Respect For Your Prospect

When you have a sales job or even if you are looking for one the most important aspect of selling is respect for your prospect/client. In NLP we have a presupposition (a belief) that you should always respect another persons view of reality. The best salespeople I have ever encountered have a firm belief that they are “Consultants” not “Sales people.” The difference seems semantically slight but in practice they are fundamentally different. I had a fellow yesterday about jump down my throat to try to “sell me” a printer. Yes it was a good printer but I had no need for a printer. Even if I did I wouldn’t have bought from him. He kept pushing the features and abilities until he was blue in the face. The salesman was doing what I like to call a “Do to” process. He was going to sell me and that was that. I politely declined. And for all you employers, I would like you to know I would never go back to that store again. People nowadays absolutely hate hard sales tactics.

I happened also to be doing some marketing consulting for a firm in Sacramento, California yesterday. I spoke with several of their salespeople and found a great trend. They all considered themselves consultants to their clients. What this means is they prided themselves on solving other peoples problems. They did not pride themselves on “getting someone to buy” their product. They truly believe, as do I, that their product is extraordinary and will solve a lot of peoples problems.

Obviously, I can’t go into all of the details of how to properly use an NLP sales consultant approach in the blog post. However the main point is that if you have a sales job or are just starting out, respect your client. Find out how he/she sees the world, what sounds good to them, and especially what feels right. When you get in touch with your clients emotions you can guide them to the solution they are looking for.