The 3 Rules of Successful Selling

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Submitted by Simon Hazeldine on Mon, 11/06/2007 - 9:57am.

Word Count: 526
Character Width: 60
Resource Box: Bare Knuckle Selling / Bare Knuckle
Negotiating

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"The 3 Rules of Successful Selling"

- by Simon Hazeldine (MSc FInstSMM)
The "Bare Knuckle" Salesman

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After fifty years of studying businesses of all kinds Dun &
Bradstreet (the world's leading provider of financial
information on companies - their database holds information
on 100 million companies!) concluded that the entirety of
business wisdom can be summarised in one statement:
"Businesses succeed because of high sales; businesses fail
because of low sales. All else is commentary."

Therefore the most important thing you can do if you want
your business to survive and thrive is to learn to sell.
Selling is a skill that can be learned by anyone. You just
have to follow some simple procedures and obey three simple
rules.

Here are those three simple rules. If you follow them then
your success in selling is guaranteed.

Rule 1: Your customers (and customers to be) are not stupid.

In today's world people are more educated and informed than
ever before. People are more sophisticated and discerning.
People just don't fall for blatant and manipulative tactics.
I get a little frustrated when I am told that "the sale ends
on Friday". I know, and you know, that it is immediately
replaced with a new sale that starts on Saturday!
People know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
No-one is very surprised when they get selected to enter the
Reader's Digest free prize draw. The successful salesperson
treats their customers and customers to be with respect.

Rule 2: Sell how you like to be sold to.

When I ask people how they like to be sold to, I always get
some very similar responses. People like to be treated with
respect and courtesy. People like to be listened to.
People like the salesperson to be interested in finding out
what they want. People want the salesperson to put their
interests first. People want to be helped to make a
decision that is right for them. Why then would anyone
attempt to sell any differently? To a certain extent you
already know what good selling is!

Rule 3: People are convinced that salespeople want to sell
them something. They are right, so tell them!

Perhaps because of previous encounters, people can be rather
suspicious of salespeople. In the back of their mind they
are worried that the salesperson will try to push them into
buying something. To overcome this fear, just tell people
what you are doing.

Tell them that your company exists by engaging in commercial
transactions or relationships with customers. You provide
products and / or services to customers and they pay money
for them. However, what you do first is to understand what
is important to the prospective customer. When you
understand this, you will see if your products and/or
services can help them. If they can, then you will
recommend an appropriate solution. The customer can then
decide to say "yes" or "no" to the proposal. By being up
front with the customer you remove any fears they may have
and establish trust with them.

Mastering the art and science of selling is one of the best
investments you can ever make to ensure your business
succeeds in today's competitive modern marketplace.
Secure your future prosperity and become a master of
selling.

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Simon Hazeldine is the author of the bestselling books
Bare Knuckle Selling (foreword by Joe Vitale) and
Bare Knuckle Negotiating (foreword by Duncan Banatyne)