What's up Believe Nation,
it's Evan. My one word is believe and I believe in
people more than they believe in themselves. And my sincere hope is that if you
see in you what I see in you you'll be able to change the planet. So to help
you on your journey today I'm going to talk about the seven ways to convince
people to buy your product. -- So one of the most common challenges for entrepreneurs
is we've got a great product or service to sell and we've got to get out there
and sell it. How do you convince people that they need to buy your thing? I'm
going to give you my seven tips. Tip number one is to change
your mindset. I'm not from the old school sales philosophy where you see that
next person coming in as your next suit, or as your next car, or hitting your
next bonus. From my perspective what's really important is you're
trying to serve them. You're trying to actually help this person make a good
decision. That may mean pushing them a little bit, that may mean once you
understand them to give them the best solution. And we'll go through the
points. But it starts with the mindset of you are there to serve, you are there
to help and not just try to close. I'm not trying to convince anybody of
anything.
I want to help the person coming through the door. And if you
start with that approach I think every other step becomes a lot easier. The
reason why it's so important is because you can spend so much of your time
dealing with people who are not good fits for your business. A lot of
people, a lot of you guys, if you have a list of potential leads or prospects, a
lot of these people will never buy from you. And you either spend your time
trying to convince the people who are not fits for your company to buy from you.
And it's a long, slow, painful, awkward process for both
of you. Or you abandon that person and you use that time to focus on finding
people who are good fits for your business. And so spend less time
trying to convince everybody and more time finding and helping the people who
you can help. Step number two is to listen to them. The best tool that you have
as a salesperson is your ears. There's a common saying of
there's a reason why you have two ears and one mouth. You need to be able to
listen to your customers, to understand what they're looking for.
The worst salesperson and you can even experience it
whatever you're going to go out and buy at if your deal with the salesperson is
they're just talking at you, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking. You're
probably going to get one, really annoyed. And two, a lot of what
they're saying is not going to help you. And so if you want to switch that if
you want to be a great salesperson your first step is to listen to what the
people are saying. Listen to what their problems are. Listen to try to
find points that you understand their challenge and then it's easy to come up
with a solution that will help them. Also as people are talking
it helps them to feel a little bit more understood which improves your sales
process cycle, as well. Tip number three is understand their why.
This is always a really important process and one where a
lot of sales people fall down. Because people come in with one reason for why
they think they're buying from you. Or why they think they're interested.
But there's always a deeper reason which they may
acknowledge or they may need a couple probing questions to figure out. So as an
example, people come to dance here, right. Stronger Than Salsa, one of the
largest dance school for salsa in Canada for sure, maybe North America. Why do
people come here? When you ask them at the beginning it's, well I want to learn
some steps, I want to you know I thought salsa was interesting. I want
to come and learn. And it's a very surface level answer, it doesn't give me
anything. If I'm trying to sell this person, if I'm trying to help
this person make a decision as to which class might be a right fit or even if
our school is a good fit for them or not,
I need to understand why they're
coming here, right? So as an example, if what they all they
care about is the steps and and their goal is to perform and they want to be one
of the world's greatest salsa dancers, I'm not going to sell them on a group
class because you learn more slowly. Maybe they want to do private
lessons with an instructor to learn as quickly as possible. Most people though
what they do is they come and they want to meet people. Maybe they just broke up
with somebody and they want to get into a new relationship. Maybe they
just moved to the city and they want to make new friends. Maybe they're not
happy with their work and they just need an escape to go. Maybe they haven't
made any friends since University and the people at their work they don't really
like. Or they're an entrepreneur and they work by themselves
and they want to come and meet people, right. If that's the incentive to
want to join, that's good (mumbling) because when I'm done talking to them I can
frame everything in a situation that really helps them best. And so you have to
understand the why behind the why. Usually it's not the first
answer but it's the second or the third answer. So when you ask them why
did you find us, what inspired you to call, what inspired you to come into my
store, what inspired you to send me that email ask one-level why at least deeper
after you get that first response. Because almost by default and
this is when you're dealing with a team member this is when you're dealing with
investors, when you deal with media there's always a why behind the why.
So ask the why and then when they give you a response ask
a second why or third why underneath to get to the real core. Because if you
understand what really moves them you understand the true intention behind it.
And probing them a little bit to figure that out you have
a much better chance of giving them the best option and closing that sale. Tip
number four is make a connection. At the beginning of this process there's
always this kind of standoff right. Nobody likes to be sold.
Nobody likes being sold to. People like the buy but they don't like being sold
to. And so whenever a salesperson comes up to somebody
immediately like you tighten up, you hold in your breath, you don't want to
reveal too much, you don't want to be hard pressure sold. That's a typical
reaction that happens a lot. But they do want
information, they do want somebody to help them. And so by figuring out their
why right the why behind the why, the next step that you want to do is make a
personal connection with them somehow. Show them that you understand their why.
So if you if they're talking about wanting to come take a
dance class because they want to make new friends, because they haven't made any
friends since college right. Or if they are trying to
get into relationship, they're hoping to meet somebody because they just broke
up with somebody try to hear a personal story that relates to them. So sharing a
good personal story, one, shows that you listen to them. One, shows that
you are understanding them. And then also shows that you have a solution for
them because you've gone through it yourself. Because you know what
situation they're in, you've come through it and now I'm going to show you the
path to do it yourself. And so if someone was talking like that as an example I
would share about all the great friendships that I've made through dancing.
How my social circle exploded because I took dance classes
became part of the salsa community. That's one of the most friendly communities,
I think, in the world. I did ballroom dancing, didn't meet anybody. I took
salsa, my friend circle exploded. I then met my wife. If
you're talking relationships I met my wife through a salsa dancing.
It's a great way to be able to meet people because you're
in a dance class and you're rotating partners every couple minutes so you get to
know all the members of the opposite sex in your class. And when you go
out to socials and parties part of the process is you're dancing with lots of
different people. You don't just stick with one partner all night you're dancing
with 20, 30, 40 different people from the opposite sex in one night.
And so friendships just naturally happen, relationships
just naturally happen. And I can share my story. And so if I
understand that that's your real why behind the why and then I share with you my
personal story not as a sales pitch to try to convince you but a deep
understanding of I am I acknowledge this fear that you have, and this pain that
you have, and this desire you have. And then here's how I solved it
then it's much easier to get them to follow that path with you. You disarm them,
they feel like they're not being sold anymore but you're actually trying to help
them. Tip number five is recommend a solution that fits. And so
once you've asked the why behind the why and once you've made that connection
with them then you have to think, okay, I now really know what this person wants
and I know why they want it. Now I need to figure out
what's the best option for me to be able to give that person. Well try to dance
salsa, we have lots of different classes. We have lots of different
options we have salsa, we have bachata, we have performance groups, we have
private lessons. We have lots of different things that you could potentially do.
And as I'm talking to somebody you know we'll be listening
okay, here's what they need, here's what they're asking for. That's an X, that's
a yes. And in some cases and this is this is bold but this earns
a lot of trust it may mean that you recommend them outside of your company.
Maybe the best thing for them to do is not be a part of your company.
So example, when people call in to us to say, hey, do you
have a kids program? Well we don't right now, there is no kids program. It's
something that we've thought about, we're looking into, but it's not a highest
priority right now for us. And so instead of just
saying no it could also be okay, here are some options. If you get the question
enough you can look at different options. Here are some other schools that
provide kids programs. So maybe I'm sending my
potential customer to one of my competitors but it's the best thing for them.
And they'll remember it. It's not often that that happens that a companies
willing to recommend you to their competition. And whether you want to
take that bold step or not I can guarantee you that it net net wins for you
because they remember that relationship. And if they have another potential
option or question they're going to come back to you. But even if you
don't recommend off to a competing product just be able to recommend the right
thing for them, not just the thing that you're trying to sell more of. So a
great example a buddy of mine named Louis runs a company called Last Minute
Training. They sell all sorts of different training. So example, if
you want to learn Excel he'll put you into different Excel classes. He knows
which Excel classes best fit for the customer but he also knows the ones that
are going to make him the most money. He will always do the best
thing for the customer even if he's going to make more money off of this course
and send them on this day but he knows it doesn't quite fit their criteria.
He doesn't doesn't quite give them what they want he
focuses on the customer experience first and that in turn wins loyalty. I mean
it's a it's a great way of doing business it earns team respect and team
loyalty. So it's not just about the money. But it also keeps the
client. If they know that you gave them the best option for them even if you're
losing a little bit of money because of it it earns their trust, it earns their
loyalty, it earns their referrals. And it's a great way to do
business Tip number six is go above and beyond. You need to get referrals for
your business. Unless you have money to go
and buy Super Bowl commercials and spend a ton of money on ads, entrepreneurs
often build their business through referrals. You do a fantastic job for
somebody and then they hopefully come back for repeat business. But it
also may be the business where they may not want to buy from you for another two
or three years or five years, depending on the industry. But you want them to
refer people on to you. You want people to pass
your name on to them because of the great experience that you gave them. And
unfortunately providing a good product or service isn't enough. Like you
could give them everything that they wanted, everything that they asked for, but
is that's just the bare minimum. Because remember your customers are busy
people. Think about how busy you are, think about all the things
that you have bought in the past year. How many of those things
have you referred on to your friends? Like how many of those do go out of your
way? Sure if somebody asks you, hey do you have a real estate agent you can
refer me to maybe you pass on the name. But that you go out of your
way to say, man I had this crazy experience with this real estate agent. This
guy is so amazing I need to tell you about that. How many times have you done
that? Probably not that much. Most companies operate at a
pretty high level of mediocrity. And most companies don't even get to the point
where you're you know really satisfied but that's the bare minimum to entry.
Just solving somebody's problem is not enough. You have to think about how
you can go above and beyond to make it a special, not just product or service,
but experience for them. So every time they are
involved with your company in any way a phone call, in person, email, social
media however they're interacting with you they feel great as a result. On top
of getting the product, service, benefits that you promised. On top of
solving their problem. And so be looking at
through the entire process of dealing with a customer how can you make the
experience better, more enjoyable, more memorable, more pleasant so they can't
help but go and tell their friends about this amazing time that they just had
with this insane customer service story that you were able
to provide for them. One of the things that we always do at TDS as part of our
process is the last step. So we have the checklist of things that we want to do
for customers when they call in. The last step is always
look for a way to go above and beyond. Part of that is understanding the why
like to give them something that is really above and beyond you have to
understand what their why was. You have to understand why
they're getting into it. So an example, somebody new to the city wants to make
new friends, wants to get to know the city feels like dance class is a great way
to do it. Perfect, let's look at solving the problems. Let's look and get
into them too into a class that would be the best fit for them. Salsa, bachata
whatever it is. Great, we found the class, perfect signed up. Happy pleasant
experience on the phone. It's not enough, we have to go above and beyond.
Thinking about, here's a person who's new to the city, what can
we do that will really help them? Well is it thinking about other events that
happen in the city? Is it, is it understanding what neighborhood they're part of
and different festivals that you really like going to?
Is it recommending restaurants that you've had a great experience at that they
absolutely should go and try because you know they told you on the phone
something about their personal preference. Like you got to find
something that really tags you to them. Not just because it's a strategy it's
just it's a good thing to do like you'll feel more fulfilled that you're really
deeply meaningfully helping these customers. And they'll feel a lot more
honesty and trust and loyalty towards you that they'll not only want to come
back and look forward to that first experience, come back for future
experiences, but also tell their friends. You need the word of mouth
and that comes from providing an extraordinary experience on top of the product
or service that you're selling. Tip number seven is model success. Remember any
problem that you have right now somebody's already solved it.
There's a lot of great people who've done a lot of great
different sales training that you can pick from. It doesn't mean you have to
follow anybody's methodology exactly to the to the T. I've given you seven tips
here today. You may like two of them, great. Apply that your business, see
if it works and see if it doesn't. It's never been easier to reach out to
experts. If you're at a company you know maybe there's somebody above you who
can reach out to. But also just in general experts. People putting on
live YouTube hangouts, people who are on Twitter, people who are on Snapchat you
can make a video and reach out to somebody who knows what they're talking about
and get direct feedback for your business. It's never been easier to do it.
And whether you're doing that, whether you're watching
videos, whether you're reading books constantly educate yourself. Remember that
that big problem that you're facing you don't have to come up with every single
ingenious idea yourself. Somebody has already figured it
out. Learn from them, take what works for you apply it to your business and take
off. So those are my seven tips on ways to convince somebody to buy your
product. I'd love to know what do you guys think. What was your
favorite tip? What are you going to apply immediately into your process, share
it down below. Did I miss an eight, nine, ten that you want to add to the list?
Leave it down in the comments. If you leave a comment
within a couple hours of this video going live you are entered into our contest
for two daily prizes. I made this video because Syed Abbas asked me to.
So if there's a topic you'd like me to cover in a future
seven ways video check out the link in the description, click on that, go leave
your topic, go vote on the other ones that are there and you might get lucky and
I'll cover it next time. I also want to give a
quick shout out to Regina Ross Thomas. Regina thank you so much for picking up a
copy of my book Your One Word and taking that picture and sending it to me. I
love the smile, I love the background. I hope you're enjoying
the read and I really really appreciate the support. Thank you guys again for
watching. I believe in you, I hope you continue to believe in yourself and
whatever your one word is. Much love, I'll see you soon. marketing is
about giving your customer choices. Not too many, not too little, just the right
amount, and let them believe that it is their choice to make that purchase and
make that buying decision.




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