"The sale is made or lost before you ask"
When I started out in real estate we were taught the following mantras which it turns out are complete baloney...
1. Always ask for the sale or
2. Be constantly closing.
Here is why this is nonsense! When you ask for agreement or the sale, if the buyer is not ready you just created resistance. If the answer turns out to be no, you've just added 'great' resistance. Each time a buyer says no, the resistance to your product, service or idea intensifies. It's like asking a person out on a date. The more 'no's' you get, what is the likelyhood you will ever get a 'yes'. Ouch!
And the more resistance between you and the buyer the more stress that is built up. It is stressful on the buyer to be asked for the sale before they are not ready to make a committment. It is stressful on you to deal with a 'no'. Or to be asking for agreement when you know the likely answer is...NO! How can that be good?
So here's what you need to know that most don't....
"Your first objective is NOT to make the sale it is start a relationship"
In order to build a relationship you must first get by that persons resistance. They may have resistance to you, your ideas, your product or your service. To get past this resisantance you must first attempt to gain their. ....trust, respect and likeablity. You don't need them in equal amounts. Sometimes you only need one quality to make the sale or persuasion. Often likeablity is enough.
Allow me to give you an example. Oprah has millions of fans who trust, respect and love her. When she makes a book club recommendation it is a guarantee that the author is about to make millions of sales. Her fans don't need logic to buy the book, they have Oprah's word on it. Enough said.
The obvious next question is how to gain someone's trust, respect and likeability? Glad you asked grasshopper. And here is the part most people don't understand.
"First Prepare to Persuade"
Find out as much as you can about the person you want to influence. If you are going to attempt to build a relationship you need to know their likes, dislikes, goals and motivations. I call this...'Client Intel' (just because it sounds cool instead of saying something creepy like spying...lol). It seems obvious that if I want to get you to like, trust or respect me, I first need to know what they like, trust and respect.
Some tips of gaining 'Client Intel'...
1. Talk to anyone you know who also knows that person.
2. Check their social media....twitter, facebook etc
3. Do an internet search on the person
4. Check their company website for any info on the person
5. Ask the person whenever you can about their likes, dislikes, problems and goals.
Ask them about competitors that they trust and respect. Ask lots of questions!
6. Build a 'Confidential Client Intel' file ( just trying to sound James Bond
cool again) but do keep and grow your client info it is vital to your ability to
influence. The reason this is so important is because...
I will expand on this in later articles but here is your takeaway today...
1. The sale is made before you ask
2. You must find ways to lower their reistance to you, your product and service and
your ideas
3. Find ways to gain their trust, respect and likeability
4. Your first objective is not to make the sale it is start a relationship
5. Prepare to Persuade
6. Gather 'Client Intel'
7. Have some fun!
We are just scratching the surface here friends so come back and I'll share the secrets of how to become more likeable, and gain trust and respect. It's the most fun you can have with your pants on (I'd like to promise you that I'll be more professional sounding however we both that's not going to happen anytime soon).
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