Watching a skilled salesperson at work is fascinating and instructive. What is it that stands out immediately when dealing with this particular professional figure? A seasoned salesman manages to extricate himself brilliantly even in the most complex situations and to reach the set goal with ease.
It is for this reason that, given the great flexibility required by the current labor market, learning and knowing how to exploit specific techniques of different professions (adapting them to the mechanics of one’s own sector of expertise) is an additional weapon to be exploited in one’s professional growth path. , regardless of the work environment in which you operate.
So let’s see sometricks to assimilate even if sales are not your daily bread .
# FIRST APPROACH
The relationship between seller and customer is a psychological game that develops right from the initial approach, in the awareness that first impressions often contribute decisively to the creation of the trust relationship that will be established during the meeting. The property of language , posture , safety in the gestures of an expert salesman, are evident even in the eyes of a “layman”.
Being open from the first moment in an open, positive and familiar way towards your interlocutor is the key to throwing open the doors of conversation, the first move to make to develop a persuasive and effective dialogic strategy .
# STUDY OF VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE
Once you’ve made a good impression of yourself, it’s important to start getting a good idea of who you are in front of . As the conversation progresses beyond the usual pleasantries and phrases, the good salesman focuses on the language and movements of his interlocutor . Understanding a person’s character, identifying which keys to touch or not, deciding when to go into details and when to stay more on the surface, are skills that can only be acquired with experience.
It is essential to learn to focus on who you are in front ofto obtain as much information as possible, to understand his gestures, anticipate his doubts or discover the resistances that hold him back. Almost always, especially with a stranger or in strictly professional relationships, what is said explicitly counts as much as the unspoken (if not less). Relating to someone according to a specific goal means knowing how to seize the right moment to push the conversation in a certain direction in a more decisive way or to slow down and put the other at ease. Only by forcing oneself to listen and pay attention will it be possible to notice those details that could make a difference .
# EMPATHIC BOND
Make a good impression, listen, observe. Ok, but then what? Empathy is the feeling that moves interpersonal interest and is based on the sharing of some values considered essential by individuals: only on these bases will it be possible to show oneself reliable, similar, “similar”.
How, then, to build a bond of this type? The great gift of a seller is patience . Aware that trust is not obtained in an instant , she knows that it is necessary to proceed with determination, step by step, to delimit a discursive terrain made up of mutual respect and common interests; he also knows that the success or failure of the negotiation comes directly from the ability to remain calmwithout giving the impression of being solely interested in concluding the deal .
Regardless of your role or profession, take care of the people around you, show interest in them and not in what you can get from them: the feeling of being deceived or deceived can only lead to the collapse of any form of interaction .
# UNDERSTANDING NEEDS
Understanding the needs of those in front of you means being able to direct the conversation on a favorable track. Once the relationship has been established, the seller knows he has become a credible and reliable interlocutor: he exploits the trust that has been given to him to make the customer understand that he has what he needs , asks specific questions, is able to imagine the answers and is thus able to present your proposal as effectively as possible.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer, student, doctor, manager, consultant, employee or a freelancer of various kinds. Relating to someone and understanding their needs above all means presenting oneself as the possible solution to a problem, as the bearer of a useful and innovative idea for the company, or as a person capable of providing valid and qualified help . In a certain sense, anyone can become a bit of a seller: what you “sell” is your figure, your reliability, your skills. In short, the feeling of having found the right person at the right time is “sold” .
# PREPARATION
A salesperson will never be a good salesperson without a sufficient amount of confidence in their means and abilities. On the other hand, an awareness of this type can only be achieved over time, with experience, with dedication and daily commitment; through a solid and complete preparation, constantly increasing their know-how and their wealth of knowledge. There is no successful seller who does not know perfectly the product he offers to his customers.
Be prepared, analyze your work from every point of view, with its pitfalls and its loopholes, it is the only way to anticipate problems and know what is going on; it is the only way to avoid unnecessary risks, prevent mistakes and find ways out of complicated situations. It is not necessary to be a salesman to recognize that only through a thorough and detailed preparation you can reach that degree of awareness that is perceived externally in the form of authority .
