As I was in the waiting room of an office, I could see the inevitable.  A buyer and a seller were missing each other; the same script being played out.  The professional seeking to sell his services is telling the buyer how great they are and what they have to offer.

If you turned the sound off, you could see the buyer going through the same motions as anyone who is being sold.  They start resisting, and the tension feels higher than necessary.  They are set up to say, “No,” rather than salivate for the value the seller has.

Have you ever caught yourself selling?  Once this happens, you start engaging in the ritual which causes the buyer to want to say, “No.”

Today, people are quick to say, “No,” for many reasons.  Imagine yourself peddling newspapers.  A guy is walking down the street towards you but quickly reacts instead of engages.  He kindly declines.  The scenario, similar to many others as well, is set up to fail.  The process, the method of connecting and the system for buying is not congruent with how you like to buy.

If you are caught selling, how about stopping the tape?  Here are likely reasons you are in the sales death roll:

1. Lack of Positioning: You are not perceived as valuable.  You may be too casual or perceived as a commodity. There are many people, products and services like you. You may have done a poor job of helping them perceive value beyond the commodity in who you are and what you offer.
2. Your Buying Process Is Boring: If the way you do business is always about a handshake and a smile, then think about how you appear to the buyer who moves through a month buying hundreds of goods and services.  You are competing with the experience each of those companies, brands and products is delivering – Nordstrom, Rain Forest Cafe, Starbucks, Apple – how does your buying experience match up?  They have standards from buying based on the value other businesses have set as an expectation.
3. You Think About Yourself: Why should someone pick you?  If your answer starts with these words, “We,” “I,” and “Us,” then you lose.  The buyer does not care about you.  They want to know how you help them, make them more money and bring peace of mind to their world.  They want to hear you talk in terms of them, not you.  If you have been in conversations around vain people, you know what it feels like.
4. They Believe You Want to Sell, Not Help: This is closely aligned with number 3 above.  This is about authenticity, motive and genuineness.  If you are focused on helping, then the buyer can sense this.  If you are focused on selling, then there is a guard that goes up.  Helping has you thinking about what the buyer is trying to accomplish.  They are not trying to buy your stuff. They are trying to solve a problem, make money, connect with people, have more peace, feel good about themselves, and an array of other true motives.  How does what you do help them?  Talk this way to avoid selling.
5. You Don’t Have Value: What makes you different?  Good service is not different.  It is an expectation.  If a buyer perceives that you are the same as everyone else who does what you do, then they have a valid reason to treat you as a commodity.  Your articulation of value is a ruse, not a reality.  Make it real and communicate it.  No gimmicks. Making it real is hard work.  Do the hard work.

I enjoy watching Jim Carrey perform.  He is remarkable at contorting his behaviors to get us to laugh in an instant.  He also helps us break the scripts.  When Jim Carrey is inside of a social interaction, he is far from going through the motions, he is imagineering.   Why be captive to a dead end script?  If you are caught selling, you are setting up the buyer to say, “No.”  If you help the person buy and you have the business systems and approach set up to create a new script, the possibilities move towards your favor.  Break your script and redesign your approach.  When you are caught selling, it only shows you have to work your performance in a major way.   Want to learn more about how to change your script to attract more customers?  Take action and avoid the insanity of selling.  Learn what it means to hire AscendWorks business consulting to put together the systems and the scripts for attracting a customer, positioning your brand as valuable and creating a connection.  We create the systems which communicate relevantly and on-demand with your prospective customer through marketing and sales automation.  Redesign the script.

Customers today ignore boring products.  Old brands which do not inspire passion or luster are not guaranteed to be around, for customers increasingly value what is novel and stands out rather than what was promoted to be safe, common, and routine.

Many of the institutions we see (yours may be one of them) are intrinsically designed to resist change.  When they sense it from new technology and processes, they dig their heels in.  They settle on mediocrity.  They risk going extinct quickly.

Change is happening everywhere around us.  From presidential elections to old models of corporations, others are getting ahead because they understand how the new economy works.  The rest are hoping the 1980’s would return.

Making good products does not cut it.  We all want great.  We want spectacular, not gaudy.  Our expectations as consumers are for a memorable experience, not an emotionless transaction.

The funny thing is that all the tools are available for a company or individual to transcend mediocrity, beat their competition and grow their business.  However, old mindsets will be the death of those who defend mediocrity.  We see it every day, and it is happening at a faster pace than ever.  The reason is that the “rules” have changed dramatically.

If people see your company, your product and your way of doing business as a commodity, you will lose.  There are others who know how to be great rather than just good.  If you are an employee that does not stand out, you lose.  Jobs are continually being cut left and right.  The customer – your employer – has to see you as great, not just good.

If you are wondering why you don’t have the business or life you would like, ask yourself these key questions:

1. What vision do I have for my myself and my business? If you struggle to articulate this, then your aspiration has already been defined.  Great businesses and people envision more than just doing a job or getting an order or a paycheck. They see purpose and help others see this as well. Think Starbucks, Disney and Facebook.  Want to just be mediocre?  Then take heed about Sears – old school and irrelevant.  Doing business the old way will kill you.
2. How do I connect with my fans? Many people will never be your friends.  Many businesses will never be your customers.  They don’t “get you” nor do you “get them.”  However, those that should be your fans, how do you connect with them?  Are your communications systems set up for them to collaborate with you and with each other?  Do they feel like they connect with you?  Generation Y gets it.  Everyone else is trying to.  That is where the game is today.  It’s not the tools, it’s you.  Can you connect?
3. Can I see the new economy? People are exchanging millions of dollars in commerce every day in your industry.  If you are not getting your share, it is likely you are lagging.  There are people who have moved on and are not going back.  Someone did move the cheese.  Do you know where it is and are you willing to go after it?  Your customer is buying completely differently than ten years ago.  If you insist that cold calling, mailers or any other old, irrelevant and ignored mechanism still works you do not understand the new economy we live in.   If you think having a pretty website is the answer, you are still five years behind.  Observe and ask better questions, or you risk losing massive opportunities because you are not even in the game.

B.B. King said a wise thing, “Some people…if they don’t ask, you can’t tell them.”  If you are not getting the results in your business you desire, then it would make sense to ask yourself good questions.  Otherwise, you risk accelerated obsolescence.  Rather than fear change, how about trying to understand the game being played and learn to structure your business, approach and systems to connect rather than try to desperately sell?  Ask the right questions to help you get on your way.  Need answers?  Then ask us.  Click here.

In baseball, it is known that major league players, though they are at the highest echelon of their profession, always go through slumps.  They may go through a drought of hitting whereas they had had streaks of success in the past.  It is in those times that baseball players get back to the fundamentals.  They start thinking through the micromovements of their swing, stance and approach.  The fundamentals were what made them successful in the first place; they cannot violate natural laws for long without having to realign with them.

This is true for golfers, basketball shooters and business people.  Yes, in the game of business and life, there will be slumps.  Many are due to macro effects.  Some are due to ability and talent. Read more