Selling from a Buyer's Perspective

If you enter sales techniques into internet search engines you will create 8 million results, give or take a few.

On the first page you will see AIDA - get their attention, create interest and then desire and complete the process with a call to action.

Following this you will see such attractive titles as “successful sales presentations”, “using presentation technology”, “handling objections”, “negotiating a sale”, “dealing with sales nerves” and so on and so on.

What so much sales advice fails to consider is that the buyer is the one in control. The buyer is the one making the decisions. The buyer is the one who has stuff on his or her mind.

There is no such thing as selling, only buying!

People buy for just two reasons:

· To solve a problem they have, or

· To achieve a dream they desire

So when you are next considering putting together that super whizz presentation, or creating all those objection handling scenarios, or buying the flash suit and the designer shoes to wow your audience at the next sales meeting, consider this: what’s going on for them, the buyer? What do they need? How can you help them? Don’t sell, let them buy.

Selling from a Buyer’s Perspective is sales training with a difference. You will get into the mind of the buyer and talk to them from their perspective. It’s not about techniques and sales models and processes, it’s about understanding and empathy and communication. It’s not about ABC (always be closing), it’s about asking and listening. It’s not about AIDA, it’s about helping people make the buying decision that is right for them.

Will you increase sales by attending this training? Absolutely.
Will you be more confident when you are negotiating the deal? Certainly.
Will you find out what is really going on for the buyer? Definitely.

This training is designed and delivered by people who are purchasing professionals and experts in understanding how people communicate.

It is designed for people who want to increase sales and know there is a better way than trying to manipulate people through techniques that only work for the short term.

For further information or to book on the next open training visit www.simonsmithcoaching.com and take your sales process to a whole new level.

What would you do with more time?

What would you do with more time?

We all dream of having more time. Some of us struggle with too many things to do. We're overwhelmed and working more hours than ever.

I keep hearing from people that their biggest frustration is time management, and being a lot less productive than they know they should be. It's not surprising - we've all got more to do, less time to do it in, and more distractions than ever. I know some of this rings true for you.

So I want to tell you about the upcoming Time Experts Telesummit which has been brought to my attention by my very dear friend and performance coach, Kris Carey. The event brings together 10 world-class experts on time management and productivity. They will teach you ways to work with less stress, eliminate distractions that steal your time, and double your productivity.

You can listen to all the teleseminars for free if you sign up by 14th October (which is when the Telesummit starts).

As you well know, I am very careful about who I recommend. This group of 10 bestselling authors and thought leaders is truly impressive. Their techniques and methods have been successfully practiced by thousands of people.

One of the experts, Dr. Neil Fiore, wrote the bestselling book on procrastination on Amazon. Another expert, Mike Song, is possibly the best known expert on email efficiency in the US. There is even a Zen master sharing his wisdom about time.

Just a few hours of learning from these experts will have a huge impact on your productivity - for the rest of your life. It only takes learning one key productivity technique or practice (and a few hours of listening) for you to have a major breakthrough on your biggest time management challenge.

The event is designed so that you can listen to each of the teleseminars on the phone or via the web. I've signed up for this event, and am looking forward to soaking up the knowledge of these experts.

I trust you will join me. Sign up here for the Time Experts Telesummit - Registration is free before 14th October.

Dance in the rain

It's been a tough week out there. The financial markets and banking problems have been the centre of attention in all the media, and despite my own best efforts in not watching the news on TV, listening to it on the radio or reading the press, I have not been able to avoid it entirely.

A friend emailed me yesterday and described how they had been discussing with their grandmother how it's difficult to move forward in business right now, more using her as a sounding board than anything else, and her response had been really thought provoking: "Life is not about how to survive in the storm, it's about learning how to dance in the rain".

This comment reminded me how much we can learn from those around us who are at the two ends of the lifespan; children and the elderly. Children are so allowing of what happens in the world. They see only possibility and have a ferocious curiousity for discovering new things. The elderly have seen it and done it and know that there is so much more to enjoying life than the trappings we all seem to strive for in this day and age. They know that life is in fact much easier now than it has ever been and they often look back at "the good old days" with fond affection, even though times may have been tougher.

We take so much for granted in this modern world of gadgets and technology. We have luxuries, holidays, cars and homes that earlier generations could have only dreamed of, yet we believe we can't afford everything we want. When you watch a child splashing in the puddles on a rainy afternoon, do they have any idea that we are supposed to be having a tough time and can't afford all those things we say we need? No, they are simply enjoying the moment, learning how to dance in the rain.

I think my friend's grandmother got it right. If we stop trying to survive the storm and just take time to dance in the rain, we may in fact find that life isn't so bad really. We don't have to buy into the idea that times are tough. They just are what they are. We can choose to be miserable and blame the economy, the government and the banks, or we can choose to dance and play in the puddles. I know what I'm going to do!

I'm not participating!

Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and member of Jack Canfield's "Transformational Leadership Council" encouraged his members last week in his newsletter to state "I'm not participating in a recession!" Quite right too!

We all have a choice about how we feel and I encourage people I work with to observe their own language and change it when they find themselves using negative language or having thoughts that are focused on what may go wrong. Some will criticise this approach and say that one needs to be realistic. So I ask you "what is realistic?"

If realism is allowing oneself to be negatively affected by circumstances outside of them, or by comments someone else makes, then give me the alternative every time.

In their book "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent" Esther and Jerry Hicks, or more accurately, the "collective consciousness" called Abraham, asks "why would you want to accept or "face a reality" that is not pleasing when you can create a reality that IS pleasing?"

My view is simply this: if you know that you do have a choice about how you feel, then wouldn't it serve you better to choose a feeling of empowerment and positive energy rather than allow yourself to be drawn into a place of negativity? So, by keeping an eye on the language we use, we can create the positive energy we would prefer, just by changing what we say and the thoughts we think.

So no, I am not participating in a recession and I invite you to make the same choice!