Selling Conversations | Right Mind Marketing

Why Solving Customer Problems Makes Selling Easy and Makes You a Hero.

December 23, 2011 By Betsy Leave a Comment

Solving problems for customers is exactly what businesses are meant to do. “Obviously!” you say? Yes, and no.

The truth is that most customers can’t identify their own problem, and this is where the greatest opportunity lies. Unfortunately, many sales people and business owners miss the opportunity by attempting to sell whatever they have on hand and make it “fit.”

So the customer spends money on a product without knowing if it’s going to solve their problem. That’s not good for them, or for your business. I call this a “dead end” sale because when the product doesn’t solve the problem, the customer doesn’t return to buy again.

Solving problems is very different from putting a product in the hands of a customer and telling them “This is our best seller.” Customers can be influenced to buy based on social proof, but that doesn’t mean that they will be satisfied with their purchase.

Let’s say you want to buy a new car. You’ve narrowed it down to a particular make and model and drive to the dealership. A salesman greets you and immediately says,” Let me show you our newest models.” How would you react? Do you want to see their newest models? Do you feel as though this guy has your best interests in mind?

Now imagine a second salesman who says, “I’d like to help you find the car that’s right for you.” How does that feel? Which salesman would you rather work with? Which approach invites your participation and allows you to express your needs?

The point I’m making is that selling is a process that requires an exchange of information. If you really want to help a customer find the best solution, you need to stand in their shoes and see it through their eyes. Your assumptions about a customer’s needs and the true reason they’re motivated to buy are usually two different things. The easiest way for you to male the sale is to find out the real reason they want to buy – something I call their “buying motivation.”

Selling conversations allow you to dig deeper and get to the real issue where emotions are attached to the outcome, and the right solution will solve the frustration that brought them to your store or website in the first place. That friction or frustration is their buying motivation. And that’s why you need to “meet customers where they are.”

Their primary motivation for buying is always based in emotion, not facts:

Do they want to impress their neighbors?
Are they worried about saving money on gas and maintenance?
Do they dread an hour commute, and want a smooth, quiet ride with excellent safety features?

Let them do the talking and listen for the things that matter most. That’s how you learn to speak their language — That is, help them put into words a solution that fixes their problem. It’s almost like translating, yet a good sales person understands that customers need help identifying their needs and desires. Learning to do this well will make you a hero to your customers.

Whether it’s a car, a set of custom-built shelves, or a retirement plan, your customer feels a specific need or emotion that motivates them to take action. That means you need to find out what’s going on under the surface. That’s where you need to meet them — At the place that matters most to them. When you discover this “sweet spot” the customer will suddenly treat you as their confidante. They’ll feel like you’re on their team.

When a customer feels understood, it creates a sense of trust and a connection that makes the sale a “no brainer.” I call this a “win/win” sale. You’re customer is satisfied, and you’ve made a loyal client who will happily buy from you over and over because they appreciate your insights and knowledge. (What they don’t know is that all you did was listen carefully and repeat back to the customer what they needed and why. Then you offered them the best solution.)

Simple!

Want some help making your selling conversations produce “no brainer” sales? I’d love to trouble shoot with you on a 20-30 minute FREE introductory call. There’s no obligation. I’ll help you to identify obstacles in your business that might be easy to fix, so why not find out? You can sign up for your complimentary “Marketing Makeover” session at this link https://my.timedriver.com/CM1LC and fill in a time slot that works for you. I’ll give you a call back at the time you choose.

Talk with you soon!

Betsy

Betsy Shulman
646 306 4721 cell EST
www.rightmindmarketing.com

Why Solving Customer Problems Makes Selling Easy and Makes You a Hero.

Discover the Mental Shift That Makes Selling Your Products the Roaring Engine of Your Marketing Machine — Even If You Don’t Have a Marketing Plan.

August 1, 2011 By Betsy Leave a Comment

images Discover the Mental Shift That Makes Selling Your Products the Roaring Engine of Your Marketing Machine Even If You Don’t Have a Marketing Plan.

Make your sales engine roar!

Imagine having so many customers that you can barely keep up with the demand for your products and services. Better yet, imagine attracting clients who are ready to pay for exactly what you sell, and then spread the word for you!

Now compare that to where your business is right now…. Need I say more? The good news is that it doesn’t need to take a lot of time or money to turn your business around, once you learn the very common sense method I’m going to describe.

It’s so sensible you may have the same reaction I did: “Why didn’t I think of that?”

But I had to be shown how to do it, step-by-step, by a top marketing coach who revealed the subtleties of how to provide what my customers need most. I’d like to share with you exactly what I learned from him so you can apply this simple shift of perspective to your own business.

Here’s why this method works: Because it places the focus on the people you serve with your business – namely your customers – rather than on the product you’re selling. All you need to do is shift your focus from what you’re selling, to who’s buying it. Your marketing plan will materialize when you identify how your products solve problems for your customers.

Think about that one. Do you know what your customers’ problems actually are? This is how you find out: Talk to them. Then build your business around providing the kind of products that solve these problems.

Customer research, at a personal level, is the fuel that allows your marketing motor to spring into action. And that’s actually the fun part. It means communicating (starting conversations) with potential customers in a variety of ways, such as—

Asking questions
Doing a survey
Writing a short questionnaire or quiz
Posting a blog and asking for comments
Posting a video and asking for comments

Your goal is to find out what bugs them, frustrates them, or keeps them up at night. The more insights your gather the easier it is to figure out the best way to help them.

Customers love to feel understood, so the more you know about them, the more fuel you have in your tank. It’s as simple as chatting with your next-door-neighbor. Simply ask them, “So, how are you doing?” — Really!

And while I’m on the topic, I’d love to know more about the things that you need some help with. I’ll be doing a seminar this fall, based on what YOU really want to change in your business. So if you’d kindly take this short survey, that will help me to help YOU. Here’s the link =>http://svy.mk/qp2VOV Here’s why getting up close and personal with your customers makes all the difference:

1. You’ll be able to figure out who you can help the most. (Identify your target market)

2. You can offer products that sell easily because they satisfy specific client needs. (No more guessing!)

3. You’ll create happy customers, and even huge fans because they value your products so much that they’ll tell other people about them.

So the bottom line is this: When you know your customers, you can deliver real value. That is, you can sell your customers the product that’s right for THEM because it solves their specific problem.

So why not give it a try? I’d be glad to give you a hand.

Otherwise you can keep doing what you’ve been doing and wonder why you’ve never built a following for your business. Is that really what you want? I doubt it, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Trust me, I’m not going to sell you a fancy marketing package. Honest!

I do offer a FREE 20-30 minute consultation to to help you figure out where you need the most help with your business. I call it my “Marketing Makeover Session” and If you visit this site http://bit.ly/nyTn18, and put your name and number in a time slot, I’ll give you a call back so we can figure out what you need to change and how to change it. Sound good?

I look forward to helping you rev up your marketing engine real soon!

Betsy

Betsy Shulman
646 306 4721 EST
www.RightMindMarkweting.com

Discover the Mental Shift That Makes Selling Your Products the Roaring Engine of Your Marketing Machine Even If You Don’t Have a Marketing Plan.

Filed Under: Marketing System, Selling Conversations Tagged With: Effective selling strategy, selling conversations

How Simple Selling Conversations can Increase Your Sales Instantly

May 25, 2011 By Betsy Leave a Comment

Increase your sales now!

If you own a small business, like it or not, you’re in sales — even if you hire someone else to do it for you. Ignoring sales is like cutting off your business’s blood supply. Yet, few business owners enjoy selling, and even fewer do it well… If you’re one of them, keep reading.

Does the word “selling” makes you uncomfortable? if so, you may need to shift your view of what selling is meant to do. With a slight change of perspective, a selling conversation can be a friendly exchange of information that allows the buyer to identify their real need. So “pitching” or coercing immediately goes out the door. Instead, think of your initial contact contact or conversation as a way to connect. Let go of “making the sale,” and focus on creating a relationship.

Here’s how it works:

Selling becomes easier when you think of it as a conversation. Getting started is as simple as asking, “Do you live in the neighborhood?” Or, “What are your plans for the holidays?” or “Did you see the game last night?” If you own a brick and mortar business, try “Can I help you find what you need more quickly?” In other words, just ask normal questions and get to know what makes people tick, then remember what you learn.

When you ask questions people open up and talk about themselves. They also ask YOU questions about what you do. Give-and-take is a normal way to converse, but very often, selling as we know it, feels awkward and insincere because it’s “pushy.” The natural course of a selling conversation should be authentic and comfortable. I’ll tell you how that happens in just a second.

But first, I’d like to ask YOU a question –Are you 100 % behind the product or service your business offers to the customers your serve? Seriously, do you feel you have something really valuable to offer your customers? If not, your problem may not be selling, it may be the product, or it could be that you haven’t done these two things:

1. Defined the true value of what you’re selling. (Your market position)

2. Decided who, exactly, needs what you have to sell (Your niche market.)

Without a clear sense of how your product helps your customers, selling can become a very unpleasant task.

Here’s why: Before you can have an authentic selling conversation with anyone about anything, your reasons for selling need to be clear in your own mind and heart. Believe it or not, good selling conversations come from the heart. That may sound corny, but it’s true.

When you know the unique value your product offers your customers — like how your Zippy Car Wash gets cars shiny using environmentally safe detergents — then you can focus on finding the group of people who want a clean, “green” car. The best way to make selling easy is to find the customers who want what you have to sell.

It seems reasonable that if you only sell to people who want what you have for sale, then selling would be easy! You see, selling is about satisfying the customer’s needs, and that means knowing your customers. And that takes us back to selling conversations. The better you know them, the better you can serve them.

So if you don’t know whose problem your products solve (your ideal customer) or how your products help them, you need to get that straight before you try to sell anything. If you need some help doing this, check out my Free Sales Action Guide: Three Steps to Selling Conversations that Close (Almost) Every time” by filling out the form up there in the right column of this website =>

You see, the problem isn’t with selling, the real problem is that most businesses don’t take the time to find out what their customers really need. After all, discovering problems and solving them is the only way to deliver true value to your clientele. A selling conversation allows you to collect information, identify the problem, and offer the solution… at an agreed price, and then the sale is complete.

See how easy that was? All it takes is a simple shift of focus that places the customer’s needs first. You become the giver and you can bet your customers will come back for more!

If you want to learn 3 things you can do to increase your sales immediately, I offer Free, 20-30 minute phone consultations that I call “Selling Makeovers.” Visit this link http://bit.ly/nyTn18 and fill in a time slot that works for you, and I’ll call you back. In that 20 minutes, we’ll find out what’s not working in your business, how you can fix it, and what I can do to help you kick your business into gear.

Make your next sale valuable!

Betsy

Betsy Shulman
646 306 4721 EST
www.RightMindMarketing.com