Sales!

If you are earning money, be it from your job or your business, you are in sales! Some people hate sales but we all sell! Ourselves, our services and our products! In the end, the type of selling you want to engage in is one that pays you!

Since getting into business for myself, I have put myself in a position of having to sell. I have had some awesome days and some not so awesome ones, meaning that the results were dependent on my form on the day and some luck with the client being in the market for what I had to offer. Basically, the results weren’t duplicable or repeatable because I didn’t have a defined process in place, i.e. a system.

However, that changed recently when I finally got my hands on a copy of a sales book written by my friend Alistaire Jama, called “Sellology”. I was going to buy some sales books a couple of years ago, until Ali, a highly successful salesman, told us that he was writing a book! Now, I have been in some of his workshops so I was confident that the book would be good, so, I waited for it… and boy was it worth that wait! I read it in 4 hours, on the 2-hour train down to and up from London, and called him from both directions with questions because I was hooked! As soon as I got home, I studied the book, made notes and came up with my own sales scripts based on what Ali wrote in his book, and the results were instantaneous! I began getting more meetings than ever, using old school cold calling over the phone, email, and new school social media! Ali keep this book very simple, and clearly, one is meant to flick back and forth between the chapters, so this quickly becomes your “go-to” manual on “how to sell”!

Ali talks about communication in terms:

  • Words – what you say
  • Music – the tone in which you say them
  • Dance – the body language

Ali dedicates a chapter of being aware of different business styles and how they communicate (words, music and dance):

  • Actor – aka The Player
  • Doer – aka The Pragmatist
  • Friend – aka The Companion
  • Thinker – aka The Analyst

Ali then breaks down his sales system into 6 simple steps he calls “PROCES”:

  • Plan
  • Reach
  • Obtain
  • Connect
  • Elaborate
  • Secure

The book is 180 pages and easy to read, but oh so effective! If you read, understand and apply what Ali teaches, then you should see an improvement in your number of conversions for telephone or face to face meetings, and closing business deals!

Let me know how you get on! If you have any questions, do get in touch with Ali Jama! And as promised, here is the link to where you can buy the book on Amazon!

Networking Effectively!

Some of you very kindly got in touch with me last week after my previous blog and asked me what exactly I say regarding the open 7 x W questions, how I deliver them, and my body language, so I thought I would answer you via a full blog post on networking effectively!

Mindset

When you go to a networking event, please leave your agenda behind, and go and make friends by making the effort to get to know people! See if you can help them! Remember, if people don’t know you, they won’t like you, if they don’t like you, they won’t trust you, if they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you or refer business with you! People love talking about themselves so let them talk! (If you wish, print off the delegates list or ask for it in advance, and pick out up to 3 people you absolutely want to speak to, research them and then find and speak to them!).

Body Language

Body language accounts for over half of what is perceived about what we are trying to say. When I am at a networking event, I go in looking smart casual (jeans, shirt, shoes), with happy thoughts, smiling, with an open stance, arms relaxed, either clasped in front or behind me, gesticulating when talking. I lean in, shake hands, and make firm but friendly eye-contact when engaging in conversation with people, showing a real interest in what they are saying.

Tone

I am always happy, positive, excited, energetic and genuinely interested in who I am speaking to! When I speak, I never speak in a monotone and make sure that I am enjoying speaking and listening to myself! Your tone is louder than your words and your message, so make it count!

Words

I enjoy making polite conversation, simple small talk, to break the ice and begin getting to know something about the person I am speaking with. I tend to keep most of my questions, open-ended and always deliver them in a relaxed manner, using the Ws when needed. I always introduce myself and then make it about them. My conversations go something like this:

“Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Bilal!”. This invites them to share their name with you. If you want to remember their names (even if they have a name badge on!), you lean forward and say “Nice to meet you, John!”. Then I make small talk to relax things, “So, whereabouts are you from?”, “Cool, are you from there?”, try to relate to them by finding something in common with them, this makes it more relaxed and informal. Then you can ask, “So, what brought you here?”, followed by, “Cool, so what is it that you do?”.

After they have told me what they do, they will be curious about me, so the conversation will switch to me, and it’s my time to shine! However, I prefer to flicker briefly to make them even more curious and ask me more questions about me! So, I share with them very briefly what I do, with my short elevator pitch, and say:

“I have 3 businesses, a consultancy in the pharmaceutical industry, a compliant medical social media agency, and a lifestyle business. Across all my businesses, we aim to help make the lives of our clients and team easier, and help them save and make money”. If they ask me to elaborate a little more on my businesses, I do, but I never ever go into full brain dump mode, even if it is tempting sometimes! Don’t get me wrong, I do talk and share my opinions, but I make sure the person I am speaking to is doing most of the talking, and afterwards, they love having spoken to me! I’m there to make friends, and by pitching everyone I meet, I won’t make any friends! It’s bad for business! At the end of the conversation, if I have enjoyed speaking with them, I will tell them, and say:

“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you John, are you on LinkedIn?”, they usually say yes and we connect using our smartphones. If not, I take their business card and say I will send them an email, and then make sure I do send them an email! I tend not to carry business cards because we have social media! I have a big box of every business card I have ever received which I open rarely, hence why I always tend to contact via LinkedIn or other social media!

For me, networking is second nature, I do it naturally where I am, but it is an art that can be learned! Just take a deep breath, compose yourself, prepare and then DO! Remember, make networking about others, not you!

Let me know how you get on 🙂