Tool Box
Issue No. 45 - Feb/March 2009
Sell yourself, then the product
by Craig Stubing
Remember to sell yourself first One of the basics that’s easily overlooked in selling is this: before you try to sell a prospective customer anything you must satisfy them that you are a person worth talking to who represents - or owns - a business worth dealing with.
In other words, before a customer will buy your product they must have ‘bought’ you, the salesperson, and your brand. In this context your brand is the business you represent or own.
If you try to sell your product before you have given your customer the opportunity to buy you and your brand, you will struggle to make the sale.
While this is especially so when trying to sell to a customer for the first time, it can’t be ignored when dealing with existing customers. This is because your competitors are always trying to turn your customers into their customers, whether they do so by direct contact or other means. If they are smart they will do this by trying to sell themselves, then their brand and then their product.
You must continually reinforce your relationship existing customers by re-selling yourself and your brand.
In my view the reason salespeople overlook selling themselves and their brand before trying to sell their product is that they think the ‘open sesame’ to the sale is their product – so they become anxious to talk about it and take short-cuts to do so. Some bosses, who should know better, add to this by exhorting their salespeople to “get out there and push the product”.
The secret to success in selling yourself and your brand lies in how you sequence your sales discussions. If you use the EASE (Engage, Ask, Show, Encourage< commitment) sales sequence the process is easy.
The time to sell yourself and your brand is during the
Engage step of the sequence; selling the product comes later. Here are some tips.
Selling yourself This is not simply about having your prospective customer like you, although it’s OK if ...
