plan, where your prospect sees your message over and over again until they are ready to buy, ready to refer someone to you who is ready to buy, or they tell you to stop marketing to them.

Another possible purpose behind a marketing plan might be to establish and maintain relationships with colleagues, persons with specific industry influence, and referral partners.

In most cases, sales professionals give up too soon.  They don’t have a follow-up system in place that they follow regularly and consistently.

This may be why my friend wondered whether he was bothering people.  Without a system, all efforts to market or follow-up are random, at best, and you really don’t know when and how often you are following up with someone.

Besides that, if you don’t follow up regularly with people who have shown interest, they may forget who you are or that you provide the service they are looking for when the time comes that they need it.

People have so many choices about where to spend their money, positioning yourself so that you occupy a prominent place in their minds requires actively and frequently reminding folks in your target market about how you can solve their challenges.

Gary Keller in his The Millionaire Real Estate Agent points out that over 86% of buyers and sellers (in 2002) met with only one or two real estate agents.  “In the battle for real estate consumer mind share, you’re either first or second or you’re out of contention.”

With most consumers pre-shopping for homes (or anything else, for that matter) on the Internet, I’d wager that this is even more important today.

In almost every industry (not just real estate), there are tens or hundreds or thousands of people who do what you do.  How are you standing out and differentiating yourself?

How often are you reminding qualified folks of that difference?

People want you to educate them and make life easier for them.  They are so busy with family, work, and other obligations that if you give up out of fear of looking like the proverbial “used car salesman”, they will have already forgotten about you.

This personal example I’m about to relate is a little embarrassing because it illustrates how disorganized I can be (and I bet I’m not alone in the disorganization department!), but I’ll share it anyway.

Just last week, I met with Portland, Oregon-based Corporate Shaman, Jacke Schroeder.  For the last several weeks prior to that, Jacke left me several messages via email, social media and phone before I finally got back to her weeks later.

(I told you it would be embarrassing.)

Was I uninterested in connecting with her?  Did I feel she was bothering me?

On the contrary, I let myself become so consumed with who-knows-what-all that I didn’t respond to her efforts to communicate with me.  Still she (thankfully) persisted.

After meeting with her last week, I now know that she and I will be working together in some capacity in the near future.  I’m kicking myself for letting so much time elapse.

What an incredible loss for both of us had Jacke decided she’d had enough of my silly antics!  I may never have called her back!

I imagine all those prospects you let slip through the cracks may have a similar story.  With SPAM filters, multiple inboxes, and having to check multiple voicemail messages, who’s to say your potential client even got your last message?

Of course, no professional wants to feel like they are wasting their time.  Certainly, if a prospect tells you they are not interested (like unsubscribes from your newsletter, for example), I don’t recommend stalking them!

Craig Klein of Sell, Sell, Sell! suggests that sales professionals get to fire their prospects after following up with them a certain number of times without a response.  He even offers a way to do this via a voicemail script (complete with a downloadable pdf tip sheet you can print out and place right at your phone when you’re doing the “firing”!) you can drop right at the end of your follow-up system.

This, of course, assumes you have a follow-up system in place in the first place.

It also assumes that the person you are spending time following up with is really a qualified candidate for your services and likely needs and wants what you have to offer.

If that’s the case, if you do change nothing else, follow up!  Show your prospects you care and are thinking about them.

Your perfect clients WANT to hear from you!