The Power of Perception.
I always ask sales people I work with and meet “what do you say to a sales person who approaches you when you are shopping?”
The answer 99% of the time is “I’m a Sales Person, don’t sell me… I’ll let you know when I am ready…” or some version of that response.
Salespeople don’t want to be sold and yet, it’s exactly what most of them are doing when they are in front of a “future client”, as I like to call what most call, “prospects”.
Interesting that when I first make calls with salespeople, before they learn the power of perception, they spend a lot of time talking, pitching or convincing when the person in front of them is feeling the exact same way… “Don’t’ sell me.” I call it, “Commission Breath and it stinks.”
They totally miss the uncomfortable feeling that the future client is projecting.
Buyers today don’t want to be sold. They want help buying.
Og Mandino, author of “The Greatest Salesman in the World and The University of Success” to name a few, once said “the art of being aware, of perception — of seeing things, and feeling things and hearing things with all the power of our senses, has been dulled by the rat race we all engage in. There are rewards we can reap if we are willing to look for the unseen and listen for the unheard as we search for a richer, more meaningful life.” The “rat race”, as Og says, has us pressing and pushing instead of embracing the moment and being fully present, willing to help, instead of selling.
Our job in sales today is to help the future customer buy, not sell. While it is a subtle nuance, the impact is amazing. A sales person who is doing all the talking is missing the power of his or her senses. Being mindful, fully present and detached from outcomes is far more powerful because, one would sense any willingness, resistance, objections or even the lack of presence of a future customer.
A sales person engaged in the “art of being aware”, “the art of perceiving, is in the “zone”… like any athlete, entertainer or actor who perform amazingly when the spotlight is on them. They can sense what is happening. The future client feels their presence, the “connection”.
The sales person is “there”… to help them.
How does the future client feel this presence?
The sales person listens. They make eye contact and is there to help.
70 – 75% of the talking is done by the future client because the sales person has questions designed to help them both hear the “fit.”
You will hear the no and inquire about it, long before the future client even says no. You would ask, “I am sensing some fear about changing suppliers or upgrading to our software… or adding our service… or I sense I am not helping you feel comfortable about my company…”
My point is that if you are fully present, with the future clients best interest in mind, you will sense what is required to say. Unlike role play sales training, my work involves helping my clients learn how to detach from outcomes and use the power of mindfulness and perception, in sales.
Marcus Bach, in his book “The Power of Perception” wrote, “The more a person knows, the more he/she hears.”
You cannot hear anything except your own voice if you are doing all the talking. Notice the energy in your body while you are in the middle of convincing anyone of anything that you are not on the same plane about. What do you feel? Do you feel resistance?
Notice too, how you feel, when you are listening to someone who you disagree with and yet just listen and allow them their beliefs with respect.
Mindfulness allows the power of perception to flow through you and if you learn to trust this power, your sales will increase without the “pressure of the rat race.”
In fact, you can use this power of perception everywhere… you will hear and see things you have not before, feel things you haven’t felt, even future clients becoming comfortable with you or not.
Remember, you do live in a Miracle.
Gratefully yours,
Steve
