“I never lose. I either win or learn.” — Nelson Mandela
Did you know that 44% of salespeople give up after hearing the first no? Why do so many sales people stop after the first no? For motivated sales people, no is actually the start of a sales call, not the end. It’s the opportunity to learn more about a prospect—and your sales process.
If you’re looking to find some motivation for yourself or your sales team, BigSpeak Speakers Bureau works with the top sales motivational speakers. These keynote speakers are successful negotiators, bestselling authors, and multimillion dollar sales people. They can inspire you with lessons on how to listen, ask better questions, tell stories, and what to do when you’re feeling rejected.
Here are a few tips to motivate you from some of the top sales motivational speakers.
1) Rejection Is a Numbers Game
It’s not just you. 80% of your prospects will say no before finally saying yes. As it turns out, rejection is just a numbers game, says Jia Jiang, resilience expert. Jia learned this by putting himself through 100 days of rejection. However, he didn’t always get rejected even if he tried. He found that if you keep asking enough times, you will improve your system or the type of prospects you are asking, and score more yes answers.
2) Take No for an Answer
Too many sales people take no for an answer. In fact, 92% of sales representatives call it quits after four negative answers. However, hearing the word no is actually a good thing for your sales process, according to negotiation expert Christopher Voss.
In fact, you might not want to hear a yes right away. When a salesperson frames a question to get a yes answer, it leaves a prospect feeling manipulated. Or sometimes a prospect will say yes just to appease you. However, if you ask a “no” question, your prospect feels in control and becomes more comfortable and will more likely answer more questions. You can find out why the prospect said no and learn more about a customer and their pain points.
3) Listen to Your Speaker
One of the best things you can do as a sales person is stop talking and listen. It turns out 69% of buyers prefer when the seller listens to their needs (and is not pitching them). According to communication expert and NPR host Celeste Headlee, when you dominate the conversation, your listener often checks out.
However, when you listen and allow people to talk about themselves, it releases hormones that make those people feel good. The more your prospect talks, the better they will think the conversation is going and the more they will like you.
4) Ask More Than You Tell
One of the best ways to listen is to ask questions. According to sales intelligence company Gong, asking more questions about your buyer’s goals and pain points leads to improved sales success.
Sales motivational keynote speaker Chip Echelberger says successful sales people spend more time asking questions and learning about their customer than talking about the product or service. To improve your questions, Chip suggests doing your homework beforehand, learning your prospect and their company.
5) Make Them Like You
Did you know that sales reps who use social selling are 50% more likely to meet or exceed their quota? According to influence expert Robert Cialdini, people do things for people they like. One way to increase the likelihood of a stranger liking you is to find common ground, such as shared interests or common hometown (which you can do with some social media research), or give compliments.
6) Let Your Story Make the Sale
One of the big mistakes salespeople make is reciting facts and figures about their product or service without including them in a story. Did you know when information is delivered in a story, people remember up to 60% of the important information? However, if you just tell your prospect facts and figures of your service or product, they will remember only 5%.
According to rapid growth expert Matthew Pollard, stories help build a rapport with your customer while also showing how your product or services solves problems for them in a way they can relate to and remember.
Storytelling expert Matthew Luhn, formerly of Pixar, adds that good sales stories engage the listener with the speaker. The story can change the way the person feels about you and the product or service you’re talking about.
This article was originally published by BigSpeak onFeb 10, 2022.
