Graham McGregor : The mental side of selling

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Opinion

Marketing consultant Graham McGregor on how to get better marketing results by focusing on the mental side of selling.

The mental side of business has always fascinated me when it comes to selling.

Why do some people do remarkably well in selling while others fail miserably?

I remember vividly phoning two clients in February many years ago. Both clients had been selling life insurance for five years. I asked each client how things were going for them and I got two totally different answers.

My first client Sue told me that things were going amazingly well. She said that it was the start of the year and people had come back from their Christmas holidays all excited and keen to take some positive steps with her insurance products. She was making good sales and was very positive about how the rest of her year would go in terms of sales.

My second client Brian said that sales were terrible. Everyone had come back from their Christmas holidays with no money to spend on anything. His insurance sales were very slow and he expected the year was not going to be a very good one for him.

I've discovered that what is going inside a person's head is an important factor in determining the level of sales they make and the amount of money they earn.

And I've also found that when change what is going on inside your head; you can actually improve your sales results.

Here is a simple mental strategy you might like to try...

The Two Question System for improving your sales:

The two question method is free and only takes 60 seconds. All you do is ask yourself two questions and answer them honestly after every sales presentation that you make.

Here are the two questions:

Question 1: What did I do well in this sales presentation?

Question 2: What one thing would I do better next time?

If you are serious about radically increasing your sales I recommend you ask these questions many times every week.

Question 1 will keep you focused on the things that you are doing well and it also tends to leave you feeling quite positive. You can now repeat these things you are doing well in your next sales presentation.

Question 2 will help you identify at least one thing you could improve in your next sales presentation. You can then change this one thing.

Example:

You have just made a good sales presentation and your prospect has said 'No' to your offer. So you take 60 seconds and ask yourself the two questions.

Question 1: What did I do well in this sales presentation?

I asked good questions to identify the real needs of my prospect. I explained my product or service confidently. I was five minutes early for my meeting with my prospect so I had time to review my notes before I spoke with them.

These are your successes or things you did well. There is always something you did well if you look for it.

Question 2: What one thing would I do better next time?

Next time I would show the testimonial letter from another client who had many of the same concerns that this person had, yet used our product or service and was delighted with the results.

Here you have identified one specific action step you can take in a future sales presentation to make it more effective. There is always at least one thing you could find to improve-even when you make a sale.

By asking these two questions you tend to stay positive and you also focus on what you can do to improve your performance next time.

'The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind'
William James

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 11 countries.) You can email Graham on graham@twomac.co.nz