Ways to improve selling skills for R&D

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Nothing is more frustrating when you spend all that time and effort talking to a prospect, and then at the end, you don't close the sale. Today, I'm going to teach you three most important skills that you must understand and master in sales if you want to be a successful entrepreneur or a successful salesperson. You see, most people don't know how to communicate. Fewer know how to sell, almost no one knows how to close. If you're a salesperson, if you are a business owner, it is your duty, it is your obligation to close that sale. Now maybe, the kind of close that happens, maybe it happens after a presentation that you have given in a conference room. Maybe it happens over the phone. Maybe it happens in a shop. Maybe it happens in a showroom, or maybe it happens in a home kind of setting, or maybe it happens after you do an online demo. Whenever and wherever a close that is supposed to happen, it is your responsibility and your responsibility alone to close that sale. Most salespeople do not get this, right? They get very good at everything else. They are very good at prospecting, or maybe they get very good at cold calling. They are doing very good in terms of outbound, or they are very good at giving presentations, or they're very good at giving people demo online. But unless you close that sale, nothing happens. You become a very, very good presentation giver. You become a very good demo guy, and guess what? Those things don't get you to the bank. Closing is the only thing that gets you to the bank. So today, let me teach you three things, the three skills that you must know, three important skills you must master, if you want to earn more money. Sales skill number one, the ability to empathize with your customers. You see, if you're selling low ticket item, or you're selling a commodity, you work in a retail shop, people come in, they grab and go, or you're selling something that's transactional. You just show them the aisle, or you show them stuff, well, you don't really need to have empathy, because you're just providing a quick answer, a quick solution. However, if you're selling anything that is significant, if you're selling something that's high ticket, you need to have deep empathy. One thing I always say is this: people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. When you are selling something at a higher price, at a high transactional value, your customers need to know that you've got their back. And you have to be able to connect with people. You know what, if you want one big secret when it comes to having tremendous success when it comes to closing, here's one: give a damn. Actually give a damn about the wellbeing of your customers. Give a damn about their results. Give a damn about their outcome. When you give a damn, if your product or service are not a good fit, you gotta tell them it's not a good fit. If there's other people, there are other people that could provide a better service, better than you, you will not hesitate to recommend that to your prospect. That is what I'm talking about: giving a damn. I was doing a role play with one of my students during one of our live classes, right? We were doing role play, and he was saying all the right things, he was asking the right questions and kind of following the formula, saying the right words, but I said, "You know what? "You're not gonna close." He was like, "Oh, how come?" "I'm saying all the right things, "I'm following the formula." I said, "I don't feel like you give a damn. "I don't feel like you care. "There's no empathy, you're like a robot! "All your answers and questions are so mechanical "and so robotic, I don't feel the connection. "I'm not able to connect with you. "If I don't connect and I don't feel that you care, "I'm not gonna buy." And at first, he was puzzled, he didn't quite get it. I said, "Do it again. "And then do it again, do it again, and do it again." And then finally, after multiple times, I said, "Now, that's better. "Now it comes across that you actually "care about their wellbeing." Very, very important to have that ability. Great closers have that ability, to develop deep connections with their prospects. Skill number two, and that is the ability to uncover challenges and discover your prospect's pain points. I always say, no pain, no sale. The problem is, is not that you don't know how to sell. The problem is, you don't know how to diagnose. Most salespeople, they talk too much. They don't know how to ask questions. You're losing sales, not because you don't have product knowledge. You know your products or services very, very well. You're losing sales because you can not diagnose exactly what your prospects' problems and concerns are. You see, your product doesn't drive sales. Nobody cares about that. Problems drive sales. In order for you to motivate, inspire and empower your prospects to buy right now, you need to be able to understand and diagnose exactly what their problems are. Does that make sense? So think about this as where they are at, where your prospect is at. This is where they wanna go. From where they're at to where they wanna go, guess what? This is a gap. There's this gap, it is your job as a closer to make the prospect understand how your product or service or solution can bridge that gap. If you don't understand what this gap is, you're not gonna close the sale. If all you do is keep pushing your features and benefits, they're not gonna buy. That doesn't motivate them to buy. Then you're gonna get objections like, "Yeah, you know what, "that sounds good, but I kinda wanna think about it. "Let me get back to you." Or maybe, "Follow with me in six months." When you can help your prospects understand that you are the perfect company to help them bridge that gap, that's when they buy. See, sometimes the problem is not what it sounds like or what it looks like. Prospects don't even know exactly what their problems are. They might say, they come to you and say, "Hey, I want XYZ", and they might think, XYZ, that's what's gonna solve their problems. But actually, they actually need something else. Maybe they need DFG, right? They need something completely different. But they don't know, it is your job to help them understand, it is also your job, just goes beyond just your products and services, it's your job to understand the big picture, and how your products or services best fit to help them solve their problem. You cannot do that if you don't have the ability to uncover challenges and diagnose their problems. Skill number three, and that is the ability to handle objections. Now, you've seen this a lot, people talk about how to handle objections in sales. You know, your prospect says this, then you're gonna say that. This is how you're gonna respond, this is how you're gonna reply. All that is good, but my approach when it comes to objections, I actually do not like to handle objections, because the way I see this, if you're thinking about handling objections, you are being reactive. You're waiting for the prospect, you say this, then I'm gonna do that, it's like a martial art, right? Someone throws a punch, and then I'm gonna do this, and then he throws a kick, then I'm gonna do that. You're always playing catch up, you're playing defense. I would much rather play offense. I believe the best defense is a good offense. I like to preempt objections. I like to set the agenda so objections don't even come up. Done properly, objections don't even come up. And another thing I believe in is, I don't use a script. A lot of sales gurus or trainers, they wanna teach you, okay, this is a script that you use. This is exactly what you're gonna say, this is how you say it line-by-line. I compare that, it's like going to a boxing match with a predetermined plan. I'm gonna throw a jab, and then he's gonna do this, and then I'm gonna throw a hook, I'm gonna throw a cross, I'm gonna throw an uppercut, it is stupid. You can not pre-plan too much. You need to have flexibility, or Bruce Lee said, you gotta be like water, my friend, to be able to do that. I'd much prefer to preempt objections versus handle objections. Preempting is proactive, handling is reactive. There are better and smarter ways to sell and close. You don't have to do what everybody else is doing. There are better ways to do this. I teach a methodology called High-Ticket Closing. We now have students in over 150 countries. Now it's the ninth season that we have. If you want to learn the skill, the art and science of closing, no BS, no nonsense, what works right now, when it comes to selling premium products or services. Click the link here or here and join us. Our next season's starting very, very soon. So go ahead, check it out, see for yourself. Why do we have so many successful students? Why do we have so many successful closers? There's a reason for that, so go ahead, join us. I look forward to seeing you in class.