So, what would sales success mean to you?
It is highly subjective.
Perhaps you want to feel more financially secure.
Set and achieve far greater sales goals.
Improve how you serve your customers.
Generate exponential results. Have more freedom to enjoy your life.

There are several functions of sales that you need to master.

These functions conform to a pragmatic, almost science-based approach to selling.

Prospecting, cold calling, qualifying, interviewing, follow-up strategies, negotiating, problem solving, presenting and closing are the main functions of sales.

Cutting-edge experience and knowledge in these functions is more than useful, but you will not necessarily get the outcome you want if the right set of beliefs, language skills, and a winning mind-set is lacking.

In this short series I will look at a simple yet highly effective 5-Step Sales Process that will help you to build a successful and fulfilling sales career.

It’s smart to begin any conversation, any communication by getting into a positive state.
If you want a person to feel relaxed and at ease, make sure YOU feel relaxed and at ease.
It’s important to be really curious and interested in the person you are communicating with.

The most powerful message you can give someone is:
“I am genuinely interested in you!”

And the quickest way to get your ideas across is to mean it.
When you mean it, you come across congruently, and the communication will flow effortlessly.

Rapport is established when you do this.
You will get the attention of a person’s unconscious mind and this is the gateway to rapport and trust.

Many sales people are familiar with rapport-building techniques.
They are particularly aware of body posture mirroring.

However, it is easy to get caught up in the process of rapport.
I need to match the way they sit, tilt my head the same way, and forget what is actually taking place.

It’s about making a connection, an unconscious connection, with a real person!
It requires a healthy mix of observation, intelligence, perception, logic and emotion and not just routinely copying what they do.
Rapport is a signal that you have met someone at their map of the world.

Pay particular attention to the following characteristics:

For example, go ahead and notice the facial expressions and how this shifts when they respond to what you say.

Pacing and leading can be used to build strong relationships.

Pacing refers to gaining agreement and leading is changing a person to take them in a new direction.

So, we go pace, pace, pace then lead.
For example:
You are watching this video – yes;
You are interested in sales – yes;
You are looking to improve your sales results – yes.
And you are thinking of buying Skyrocket Your Persuasion to ramp up your influence and persuasion skills?
Here we lead and look for a yes.

The simplest, most effective criteria for rapport is:
“If you lead, they should follow.” When you have matched and mirrored a person for a while, test whether you have managed to gain rapport by scratching your nose.

If they lift their hand to their face within the next minute or so, congratulate yourself – you have led their behaviour!

Cross-over matching is a way to help establish deeper rapport.

Here, match the other person’s behaviour with a different behaviour of your own.
You could match their eye blinking by quietly tapping your finger.
This builds rapport fast, is difficult to detect, and highly effective.
Also match the breathing, take note of their key words so you can feed them back, and determine whether they have a preference for visual, auditory or kinaesthetic words.
This process should be done outside awareness and with sensitivity.

All up, simply pay attention to everything that is going on.
It’s all valuable information that can be used to progressively strengthen rapport.

In the next part we will look at how to ask the right questions to discover the need.