I don’t know about you, but when I am in the buying process, I am not interested in being friends with the salesperson. I am not interested at all. In fact, while I want them to be friendly-enough, it actually bothers me when they try to act like I’m their BFF and we have known each other for years. 

In my POV our relationship is centered around a transaction. I am looking for a product or service to purchase and what I want is for the salesperson to give me what I am looking for, in the price that I want to pay, as quickly as possible so that I can move on with my life. And the more time they spend “small-talking” me is time spent away from their ability to give me what I am looking for. 

Some of your reading this can totally relate to what I just said. 

Others of you are thinking, “What a jerk!” 

And both of you would be right-because whether you agree with my “buying language” or not depends on your buying language! If your buying language is like mine, you probably like what I just said. If your buying language is different, you may not like what I had to say. 

This truth is so crucial because not everyone you sell to on a daily basis is going to speak your specific buying language! And when you’re NOT speaking their language, it’s all too easy for the sales process to go nowhere fast. 

How do YOU sell?

As you might have been able to tell, I am much more of an independent buyer. I don’t need to hand held through the process-I just want what I want. Therefore when I was a front line sales person, I tended to sell in the same way. I assumed customers knew what they wanted and figured the best thing I could do was give them their space. 

As you can imagine that way didn’t work very well for very long! I had to learn how to sell differently than what was natural for me. I had to try and act like a friend to people that I didn’t really want to be friends with. I had to be patient with people who didn’t know what they wanted! (Which irritated me to no end!)

The same is true for you too!

We have all gone through some type of sales training, were told how to take someone on a tour, the frequency of closing questions, overcoming objections (and if you weren’t, I can help you with that! … I know, shameless plug.)

But, we weren’t always told how to effectively sell to people who spoke different languages from us. If you’d like to learn more about how to have “Pitch Perfect Selling” I invite you to register today for my Webinar right here with the Multifamily Insiders, NAA and Apartment All-Stars team on Wednesday July 6th.

Here is the link: http://www.multifamilyinsiders.com/shop-multifamily/product/144-pitch-perfect-selling-how-to-hit-all-of-the-right-notes-when-selling-to-different-types-of-customers

In the meantime, what can you do to speak the language of all of your prospects?

One: Pay attention to the cues your prospects are giving you. If someone is more relational and friendly, you may need to be more relational and friendly. If a prospect is more “matter of fact” you may need to end the chit-chat and focus on the facts. If a customer has a short-attention span, you may need to do things that keep his/her attention on the task at hand. 

Two: If what you’re doing is working, keep doing it! 

Three: If what you’re doing isn’t working, do something DIFFERENT! When the signs are clear that you’re NOT making a connection, mentally shift gears and do something different. This may require you to “Do a 180” that is totally different than how you were doing things. Don’t be afraid to try and change things up. Things are going bad anyway, why not see if you can save the sale?

Four: You’re not going to connect with everyone. So learn from the times you don’t-and don’t beat yourself up over it. As John Maxwell says, “Sometimes you win-and sometimes you learn!”

Please join me on July 6th for my “Pitch Perfect Selling” Webinar!