Stop trying to Shout Louder than everyone else to make the sale

The secret to sustainable sales success is not found by trying to shout louder than everyone else out there. The secret is to move away from the crowd and the noise and to begin the process of building connection with the right people, in the right place at the right time. This is a case of going back to basics and instead of trying to spray your message out into the world and sitting back and praying that someone will hear it and miraculously get to know like and trust what you have to offer. You must clearly define who your target clients are, find out where you can connect with them so that you can begin to build connection and trust with them.

These changing times, where we have so much going on around us all the time, has forced us to take a step back and to change the way we market our businesses. People have not changed, they still choose to buy from businesses they know, like and trust and can offer them the best opportunity to get maximum value. It is time to stop shouting a message that people don’t want to hear, in places where your prospective clients aren’t listening as this is totally ineffectual and just a waste of energy. Commit to begin the process of communicating, connecting and influencing the right people, so that they can easily see that what you have to offer is exactly what they need.

Connect with the right peopleOnce you have invested the time to identify the right clients, in the right markets and you have found out how to connect with them. You have built connection with them over time and now want to show them the value you offer, use the concept below as an effective way to guide them towards accepting your value proposition as an ideal fit for their needs or challenges.

Learning the art of effective persuasion and influence is best understood by revisiting some ancient wisdom that was given by Aristotle, many centuries ago. He suggested that there are three levels of persuasion , namely Logos, Pathos and Ethos.

Describing your Value PropositionThe first step in the process of influencing others to see the value you offer and that it is perfectly suited to meet their needs, is to appeal to them on a basic, logical level. This is a process in which you communicate a logical message to your prospective client showing them that your market offering is the most obvious choice. This is a process in which you are persuading people that what you have is exactly what they want and need.

This is best illustrated by an example:
Appealing to your prospects logic, is a process in which you ask them a few questions, in which you highlight your unique selling proposition and the incredible benefits your product has to offer. If you are attempting to persuade someone to use your services, as a time management consultant, then you would use the following questions to show them that, what you offer is the only logical solution to their current circumstances.

Do you agree that if you focused on improving your team’s effectiveness and discovered the right actions to take every day, so that they would stop spinning their wheels, you would significantly improve your results over the next twelve months?
Is it true that you arrive home from work every day exhausted, yet you feel that you have not accomplished much at all?
So you want better results, but you feel like you don’t have sufficient time, is that right.
So what if making this small investment will allow you to identify the exact actions that you need to take every day and then give you a set of tools and techniques, which would improve your efficiency so dramatically, that it would feel like you gained a couple of hours each day, Would you be interested? Would that give you a huge advantage over your competition? Would it help you to make far more money?
This method of persuading people that what you have to offer is exactly what they need is perfect, for communicating your message to people on a one to one basis or when speaking to small groups of people.

Persuade, but never manipulate
The challenge that we all face when attempting to influence people is that there is a very fine line between persuasion and manipulation. You can never build a successful business by manipulating people; they will eventually see right through you and will no longer trust anything that you have to say.

The way I define the difference between influence and manipulation is:

When someone is trying to manipulate someone, they have a negative intent and are selfishly looking at the interaction from their own selfish perspective only. This is a one sided transaction, where there is only one winner.

On the other hand when you influence someone the intent is always one of offering a mutually beneficial solution to satisfy a need. Persuasion always results in a mutually beneficial outcome, where both parties feel like they have received fair exchange. The best way to persuade someone, that what you have to offer is exactly what they need, is to always ask yourself these few questions

Why should this person want what I am offering?
What is in it for them?Is it the best option for them, will this transaction be a fair exchange?
When you ensure that what you are attempting to persuade people to buy, is aligned with their needs and that there is always a fair exchange, where everyone wins, you have created the foundation for great sales success.