My Personal Four-Step No-Selling Sales Formula

As you surely already know, nowadays it takes a lot more to get anyone to buy anything. So the entrepreneurs who are doing really well are making more time for personal touches instead of relying solely on impersonal email, Web pages and teleseminars.

Personally, I’m thrilled with this trend. That’s part of why I’ve been doing a lot of one-on-one Business Evaluation calls for my new programs and services.

Now, I absolutely detest cold-calling (whether I’m on the receiving end or the perpetrating end)…But I have absolutely been LOVING hopping on the phone with so many of the wonderful folks in my community.

That’s because I don’t think of them as sales calls, so they don’t feel like sales calls. They’re just fantastic opportunities to connect with people on a deeper level, learn more about them, their business and their struggles, and see if I can help. Simple as that.

I don’t push, pull, cajole or manipulate. I don’t use a whole bunch of sales tactics or tricks.

I go into each call genuinely looking forward to getting to know the other person and hoping I have a way to help them realize their business dreams. Because I genuinely enjoy getting to know new people, and helping them be more successful with less stress and effort.

Plus, since these calls are typically with folks who have been in my community a while, we have a lot in common…

Sometimes it’s our love of the outdoors or a shared sport. Sometimes it’s the path we’ve taken in our businesses. Or a similar sense of humor or life priorities.

Basically I’m blessed to have a community of people in my business that I wouldn’t hesitate to go out to dinner with just for fun. And they feel like they already know me from reading my ezines and being on my free calls. So talking with them is an absolute pleasure and a joy.

If it turns out I have a way to help them achieve their goals that fits their budget and schedule—even better. If not, I’ve gotten to know someone new, and gained some valuable insight into the minds of my prospects.

The icing on the cake is that my close rate easily averages 75%-85% without my doing any actual “selling”!

Since I have a pretty good feeling you’d like this to be the case for you too, today I’m going to share my personal No-Selling Sales Formula with you.

STEP #1 – Start a relationship.

These days the old adage “people buy from people they know, like and trust” is truer than ever. So you need to give people a chance to do just that—before they ever talk to you—by publishing a regular ezine and/or blog, getting involved with social networking, offering a free download, doing teleseminars and so on.

Doing this lets you grow your list of people who are clearly interested because they signed up for your emails or RSS feed and/or connecting with you online. Now you can stay in touch and build the relationship.

STEP #2 – Get to know them better.

When you get on the phone with someone (or meet them in person) don’t worry about selling or talking about anything to do with your business. Instead get to know more about them and their wants, needs, dreams, goals and problems. Ask lots of questions and really listen to the answers. Take notes.

STEP #3 – Offer a solution.

Can you help them with their wants, needs, dreams, goals and problems? If so, now’s the time to let them know. Share a bit about what you have to offer and how it’s been helpful to others in their situation. And answer questions and deal with objections as you chat.

STEP #4 – Tell them what happens next.

By this point you should know whether they’re both interested and a good fit for what you sell. If they are, assume they’re going to buy from or hire you, and simply tell them what happens next (you’ll send a contract, you just need their credit card, etc.).

If they aren’t interested, and you have an alternate solution that might work better, go back to Step #3 and tell them about that. If none of your solutions are a good fit for whatever reason, that’s fine too. Offer a referral if you can. Otherwise simply stay in touch via your blog, ezine, etc. You might have just what they need down the road.

Follow this simple four step process and I guarantee that not only will you land more clients and make more sales, you’ll have a lot more fun doing it!

What’s your biggest stumbling block when it comes to making sales either live or on the phone? What have you tried before that’s either worked or hasn’t worked? Please do share by leaving a comment below…