Posted on: 25 November, 2001
Author: Kevin Nunley
All of us sell all the time. From a child asking Mom for acookie to the CEO of a major ... trying to ink a ... order, each of us sells. We sell our ideas and beliefs ... bo All of us sell all the time. From a child asking Mom for acookie to the CEO of a major corporation trying to ink a milliondollar order, each of us sells. We sell our ideas and beliefs toco-workers, bosses, and family. We sell products, services, andconcepts.Here are three simple ways to sell anything. You can usethem in person, on the telephone, or with email.Way 1: Start a conversation. I never realized how effectivethis super-simple method was until I met Ted. He is able to getan order an amazing 98% of the time.How does he do it? "Simple. I just talk to people," he says.It all started early in Ted's career when he couldn't seem tosell anything. "I had recently gotten married and just when Ireally wanted to succeed, no one seemed interested in my salespitches."Sometimes our best ideas come when we're really discouraged. Tedgot so down on his sales technique he forgot about it and juststarted talking with people. Amazingly, they bought. Salesstarted to trickle, then turned into a flood as Ted became thecompany's top sales person for his region.I watched closely to see how Ted does it. He starts up aconversation. As soon as you mention something about yourself,he show a big interest. He talks about whatever you areinterested in.I immediately feel like Ted is a friend I've known all my life.After twenty to forty minutes, Ted casually says "so can we getyou set up with an order?" After such a good conversation, 98%of his prospects say yet.Way 2: Ask questions. This is a very simple way to sell and itworks for both products and services.Most customers don't know half as much about your product as youdo. In fact, most probably don't know much at all. Yet it is arare customer who starts off by saying I'm a complete idiot onthis.Ask questions to help find customers find the areas where theyneed more information. They may not even know what areas theywant to know more about.Let's say a customer comes into your computer store and startslooking for a new desktop. Ask questions to find out if thecustomer is mostly interested in processing speed, reliability,or a popular feature. Ask what frustrates them about theircurrent computer or what they like that they fear losing with anew computer.Find the customer's main concerns. Then give them as muchinformation about those concerns as they seem interested inhaving.This does three things: You eliminate doubts based on lack ofinformation. You show you are an expert ready to help. Thecustomer becomes convinced you are interested in the things thatare important to her.Way 3: Explain how your product or service works. Again, mostcustomers don't really know how the thing they want to buy doeswhat it does. There is so much more you can tell them to enhancethe value they get from your product or service.Let me give you an example. People love to send their pressrelease to media, but most have no idea how to get one written,how to send it to media, or if the media will even be interested.Because I spent many years working in radio and TV, I can talkabout how to send press releases from now until the cows comehome. Customers love it.I tell them how we put their contact info and headline at thetop because editors are busy and may not read the rest. Iexplain how most editors read their email, but regular mail andfaxes arrive by the bag loads. The customer learns how to changethe slant of his story to interest media.Once you take time to fully explain how your product or serviceworks, most people are far closer to making a purchase.At the root of these three methods to sell anything is humancontact. These days it is had to get a knowledgeable person onthe phone. If you send an email inquiry, you'll probably get aform letter reply that has little to do with your question.Customers respond when you give them good old-fashionedattention. Start a conversation, answer questions, and explainto get more customers. You will sell more products and services. Article Tags: Sell Anything Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com