How to Close Sales Without Manipulating Buyers. With Andy Paul on Accelerate!
I am a huge fan of Andy Paul and his Accelerate! podcast which I listen to every morning. It’s no surprise then that this interview turned out to be one of my favorite interviews of all time. If you’re already subscribed to the Accelerate! podcast I highly recommend it! Enjoy!
Accelerate! With Andy Paul
Accelerate Interview Download Links:
- Direct download link – http://bit.ly/2jamesmuir
- iTunes link – http://apple.co/2jRu2FD
Description
Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest James Muir, sales trainer, speaker, coach, and author of The Perfect Close. Among the many topics that James and I discuss are why bad sales practices still abound, essential questions to help advance your buyer along their buying process and how facilitating the buying process builds trust.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
[2:38] James wrote this book to help sales professionals that are uncomfortable asking for commitments in manipulative ways. [5:11] A majority of meetings with prospects conclude without the sales professional asking for a commitment. You need to go into any encounter with an idea of what you want the outcome to be. Use advancing questions, such as, “Does it make sense to X?” [7:28] Andy makes the connection to Neil Rackham’s Spin Selling, and asks if the prospect today still needs to be prodded from stage to stage. [10:14] Asking, “What’s a good next step?” may reveal internal procedures that need to occur before anything external. That tells you where they’re at in their buying process. [11:51] 50–60% of qualified opportunities end in no decision because sales professionals make assumptions without making a compelling case to change the status quo. [13:10] Advancing questions show at each step if more justification is needed before going forward. Complex sales, particularly, may slow from insufficient justification. [19:29] Endowed progress means that the closer one is to achieving a goal, the more one accelerates toward the goal. [20:28] Commitment consistency is a propensity to sustain commitments, based on the psychological need to maintain internal coherence. Robert Cialdini addresses this in Influence. [24:39] James tells about a client who refused to work with a sales rep ‘with commission breath.’ Closers who serve themselves are not serving the customer. Be a facilitator.MORE ABOUT JAMES MUIR
What’s your most powerful sales attribute?
People share stuff with me.
Who is your sales role model?
Mahan Khalsa, author of Let’s Get Real, or Let’s Not Play.
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Consultative Selling: The Hanan Formula for High-Margin Sales at High Levels, by Mack Hanan, or Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers to Make Fast, Favorable Decisions, by Andy Paul.
What music is on your playlist right now?
Virtuoso guitar players of all different styles. Today it’s Joe Satriani’s, “Surfing With the Alien.”
Andy Paul
ABOUT ANDY
Andy Paul is author of Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers To Make Fast, Favorable Decisions and Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales. A sought-after speaker and business coach, Andy conducts workshops, coaches and consults with CEOs and sales teams to teach them how to maximize the value and power of their selling to rapidly increase their sales.
