Seven Ways You Can Sell And Retain Your Good Character

Is it possible to Making more sales while still keeping your integrity?

According to e-mails I consistently receive daily, the answer is a resounding "yes."

Selling more, yet at the same time remaining authentic to ourselves and coming from the right place in our selling process is integral to all our selling efforts. Yet, most sales guru's will say that we must go for the sale at all costs and if we don't, then we are weak. This one idea alone can seriously hinder all potential relationships with prospects. So eliminating traditional sales thinking is so important if we are to put our integrity and our customer's satisfaction before other things.

Despite your desire to help other people with your service or product, do any of the following sales ideas ever come up for you?

* Must always focus on "closing" the sale. * When you feel rejected, brush it off and be prepared for the next sale * If a prospective customer rejects you then it is your job to convince them otherwise. * When a potential client puts up an objection to your service or product, sell harder

Such notions are typical ideas that sales people are taught to believe for sales success to happen. Yet are they really giving you the best possible results or could they actually be burning your potential relationships?

It's possible to sell without compromising your image. Outlined are seven tips in order to sell more and maintain your own integrity:

1. Get to the Truth - Focus on the getting to the "whole truth" of your prospective customer's condition. You may or may not be a fit for one another, but either a YES or a NO is okay. Taking the focus off closing the sale allows us to focus on the truth and truly help those people that most need our product or service.

2. Realistic Expectations - Eliminate rejection once and for all by setting down realistic expectations and avoiding traditional sales patterns like defensiveness, persuasion, and cockiness. If you are not trying to sell, you cannot be rejected. Be in a place of sharing and caring and let people feel that from you.

3. Stop Chasing- Do not "chase" potential clients who don't have any intention of purchasing. How do you do this? Shift your way of thinking and boost your truth-seeking capabilities so that you can quickly, but graciously, perceive whether the two of you are a possible "fit" or not.

4. Respect those around you- Avoid calling others "prospects" or even contemplating about them that way. Individuals are people, and when you brand them in your own language or your thoughts, you dehumanize them and the process of sales. "Prospect" fortifies the notion that sales is only a "numbers game." Train yourself to contemplate about "potential clients or even potential friends" instead.

5. Warm up your approach- Remove the "cold" out of your cold calls. Don't begin with "Hello, my name is... I am with... We do...". Whenever you start a conversation by making it about you, instead of about the other person, you instantly destroy the possibility of opening a discussion. Try the more humble approach of asking "Perhaps you can assist me out for a second," and bear in mind that you're truly calling to help them solve their problems.

6. Handle objections with Elegance- Don't try to fight back against objections. Rather, determine if the disapproval is the customer's truth or not. Most often objections are simply ways to ease the pressure that a customer might feel from the sales person or sales process. Find out which it could be and then continue the conversation accordingly.

7. Stay away from using "I" or "We" in your e-mail communications to prospective customers. These suggest that the focus of your talk is onsatisfying your desires instead of fixing the customer's problems. Customer communication should always be about the customer and what you can do for them.

Selling is a balancing act between supporting others and supporting ourselves. Yet, we must always remember our focus must be on how we can best support the customer and the more we seek our people to help and come from a place of service, the more the relationships and trust will build.