One of the most challenging aspects of commerce for many people starting a business is selling.
It goes beyond having to know what to say to someone who might be interested in what you offer. Selling is both an art and a science. And finding that point of balance between these two seemingly opposite ends may appear deceptively difficult, until you listen to what works.
This is why I so very much enjoy the following Michael Senoff interview with Ken Ellsworth. Ken has come to discern through keen scientific observation what stimulates us to make decisions, to reveal our hot buttons, to signal comfort zones and motivational causes that move us to ‘Yes’, when we wish to buy something from somebody.
Were you to combine Ken’s technique with Ari Galper’s approach to developing trust in dealing with your potential customers, you’d have a superb possibility of growing your business very fast with painless sales. The two are amazing professionals highly experienced in the discipline of selling.
Starting with Arie’s fundamental belief, which is that, upon first meeting potential customers your topmost objective should be NOT to try to sell them anything but, on the contrary, to try to solve their problem and build trust, so that upon building this relationship with them you may receive the truth about the real situation that your prospective customers are living through, Ken moves right into place next to show you how to discover the truth subtly, non-aggressively and work it into a wholeheartedly attractive proposition that can get your prospect to say “I’m buying!”
Listen first to Arie’s story. It couldn’t be more real, since I’ve sat on both sides of the aisle on this one, and given out as much as I’ve received that he describes. It’s real world stuff. It involves the problem of not having the truth to work with or to do business confidently with somebody. This is his best salesmanship advice.
Then, progress to the interview with Ken Ellsworth and discover some truly amazing insight. His best salesmanship advice as well!
Stay alert for the lesson he learned from con artists in jail, when he worked there as a prison guard.
You’ll be shocked to see how skilled some of these men are at reading people with the aim of exploiting them, of course. Your goal is to come to understand people with the aim of helping them because, as William Penn once said,
“Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts.”
If you want to convert prospects into customers, you must learn NOT to force them into any kind of decision. Instead you must build upon a foundation of trust, and come to elicit your potential customers’ most significant information that can help you guide them to a purchase.
You do this by asking specific questions in a specific way. This gets your prospects to tell you how to set up the terms of engagement that lead to the sale.
But let’s have Ken explain it in detail for you next.