Join Matthew Whyatt this week with the latest episode of Velocity Selling TV.
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Hi, welcome back to Velocity Selling TV. I’m your host, Matthew Whyatt and we don’t have Bob Urichuck this week but you’re in safe hands. So, last episode we spoke about how we’re going to get invited to the customer’s office. Now here’s a really crucial piece: most salespeople will show up with their briefcase in hand or their brochure pack under their arm, and try to do a dog and pony show.
That’s not how modern selling works.
Remember, we need to build a relationship. We need to understand whether or not this person qualifies. Now we’ve done a little bit of work at the beginning, we understand whether or not they are somebody who are in the right zone for our customer base, they’re in our target market, they are an A class, or potential A class customer. But you already knew that.
You knew that because you bothered to do some research on LinkedIn, on their website, read their blog, understand a little bit about their business. Once you do that, you can walk in there a little more comfortable.
So, you’ve been invited in. You walk in, and what do you say? Remember, you’ve been invited you haven’t gone ahead and tried to grab ten minutes of their time or pitched them anything. So as you walk in, you thank them for the invitation. “Thank you very much Mr. Jones for inviting me to your office”. Once again, it puts them in a comfortable position. They say no problem, you come through.
Now what you’ve got in your hand – not a brochure, not a briefcase to be seen. Because what happens, most salespeople show up with their brochures and their briefcases and everybody is sort of trying to look over there. What’s in that person’s briefcase? Or, I’m going to rely on that and I want to show you what I’ve got in my briefcase.
So I teach every single salesperson and business person that I work with to show up with a pen and a notepad, that’s it.
Because you’re not there to sell them anything. You’re there to continue to build the relationship. You’re there to learn.
And that’s when you get into understanding their business. You ask, your permission to ask questions. “Just so I can help you best, do you mind if I ask you a few quick questions?” is a question that I will ask 100% of the time. And you know what? I even ask that in every single meeting, even if it’s the third or fifth meeting. The person says, of course, but once again, it sets the scene.
You’ve got ownership and control of that conversation and then you can drive forward with your questions.
So guys, I know that’s a short episode, but there’s one lesson in there, one tiny tid bit. That is:
Do show up with a pen and pad. Don’t show up with your briefcase full of brochures.
You’ve probably got your briefcase and your brochures in the car, leave them there for now. It’s not about your product, your service, your widget, It’s about the customer and whether or not they’re a good fit for you. Do that one thing, get invited, and thank them for the invitation.
Thanks very much, talk to you later. Bye for now.
Matthew has been involved in the growth of many businesses across multiple industries including, health products, software development, IT consultancy, Real Estate and franchise sales with personal sales of over $100 million.
After all of this hard work Matthew took a year off with his wife and two children in Bali. After returning to Australia Matthew was ready to take on his next challenge, following his passion in Sales, and joined the Velocity Selling team as CEO.
