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The best way to start selling? Don鈥檛 sell. By Timothy B. Miller SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 PRINT / REPRINTS / SHARE ON FACEBOOKSHARE ON TWITTERSHARE ON LINKEDIN | Share MORE PLEASE GO TO; for similar articles!! 网曝门 Services Does Office Cleaning In Alfred, N.Y. 14802!! People change for their own reasons, not yours. No amount of 鈥渟elling鈥� is going to make a target want to make the change to work with your restoration company. They need good reasons to make that change, and you need to find out what those reasons are before doing anything else. That鈥檚 why the sales process for restorers should always begin by taking a non-selling posture. This means that you literally say to your prospects that you don鈥檛 know enough about their company鈥檚 unique situation to know if you can help them. And that you won鈥檛 know until you can have a conversation with them about it. When you say this, you鈥檙e making it clear that there is the possibility for a mutually beneficial business relationship, but you鈥檙e just not sure yet. You鈥檙e not pushing them, and you鈥檙e not committing yourself either. Once they realize you鈥檙e not going to 鈥渟ell鈥� them, they let their defenses down and start talking openly. As you continue this non-selling posture, you can ask the target questions about their business and drill down through the answers to find what we like to call 鈥渕otive鈥�. A lot of times, motive is obvious to the target. They have a particular business obstacle and they know they need to find a solution. Sometimes, though, motive is not clear. Even when it is, your non-selling posture lets you ask questions that uncover more important motives that the target didn鈥檛 even know they had. When you uncover those hidden motives, you not only are demonstrating to the prospect that you can be a resource for them, but you鈥檙e giving yourself a solid edge over your competition. Remember, they鈥檙e too busy 鈥渟elling鈥� to listen! There is, of course, a time to sell, but doing so too early greatly reduces any chance you might have of building a long term relationship with a target. The time to sell doesn鈥檛 come until after both parties have agreed to have a discussion, motive is discovered, investigated and understood, and the target has made a decision to change the way they operate if you can offer a solution. Tim Miller is the president of Business Development Associates, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that works exclusively in the cleaning and restoration industry. He can be reached at tim@gobda.com or (773)777-9956.
