Does that sound sort of strange? Did you think your selling was all about selling? Closing a sale?

Then that's probably the reason. Change your perspective from ?selling? to ?helping everyone you know get what they want.? Your job, your only job is to work with people to help them explore what they want and need, and then helping them get there.

It doesn't matter whether you get the sale or not. What matters is that you are there to help everyone get the results they want. People don't like to buy from salesmen, as a matter of fact, do you remember the last time a salesman called you on the phone? Were you irritated that he called?

Why do you think that is? Is it because a salesman sounds like he is interested in only making a sale, or in his product and not in what the customer wants? Do you think that would change if someone contacted you to see if they just might be able to help you resolve your toughest problems?

Don't move from helper to salesman too fast, or maybe not at all.

I can remember early in my sales career my sales coach telling me to spend more time to find out what the client wants and needs than in ?selling.? That was hard for me to understand then. I made the same mistakes that I see most of my sales students making today. As soon as I got the prospect to define what he wanted and needed, I would jump back to selling, by saying ?I've got the answer to all of your problems. XYZ is the best darned??? How many do you want?? I was jumping too far too fast.

Your job should never change from helper to salesman, and if it does, you've probably lost a sale, or at least your going to lose more than you should. Watch your success rate, percentage of sales closes/appointments go up. Once you know what the prospect wants and needs, then help him find the solution himself. And if the answer doesn't include you or your product, you've just made a friend that knows he can trust you. Either he will buy from you later, or he knows you and trusts you enough to make a very good referral.

Do you stop trying to close?

Depends on what you mean by close. Remember the goal is to help. So, guide the prospect toward the answers he needs. He will appreciate you for it. Ask things such as, if you need to solve XYZ, then what do you think is the best solution? Your closing should be to get the customer to find his solution. Your job is not to convince him to buy your product. If you've done it right you will be THE solution, or at least one of the solutions that he has discovered for himself.

I always hear a rustling in the back of the peanut gallery when I tell people to get off the ?sales? bandwagon and onto the ?helpful friend? approach. Since I am the one up in front of the sales training class telling everyone about goals as being one of the most important things you can do for your sales, and clearly defining the number of appointments, and the number of sales we are going to do this week, it is a natural question from the room to ask ?And how do I hit those sales goals if I stop selling?

The answer is in the fact: ?People buy from people they know and trust, not from salesmen.? Your sales will go up when you change from ?salesman? to ?helpful friend.? Your goal should be to meet and help enough people, and, yes, how many can you close is a very important measurement. When I am there to help I see the number of closes go up because I've helped the customer find his own answer.

The sales will follow. If they don't, you're doing it wrong, change it and try again.