Do you want a foot up above your competition? Do you want to win more business and reduce your cost of sales? If the answer is yes, you can take your business to the next level, by having a clear understanding and exercising the psychology of selling. The 10½ secrets presented below will help you focus your sales and marketing energy.

1. Positive attitude

Is the glass half empty or half full? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
Your attitude can mean the difference between achieving success or facing the disappointment of failure.
A positive attitude is essential in life. It helps you achieve your goals, attain success faster and increases your ability to win business.
Your clients will be influenced by your attitude and this will help determine whether they choose you ahead of your competitors.

So it’s time to get rid of those negative thoughts today!

2. Follow a system

How many coffees do you need to drink to win that sale?
Coffee is the new business lunch. It’s quicker, more cost effective and more successful.

In order to maximise your sales you need to have a tangible and workable system in place. You need to adopt a process which creates a more accurate picture of the world in which you operate.
The system needs to be like a funnel; you only get out of it what you put in to it. The more people you meet, the more relationships you form, the more meetings you have, so the more cups of coffee you drink. It’s a winning way to succeed. Sounds simple? It can be!

At Size 10½ Boots we ensure that we have the tools to be more cost effective and more accurate with our sales process. We know exactly what we need to put in to the funnel to get to the goals we require. Put simply, we know how much coffee we need to drink, and you can too!

3. Goal orientated

In today’s busy world, goals, ambitions and dreams can be easily lost in the day to day running of your business. You need to instill a focus and clearly communicate your goals in order to stay one step ahead of your competition.
Be ‘SMART’. Being SMART will enable you to convey Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based activities.

4. Emotion first; Logic second

People are irrational. Decisions are made on emotional triggers before empirical data is analysed.
People are often motivated to buy a product based purely on an emotional level, and then they justify their decision with logic afterwards.
In each step of the sales process you need to identify the client's need, then find an emotional connection, so they are motivated to take action and purchase your product or service.

5. Pain avoidance

People react first to avoid pain, then to reward.
Fear of losing someone or something are powerful emotions and are often exploited by sales people across the world. However, in a professional service context it can simply help you prioritise and demonstrate more effectively the benefits that your services offer. For example; when talking on topics at seminars or workshops, demonstrate ways they can reduce risk in their business or retain their valued employees, ahead of money making ideas.

6. Exude confidence

Have you got the confidence to pitch effectively? Have you got the belief in your products to successfully pitch to your clients?
Practice makes perfect. Building confidence in yourself and your product is a recipe for success.
You need to have knowledge and certainty about your products when communicating to others. Live and breathe your ideas, your plans and your actions. Create an aura of confidence by generating a reality and projecting an abundance of confidence that people will notice, respect and admire.
People are naturally attracted to confident people. As they say, people buy people.

7. What does it really mean to put yourself in your client's shoes?

Everyone did it when they were younger. You would put on a pair of adult's shoes and pretend to be a grown up! You could take on the world, you oozed confidence and it gave you a new persona. Can this work in business and have the same effects?
In order to be more attractive to your clients you need to put yourself in their shoes, pretend to be them and think like them. Plan ahead of your meeting. Ask yourself, what they will want, what will their concerns be, their purpose, their vision and their desired outcomes?

8. First impressions count

When we meet someone for the first time (rightly or wrongly) we make a snapshot judgement. This judgement can be very hard to change.Relationships in both our personal and business lives can be very fragile. They are often built up and destroyed by our behaviours and actions.
You need to create an effective relationship where respect, trust and understanding is felt by both parties. Listening is very important; it enables you to fully understand and find out what is important to the other person, which ultimately makes for a more successful connection.

Creating a lasting impression on a client is ultimately important. You need to make sure that you:

1. Dress the part, does your image make you stand out from your competiton,
2. Deliver on all the promises you make,
3. Be efficient and effective,
4. Create energy and enthusiasm,
And above all else, be yourself.

9. Don't sell the feature; sell the benefit

No matter what type of business you are in, you MUST concentrate on selling the benefits and not the feature of your products or services. People only care about one thing “what’s in it for me?”.

A feature is a characteristic of your product or service. A benefit is what the feature does for the client. Though benefits can be described in a million ways there are actually only five main features:

1. Convenience – saves time and effort,
2. Saves money or increases wealth,
3. Provides peace of mind,
4. Appeals to image or ego,
5. Provides fun and enjoyment.

Your features must differentiate you from your competitors so you stand out from the crowd. Look at taking the message of the benefits directly into the heart of the client experience.

10. Create rapport

In a sales process who are we more likely to buy from? A person who we have a strong relationship with or someone we have just met?

In general, in all aspects of life we gravitate towards people that we consider to have similar characteristics to ourselves. We naturally experience rapport in our friendships and relationships in a familiar social setting and/or where there is a common interest found. Rapport needs to be transferred into the business setting. You need to build rapport in order for successful communication to take place.

Rapport puts both parties at ease creating easy, mutual acceptance which in turn provides a quality relationship. The stronger the rapport the easier the sales process will be.

A good rapport can have a tremendous impact on your sales. People don't just buy from anyone, they buy from people they can trust. Rapport and credibility can establish relationship's that can become lifelong and prosperous.

10½. Take action

Clients are harder to please than ever before and are more value conscious. In order to meet their high demands you need to take positive action as soon as you meet and never make excuses. What you do after the networking event, the meeting, the phone conversation is of utmost importance. The 'coffee' is what makes a lasting impression so make sure you treat them to a good one ...... and not instant!

This month's Famous Feet

The team caught up with Trinny and Susannah at a recent Style conference in Birmingham!
 
Trinny and Susannah, TV presenters, both wear a size 6

Famous feet

Harrison Ford
Actor
Shoe size: 12