I don’t need to tell you that things have changed a lot. Markets have changed and the way the consumer buys has changed a lot in the last few years.
There is extreme importance in revisiting your sales strategies and align them with this new consumer. As a small business owner you need to understand that creating a structured sales process and improving your negotiation skills is crucial in your small business marketing strategy.
Most of the time you are more resistant to sell than the client to buy.
It is a lot about psychology and not about sales tricks.
There needs to be a design of the sale you can apply anywhere and become a master negotiator.
I want to share with you a system I’ve created to increase conversion in any type of selling. It is based on psychology and consumer behavior and I’ve tested several times in one on one negotiations, over teleseminars and on stage.
It goes through 5 steps where you can choreograph your negotiation:
1.Find the broken windows: This principle comes from the New York police where they look for homes with broken window because they show there is a problem there. We need to allow prospects to unveil their problems. This step decreases anxiety, shows where the problems are so we can pin point the core points.
2. Join and conduct the Tango: Prospects already have a conversation going inside their minds. This conversation tends to carry a lot of drama and fear. It is up to the negotiator to join this conversation, create rapport and conduct the dance.
3. Incorporate mystery and rituals: (we need some level of tension around their needs). Remember that the brain cannot cope with an unanswered question, this creates traction. Rituals like simple things as having them fill a questionnaire before talking to you not only inverts the relationship, where you are not the sales person anymore, it also shows there is structure.
4. Extract the Wow: show the possibilities. If you have ever watched a n infomercial; you know what I’m talking about. Any sales negotiation needs to have its wow moment where the prospect thinks “I need this guy” “How did I survived without this product?”
5 Tie the knot: Don’t forget to propose. close. partnership from the beginning regardless the amount. They ask you to marry: Now it is the time to ask: how do we work together?
Having a structured sales and negotiation process is part of a smart small business marketing strategies. No one wants a person that talks non stop and pushes a product or service.
It is up to you to have these steps in mind, get a pen and paper and outline in your case how you would incorporate them when you are negotiating.
Think that you are building a graph in the process where the WOW factor is on top and from there you just keep the dialogue going and conduct them to ask to buy.