Telling isn't selling!

I am a myth buster.

You won't see me on Discovery Channel though, well not yet anyway. You will hear me busting the "myth of selling" through my classes, my writing and when you meet me. This is my goal: to change the way people sell. Selling is an amazingly creative and fun process and that is what I want to impress upon you. Not only that, the art of sales is the art of clear communication, listening and relationship building. Learning this has changed my life and the lives of those I "sell with" and it can change yours as well!


People think selling is about pushing your product or service on your client or prospect. Others still think that it is about telling their story, sharing about how their product or service has changed their life. It isn't. Selling is so much more. Selling is about building relationships and discovering who your prospect is as a human being. Beyond that, selling will help you to discover who YOU ARE as a human being. If you follow my Equation for Success: VISION + VALUE + KNOWLEDGE + TOOLS = SUCCESS you will understand your own VALUE as a human being and this will transform you in ways you wouldn't imagine. The art of sales is a collaborative process. In this process we learn about ourselves, about our prospects and we build strong relationships with ourselves and our prospects!

Think about it, you go to a networking group and share your story. What happens if the person you share your story with has a different story? The person you are speaking with might not have the same problem you had and you could easily lose them right here. You can start over, and start building from that place, but it will be six times harder to build this relationship because you haven't established trust.


Many companies teach their sales people to "share" their story to bond with potential customers and clients. I am the first to tell you that this is a myth. Telling isn't selling. Discovering is selling! Learn about your prospect first and then selectively share your story when appropriate. Be yourself and reach out to ask about your prospect and learn about them. Don't make the sale the primary goal, make learning about your prospect's needs the primary goal and you will make the sale.


If you don't make the sale, you will build a relationship and this will lead to a sale down the road or a referral and a bigger sale. Trust the selling process and have fun with it, don't push.


Selling can be transformative if you allow yourself to embrace the process. If you are connected to your VISION you will feel the passion that drives you and so will everyone you reach out to. What about your VALUE? I mean your VALUE beyond your product or service. When you understand your intrinsic VALUE and reach out to people grounded in this understanding you reach out in a powerful way.

This is a powerful place to visit, your intrinsic VALUE as a human being and why you are special. When you are able to truly appreciate your own VALUE then you easily lead by example. People are drawn to you and you can easily build powerful relationships with others, because you have built a powerful relationship with yourself. KNOWLEDGE is your bridge to your prospects and clients. When you add in the TOOLS you can only WIN! Selling becomes bridge building because we are touching people in a way that lets them know we care.


I believe that we can change the way people do business. Selling becomes a way of connecting that shows our clients or prospects we care about them, not only about the sale. We don't tell our story but we listen to theirs. We just relate to them as human beings and we offer them our presence and our clear communication. We don't tell them our story until they ask and they will. So, selling becomes so much more than just telling!

I would love to hear from you!

Reach out to me and tell me your stories and share your thoughts about the selling process and I can share them with my readers: carolyn@essentialselling.com

How's Your Retention Rate?

I read an interesting article this morning about Twitter and retention statistics.

The article explained that after someone joins Twitter, that person might not come back for a whole month.

It got me to thinking. All these social media sites need to keep their users interested and coming back for more. With all the competition of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and other sites popping up every day, the big question becomes: How do you keep someone interested?

This should be a question that you are asking yourself as you reach out to “sell” in the marketplace. Because, as we know if you have been following my blog, we ALL sell no matter what!

So, how do you keep your customers interested? How do you keep your customers loyal? How do you keep your customers?

Here are some tips that will help answer this very important question:

Remember you are building a relationship.

Selling is relationship building. People like to do business with people they trust and they like. Let your prospect know you care by asking questions to understand how you can help and answer a need. You can’t answer a need though if you don’t know what it is, so ask questions to uncover that need and THEN offer your solution. This builds trust and let’s your prospect know you care.

Keep reaching out:

Selling is about connecting and connecting and connecting. You can’t just reach out once and expect to make a sale. It does happen and when it does it’s great, but it is rare. What you need to do is keep reaching out to your prospects AND your current clients to continue to learn more and more. This takes discipline, organization and a great system. You need to have this in place so you can continue to keep in touch. In sales absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder.

Be unique:

What do you have that is original and different from your competitor. What is your brand? What is special about what you have to offer? In some cases, it could just be YOU. That is ok, take advantage of you. If you reach out from a place of confidence, power and good intentions, this will ring true for your prospects and clients. You will notice that more and more your prospects and clients will be drawn to you because you are genuine. You don’t have to push, just be yourself.

Use the phone:

You can build a relationship on the phone and selling is building relationships. So, use the phone. Reach out to people and differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t just send an email or even a letter. Say hello, and build a relationship on the phone and in person!



I don’t know how Twitter will keep people interested. I do know how we can; by reaching out on the phone and in person, with the intention to be “of service”. This is what can make all the difference in a market flooded by social media, e-zines, newsletters, email marketing, voice broadcasting and tweets.

For more on how to reach out from a place of power and confidence, to anyone on the phone and in person visit my website and sign up for my next course: Essential Selling’s Cold Calling Wealth Building Technology™. www.essentialselling.com carolyn@essentialselling.com

HERE'S MY DEFINITION OF ATTRACTION MARKETING

Attraction Marketing is a term that you can find all over the internet!

This is the “new” model for network marketing, MLM’s and other businesses. Everyone is using the term and everyone is doing it so that they can become “the hunted and not the hunter”! This is a great concept. It works for certain businesses and certain products and services. The stars line up correctly and you make your passive millions.

I have a little bit of a different take on attraction marketing. If you aren’t on the top of the search engines, coming up in the first 5 places on Google or Yahoo, I don’t know how well attraction marketing will work for you. But let’s put that aside, because that only takes money and a good writer.

Let’s say you do get people coming to your website. Now what? Do they just buy your product? Or are they browsing? What if they have questions? Are you going to answer all their questions via email? How are you going to build the relationship?

Is your e-zine, newsletter, or email campaign going to be the one that will stand out from all the rest? Why? What is it about your correspondence that makes it better than the person that sent their e-zine five minutes before you sent yours?

I am not trying to be negative, this is just my opinion. In this frantic “attraction-marketing-market” it doesn’t matter how well written your e-zine is or how funny or cute, because the only thing that will differentiate you from all your competition is YOU!

This is what I mean about Attraction Marketing. If you want to attract someone to you then you need to be strong and confident in your communication and at some point your communication will need to be live.

Many of the people who have built their internet empires started somewhere and rumor has it that they started with talking to a lot of people; both, in person and on the phone. The people who have built their empires on the internet had to start somewhere. Just a little note, when they did start, there were a lot less people doing what they were doing, that is why they teach it now!

I am not saying that you shouldn’t utilize all the tools in your tool box and one tool is attraction marketing.

It is time for so much more. It is time for focus. It is time for direction. It is time to stand out and know your worth, your value, the benefits you can offer and how to build relationships! At some point you will need to pick up the phone, either to follow up or reach out. So, think about it. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to stand out amongst your competition as the one that offers the personal touch? Are you ready, as an expert, to offer the professionalism to follow up and reach out?

My definition of attraction marketing is this: If you reach out and know why you are reaching out and the value you offer someone and you have the knowledge to back it all up as an expert, you will naturally attract your customers to you. People will be drawn to you and even if they don’t work with you immediately, they will eventually! Or they might just refer someone to you!

Just my two cents and a different spin on attraction marketing to about.

Learn more: carolyn@essntialselling.com Stay tuned for my updated website...

INSIDE OUT NETWORKING

Everyone is doing what you’re doing, how can you set yourself apart and stand out?

When you go to a party, who do you remember? I remember the person that was nice to me; the person that was genuinely interested in me and was curious and asked questions. You know what, that makes me interested in them!

I can’t stand going to networking events and having people tell me how great they are, how great their product is and how I need what they have. How do they know?

Networking events can be crazy and frenzied with people pushing themselves on the other glazy eyed attendees. Frantic networkers are spewing 30 second commercials in every direction as if they are robots circling around the room looking for their next victim. They are hoping desperately to find that one fish to bite down on their hook.

Is this really conducive to building strong relationships, which, as we have established, is how you build your business? Is this how you are going to let people know what you have to offer? NO!

I have an idea, try something different and go against the grain and do what isn’t expected from you. Let’s make a pact right here that the next networking event we attend we will be the ones to stand out and be noticed by not trying to be noticed. What do you say? Are you in?

Let’s not talk about ourselves. While everyone else is pitching why not catch? Why not just listen, take note and remember what is being said. When you do follow up (and you must!) you will be armed with information and know just what to say to build a relationship.

This alone will make you stand out. You will be remembered because you listened and you weren’t pushing, you were just being. So take note of what they are throwing your way and catch it so you can then “throw it right back” to build a relationship when you follow up.

When I say “throw it right back” what I mean is that because you are such a good listener and you really can understand the nuances of what people are saying, read the sub-text, you are able to craft the perfect questions and lead your new friend down an easy path to buying your product. You are building a relationship because you are taking the time to build a relationship.

Think about it and give it a try. By remembering them you will stand out. You will be the one who noticed them and made them feel important and special. Let them turn the tables and ask you questions and want to know what you do. Focus on being yourself and just listening, being friendly and being approachable and turn the networking events inside out!

Just a note, you have to follow up to be successful. One out of two people aren't following up so you be the one that does! Then this will really work.

For more information on the right questions to ask, gently leading your prospect down the path of discovery and building a strong bond that leads to a sale, contact me. carolyn@esesntialselling.com

DO YOU KNOW THE EQUATION FOR SUCCESS?

This may be obvious, but it is interesting!

I was on my way home from the gym on Tuesday morning and I heard something interesting on the radio. It was that successful people work harder than people who aren’t as successful. I know, I told you this was obvious! But, how do they do that? How do they have the energy and drive to work harder than your “average bear”? It is because they are passionate about what they do! This is the nugget, the hot coal that fuels them all day long.

It means that they are connected to WHY they are doing what they are doing.

Did you know that this alone is enough to get people to where they want to go? They might get there stumbling and bumbling because they don’t have the experience or tools in place to support them, but they can get there just the same. It probably will take a while.

Now, what if you add VALUE to the equation? I mean that not only do you understand WHY you are doing something, you really understand on a deep level what VALUE you bring to your industry, to your clients, your community to the people you come in contact with on a daily basis. This is great, this gives you the confidence you need to reach out and build relationships. So now it becomes a little bit more easy to reach out and build business.

Let’s add something else, KNOWLEDGE. I mean the knowledge that you bring to your industry, your customers, your prospects and your community. These three elements: WHY, VALUE and KNOWLEDGE create a very solid foundation to build from.

The final component in the equation is nuts and bolts sales tools and techniques. With this in place you can harness all that passion and knowledge and direct it properly. You know how to manage your day. You know how to reach out. You know how to follow up and have the systems in place to support your growing business.

THIS is the equation for success: WHY + VALUE + KNOWLEDGE + TOOLS = SELLING SUCCESS!

This is what I teach! I am so excited about my upcoming course: The Essential Cold Calling System™. Starting March 30th my telecourse will start and you will leave with this very workable equation and all the tools in place you need to rocket to success.

Email me for more information: carolyn@essentialselling.com