When selling, it is important that we match ourselves, our products, and our message to where our audience are at the moment. Continuing on from the previous episode, we employ the five phases that everyone goes through when transitioning from the position. Host, Ken Courtright, explains selling strategies based on how we size up a person according to which phase they are in.
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5 Phases Pt. 2 – Selling
This is episode 96. This is Five Phases Part Two. How do you sell to people that are in different phases? First, we have to understand what does this means. In the previous episode 95, I explained that everybody in their current lot or position in life, whether they’re a new mom, they took a new job, they could be a school teacher, everybody’s in one of five phases. They’re either in the excitement, education, reality, doubt or clarity phase. If you want to get caught up to speed of what each of those phases is, I would go back to episode number 95. Aren’t we all salespeople? Aren’t we always selling a product or a service to someone? Aren’t we always selling someone listening to our ideas? Aren’t we always selling ourselves that we’re a good person? Of course, we’re all salespeople. The question is how do we sell better? If we know what phase we’re in and if we know what phase they’re in, we can be master salespeople. Let’s talk for a brief second. If I know now that I’m in the doubt phase of my position, I don’t even want to be here.
I know I’ve got an opportunity if I’m going to go on a sales call or if I’m going to position something in a piece of marketing, I have to first ask myself, “What happens if I bump into someone and I can know in five minutes they’re also in the doubt phase?” What does that do to my presentation? What if they’re in the excitement phase? What if within five minutes, one of your questions upfront is, “How long have you had this position?” If they say, “I’ve only been here six weeks.” They’re in the excitement phase. Maybe they dipped into the education phase. The bottom line is they’re amped to talk to you. They’re pumped and you better elevate the volume and the speed of your presentation or you’re going to bore them easily, especially if you know you’re in the doubt phase. What happens if you ask them, “How long have you had this position?” “I’ve been the director of so-and-so or such and such for six years. I’ve been in the same spot.” You know they are in the clarity phase, there’s a chance they might even be in the doubt phase, probably not in the reality phase after six years.
We can sell better if we know what phase we are in, and we know what phase people are in. Click To TweetYou have to understand that there are a lot of things that come into play, especially if you’re selling something of great importance to you or them. You might want to take a look at their temperament and personality. See if you can peg them into what I call the personalities of your personality tree, the sanguine, the choleric, the phlegmatic and the melancholic. I had done a previous episode on that. I’m not going to repeat it. Once you know this is no question a sanguine, they’re a people person, they love people, but you can sense there’s something not quite right here, they’re not in the excitement phase. I’ve been at it for many years. It’s subconscious for me but I am always taking the modeling approach I learned from Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy. If you walk in the door and they’re truly amped up, they’re talking fast. They’re moving around. They can’t sit still. They’re offering coffee and they’re serving on you, better pay attention. They could be in the excitement phase or be a high sanguine and you better amp up your presentation. Quite frankly, simply what’s called your presence, you better match their presence.
However, where this is the most critical in selling is simply this one spot right here. When you are in the excitement phase yourself or the education phase, which by default you’re still in the excitement phase. You need to understand that when you walk into this environment and the person sitting behind the desk, they’re not bubbly, they’re not offering you coffee, they’re not jovial, they’re not amped up. The worst thing you can do is go read the old books of selling that say, “Enthusiasm sells.” In that case, enthusiasm could kill you. Based on people being in five phases that you’re selling to and you being in one of the five phases, it’s something that should be considered when you walk into an office that you set a 2 to 5-minute timer in your head to try to determine what personality is this person? Are they a sanguine? Are they a phlegmatic? What are they? You’ll know that almost by their handshake. If you read Your Personality Tree by Florence Littauer. If you know instantly what their personality is, then you can take a couple few minutes and ask very specific questions. It’ll ooze out of them what phase in the business they’re in.
What questions would you ask? Always start with, how long have you been in this position? It blows people’s minds when you ask questions about them. It shows you care, you’re concerned and you’re listening. It shocks people when a salesperson walks in and starts truly showing interest in themselves, their position and their company. It’s impossible for them to ignore that. When you get that one piece of information on how long they’ve been in that position, if somebody says, “Eight months.” They’re pumped up about it still. They’re definitely in phases 1, 2 or 3. They’re either still excited in the education or at the beginning of reality but they’re still pumped.
What’s the point here? The point is this. This podcast is simply about modeling. In those first couple few minutes, I don’t care if you’re selling a child on behaving, you’ve got to model their behavior. If you’re too stern and too strong and too overzealous of what you learned when you were a kid, I’m not here teaching people how to raise kids, but I have four kids and I’ve practiced a lot of these techniques. It’s amazing when you treat kids that you’re trying to teach lessons to as adults, and you can use a couple of few of these techniques. It’s amazing when you start asking them some questions, it’s amazing how they come around and all of a sudden, they start communicating with you, listening and buying into what you’re saying.
If you're selling something of grave importance to people, you might want to take a look at their temperament. Click To TweetWhen it comes to coworkers, you’re going to be selling coworkers on your ideas for the rest of your life because people pull in teams. To do it, wouldn’t it make sense to ask your coworkers some questions to see if you can size up what phase they’re in and then speak to them in that phase? Go into that phase with them, be with them. They will feel it. They’ll understand it and they will be listening and appreciate what you’re saying and possibly then be more inclined to buy into your idea. Finally, when it comes to selling your wares, your products, your services, nothing works better or is more complimenting than modeling.
Important Links:
- Episode 95 – previous episode
- Your Personality Tree
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