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"Unsalesmanlike" Conduct

In today's changing market, it can be difficult to sell your product. Unfortunately, the public ennui for pitching and trending and SELLING, generally reflects itself in the corporate model through more aggressive sales techniques. These techniques then trickle down to the the small business, turning casual salesmen into dedicated selling machines. What we find is that a nation of hard-working, good-natured true believers in the model are now well-trained, grindstone savvy used car salesmen - even when their product is "top of the line."

You don't need to sell harder. You need to sell better.

Like the old adage "don't work harder, work smarter," many pitch engineers should be doing the opposite - working harder and not smarter. In today's economy, customers are constantly on alert for the next scam, the next rip off. Being a "smart" salesperson and offering discounts, value services, bundle pricing and other up-sells may have worked in an older market; but in today's world, the old fashioned selling point is going to take hard work, lots of conviction, a little deeper conversation and a solid share of honest trust.

First of all, let your product sell itself. Talk about what it does as plainly as possible. Stay away from "buzz" words. Let your potential client fill in the blanks with these unnecessarily confusing and most of the time meaningless catch phrases or tech jargon. If your customer understands the value of your product, you will rarely have to step beyond this understanding to sell what you do.

Second, aggressive selling is a turn-off in any economic climate. Sure, sometimes it works, but the aggressive salesperson is never trusted and rarely works out beyond the "terms of agreement," losing a quality customer as well as returns on initial investment or contract perks used to sell the product. The aggressive salesperson is a vestige of the bygone "door-to-door" era. Today, casual negotiations are still the preferred method of conversation when engaging a potential client. Perhaps the only time to be aggressive is when you have EARNED your clients trust and are ready to show him you are excited to get started on development. People tend to respect that.

Be honest. Don't oversell and under deliver. Modest, steady growth is better than reckless, unchecked proliferation. Even more than understanding your product and what it does, folks are tuned in really keenly to the BS meter, if a person can trust you, you are solid gold. Even if you miss the deal based on price or a few key points, you will be remembered when the prospective client finds his next best choice did not work out quite the way he would have liked. You will be remembered. That is the most important thing. So, if he tells his associates, that is another form of brand recognition. And word of mouth referral is the best possible means of attaining new clientele, new sales and bigger contracts.

So, instead of going door-to-door with a stilted sales pitch, prepare yourself to be honest and to speak honestly. This is the only way to grow successful business relationships.

After all, you can't disguise a lemon by dressing it up as a used car salesman. For more information, go to http://www.maximumedia.com.