Here's one thing you can do that will guarantee poor sales performance: try really hard to get the sale. Yes, you heard right. Try really hard to get the sale and you will decrease your chances of getting the sale.

Here is the explanation:

When sales people try too hard to get the sale – when they are focused exclusively on making the sale – they tend to make mistakes in the process. The biggest mistake they make is that they rush ahead of where the client is at in their personal buying process. They shortcut the interview process and get selfish with only one dominating thought: will this person buy or not? They are so keen to make a sale that they skip the truly important parts of the sales process and rush through the presentation almost in a mad dash to get it out of the way so they can get to the payoff or the "close".

Should they take a more laid back approach? Salespeople sometimes hold back so they can wait and see if the person is a "buyer" or a "shopper". They feel that there is no point in putting in the effort until they know if the prospect is a buyer. The problem with this approach is that the client thinks you don't care.  The variation on this ineffective approach is a "pre-qualification" statement or question that tries to find out if the client is buying today.  That gives the opposite impression to the client - you are high pressure. Either approach causes the client to disengage from the sales person. The client sends the sales person signals that they won't be buying and both parties drift further away from doing business together.

So how do you make more sales? Don't try to make the sale. Let go of the end result – don't worry about whether the person buys or not. Buying any product or service is a logical mental and emotional process. The process of selling needs to mirror that buying process. Good sales people are like a tour guide, walking their clients patiently through the buying process. Focusing on the sale makes it all about the sale when, in fact, it should be all about helping your client get to the next stage of their buying process.

Sports psychologists teach this to high performance athletes early on in their careers. Athletes are taught how to focus and to be in the moment; how to block out distractions and concentrate on the task at hand. They are not thinking about winning. They know that the best shot they have at winning will come from being totally focused in the moment and executing on the skills and performance necessary for them to achieve their personal best.

It's the same in selling. Letting go of the end result - the sale - will allow you to do what you need to do which is to focus on the client in front of you and getting to the next step of their buying process. That's why having a strategy to follow like the Buying Cycle is so critical. It allows you to focus on the steps that will lead the client to a decision.

Lead, Don't Follow

Don't let all this talk about not focusing on the sale give you the impression that we are to sit back and wait for clients to buy. Not so. You are not following the client, you are leading. Your focus should be on successfully completing each step of the sale with the goal being to safely transition to the next step. That's it. Just get to the next step.

So don't focus on making the sale, focus instead on a solid greeting that establishes rapport and lets the client know you are friendly and trust worthy.

Don't focus on making the sale, focus on asking good questions, getting the client talking about their needs. Don't even start presenting a product until you are confident the client has expressed everything they need to for you to have full information and make an educated product recommendation.

Don't try to make the sale, instead, clearly articulate how the product features fits the client's specific needs and situation.  Show them value in not just the product but in your dealership as well.

Don't try to make the sale, just get feedback from the client acknowledging that the product you presented is right for them.

Now guess where you are? Once they have acknowledged the product is right it's time to ask them to buy. By focusing on getting to the next step in the process you are now in a position where you can feel confident it's time to ask for the sale. More importantly, you can have the confidence to know that your client is ready to buy.

Let go of the end result. Don't try so hard to make the sale. Instead just focus on helping your client get to the next step in the process... and the next and the next. The journey will be more enjoyable and more people will follow your leadership further through the buying process.  That translates into higher ratios at each step and ultimately more sales.

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