By Brian Tracy
To improve your sales performance and become a better
sales professional, adopt the Golden Rule mentality. The Golden Rule says to,
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It also says, “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” The Golden Rule mentality in sales, says simply, “Sell
unto others as you would have them sell unto you.”
The Golden Rule
What does this mean? Aren’t there all kinds of different
personalities that require different sales performance techniques? Well, yes
and no. Practicing the golden
rule in selling simply means that you sell to other people the way
you would like to be sold to. The successful sales professional uses the golden
rule to sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and
thoughtfulness that they would like someone else to use in selling to them.
Become a Brilliant Sales Professional by Seeking
to Understand
In order to improve your sales
performance, you must first seek to understand the customer. If you
would like a sales professional to take the time to thoroughly understand you
and your situation before making a recommendation, you practice the same thing
with your customers. If you would like a sales professional to give you honest
information and to help you make an intelligent buying decision, you practice
the same with your customer. If you would like a sales professional to be
thoroughly knowledgeable about the strengths or weaknesses of his or her
product or service, and that of his or her competitors, then you do the same
with your product or service and your competitors.
Improve Your Sales Performance by “Caring”
Perhaps the most important part of golden rule selling is the
emotional component embraced in the word, “caring.” A top sales professional
will care about their customers. They care about themselves, their companies, their
products and services, and they really care about helping their customers to
make good buying decisions. If you think about the very best sales
professional you know, you will recognize that they are caring
individuals who maintain a high level of sales performance simply because they
“care”.
They Don’t care How Much You Know
If you think about your very best customers, you will recall that these
are invariably people you care about, and who care about you. When you think
about the people you buy from, you will recall that they seem to care about you
more than the average. In every part of your business life, you will find that
the significant people all have the denominator of caring as part of their
character and their personalities.
Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors
A top sales professional, positions themselves as consultants,
sees themselves as a resource for their clients. They see themselves and carry
themselves as advisors, mentors and friends. They become emotionally involved
in their transactions and they are generally concerned that their product or
service be the ideal solution to the real needs of the prospects they are dealing
with. They differentiate themselves from their competitors by being more
concerned with helping their prospects than with selling their products or
services. Their customers often feel that the sales professional cares more
about them than they care about making a sale. And it’s true.
I hope you enjoyed this article on improving your sales
performance using the golden rule of selling. If you are a sales professional,
please feel free to share your thoughts and comment below!
