You can never expect someone to agree with you if you are disagreeing with them. This is vital – and is the single most important and violated rule of selling! You may think, “I don’t want to mislead the customer,” and, “what if I over promise and I’m unable to deliver?” There’s an art to telling the customer, “I’d love to make that happen for you,” rather than, “I can’t do that,” or, “That’s not my job.” And you can disagree in more ways than just saying, “no.” There are many other statements you should never say, under any circumstance, during a sale or in business. You must agree as you are writing deals – don’t fight the deal. Here are seven things to never say in sales or business:
“I’m off today.”
Have you ever tried to contact someone only to get an “out of office” automatic response? It’s so impersonal and drives me nuts! No one should ever announce they are closed off to opportunities. You need to be doing whatever it takes to be open for business, no matter what, no matter when. If a customer calls you and you are out of the office, you must still be open for business. Look, I understand, I’m a father and a husband and there are plenty of times I’m in 10X mode giving full attention to my family. However, business is still getting handled – Tweets are coming in, Facebook posts are going out – and people who are trying to reach me have no idea I’m playing with my daughters or on a trip with my wife. I’m still always connected.
“That’s not my job.”
You need to take responsibility for everything, whether it’s in sales or your personal life. Don’t blame others, don’t blame the economy and don’t blame external conditions, because blaming is something you do to become a slave. It doesn’t work; it ties you up in shackles. The greats gave up the blame game long ago – they’re big on accountability, big on “the buck stops here,” they take the responsibility to get the job done. If you are willing to take credit when you win, be willing to take responsibility when you lose.
“Trust me.”
Sometimes you may notice that a buyer isn’t fully listening to you? This occurs because the buyer assumes that as a salesperson they cannot trust you. The media is constantly running broadcasts about scams and cons that make consumers skeptical of salespeople. This lack of trust will cost you sales, and losing credibility will add time to and reduce your chances at a sale. Saying, “trust me” to a prospect isn’t going to build trust and may even have the opposite effect. To deal with that you must understand that people believe what they see, not what they hear. Always show written material to support your presentation or proposal. When you’re collecting facts for your customer, use third-party materials that support what you’re saying. And always, always, always write down what you’ve said, offered, proposed, promised, implied and suggested. Anytime you’re going for the close, insist on putting it in writing.
“I’ll be right back.”
Car salespeople are notorious for leaving their customers and going back and forth to their managers to check on one thing or another. This is the greatest pet peeve of car buyers. This back and forth creates undo antagonism in the negotiations, lowers perceived value, reduces customer satisfaction and extends the closing time. This does not mean that there is not an appropriate time to leave a buyer and use an authority for a close, as this can be very powerful as long as it is not overused.
“No, I don’t use this product or service personally.”
Until you become convinced of the value, others will not agree with you. If you’re working for Toyota, pitching their cars all day, and then a prospect sees you drive off in a Ford you will lose credibility and trust – and no one buys from someone they don’t trust. Conviction is the make-or-break point – and a sale is made when your conviction and belief about a product, service or idea is stronger than another’s. The moment that they give up a bit of their conviction is when the sale becomes possible. You must be completely “in” if you are to fully maximize opportunities before you. Do not even attempt selling someone else until you are completely sold yourself.
“This might be out of your price range.”
What you decide about the customer, employee, individual, opportunity or situation will be exactly what you get. In selling, anyone who believes they have the ability to pre-judge a buyer versus a non-buyer is costing themself a fortune. I have had countless situations where I was told there was no way a deal would work out, but because I treated the buyer like they could, guess what? They did. Regardless of the circumstances: – no money, no budget, no taxes, not the decision maker, can’t, won’t, not gonna – whatever they tell you, always treat a prospect like they can and will buy.
“We’re competitive.”
Dominate, don’t compete – the message of “competition is healthy” was meant for consumers. When Steve Jobs wanted to get into cellphones the people at Apple told him to stick with iPods and to leave the phone alone. He responded, “I’m going to make a phone so sexy, people will want to lick the buttons off the phone.” The iPhone is the single most popular smart phone on the planet. When someone thinks of a smartphone, they think of an iPhone. You want to dominate a space that way – you need to become an expert in your field and use LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and other means to be the first thing people think of when they look for your type of product or service. All of these are forms of disagreement and are ways to make the customer lose faith in you, your product or your service. You won’t close deals if your customer doesn’t believe in you. And agreeing with the customer means control over the sale, a happier customer and quicker decision-making. Miracles take place out of agreement.
