Speed Selling by John Stanway

This information in this publication is provided by a former Owner of Companies and also a Sales Director for a worldwide organisation. It is offered as information only. He has been instrumental in starting his own successful businesses and assisted in the successful establishment of several others. It is entirely his work and his thoughts. The publisher and author specifically disclaim any personal liability, loss or risk incurred, as a consequence of any advice or information presented herein. All information was correct at going to press. The author and publisher do not accept or offer any guarantee that the information given in this document will continue to be available. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, back engineered or duplicated without the express permission, in writing, of the publisher. This publication does NOT come with any resell or reproduction rights whatsoever. Any breach of copyright or intellectual property rights will be met with full legal action. You DO NOT have permission to resell or copy this book.

SPEED SELLING

I assume that you are involved in some form of selling. If you are –great! Without somebody to sell something, nobody would have a job. So if you are a salesperson, be proud of that. In most civilised countries a sales person is rated up there with lawyers, doctors and accountants on the social scale.

By the way, if you earn anything directly from your sales by way of profit, commission, bonus or reward then you are a Sales Executive in modern parlance. A salesperson is one whose pay does not fluctuate in line with personal sales. Shop assistants spring to mind, but there are countless other such occupations. To be ‘good at selling’ is generally what people call you when your sales ability generate more than sufficient income to enable you to enjoy life without money pressures. This is probably a result of the teaching, advice, lectures, tapes, books, courses and experiences over many years.

If you want to be good at the fine art of selling, then you are probably setting your sights so low as to prevent yourself from ever becoming a GREAT salesperson. ‘Good’ is never good enough. It translates to ‘average’ in my mind. But surely you have met a handful of people in your life who have absolutely charmed you? Regardless of their profession, if they had even suggested you might buy something advantageous for you, you would virtually have said ‘Yes’ just to please them? You know the kind? You just know that if somebody that nice and kind was to decide to sell things for a living they just could not fail. And, if they are in the sales business you can bet your boots they are hugely successful. So what is their secret? I will tell you quite clearly - 99% of them do not know! It just happens for them! They would love to tell you, but they cannot. But what about that 1% who do know? You are currently reading one of that 1% who has never seen what I am about to disclose in print anywhere but in my own handwritten manuscript. © 2005 Staten Publishing.

Consider yourself privileged to have a printed version of my original draft. Because I believe that those few of us who actually realise just why we are so good at selling (also arbitration, negotiation, counselling, etc) have no desire to pass the knowledge onto others. Financially, they don’t need to. It really is that simple.

My reason for passing this on to you is purely egotistical. I have received many accolades in my time, consistently out-performed the ‘best’, earned and spent fortunes, addressed audiences of thousands. As they say - I’ve had the T-shirts. I am not famous now, and I lead a very pleasant and quiet life. But one last thing I can leave behind is my name and knowledge. It should create a lot more than “15 minutes of fame” if it is associated with the guy who taught you the fundamental secret to GETTING WHAT YOU WANT! Make that sale, get that raise, achieve promotion, get the girl/guy your heart desires – these are all SELLING functions. You are selling yourself!

Bear that in mind, my friend. How many times have you heard the expression ”People must buy YOU before they buy your deal”? It is absolutely true. A fundamental truth so important you should reflect upon it. Do you buy from someone you dislike? In our minds we translate ‘dislike’ into ‘distrust’ - so, we go out of our way to avoid any form of “dealing” with such people.

But what about those wonderful people we really take to (along with many others!)? Somehow they seem to radiate an aura of warmth, dependability, trustworthiness and downright friendliness. We feel good just being with them. We ‘click’ with them, and vice-versa! Why emphasise ‘vice-versa’ just then? Because it is the key to your future success in all areas of your life - and it is vital if you are to become a great seller. © 2005 Staten Publishing.

Think about that ‘vice-versa’ a second. It means that we feel, sense, believe that the other person likes and admires us just as much as we admire them! And this’ feeling’ leads us to trust the other implicitly. What chance now of fobbing off this person with a mumbled excuse should they propose or recommend a certain course of action they sincerely believe would be of enormous benefit to me? None! I am at least going to listen attentively, and make certain remarks or comments expressing my surprise and even pleasure in having this proposal explained to me so clearly and understandably. In fact, I am so impressed with my ‘friends’ cogent arguments as to the many benefits to be enjoyed by my ownership of the article in question, that I BUY ONE! JOB DONE!

What I have done is pay proper attention to the conversation I have just had with my very good friend. (I call him ‘friend’ even though I have just met him. But with some people you just ‘know’ they are honestly and sincerely making a genuine recommendation, don’t you?).

THIS

SALES

PERSONS’

DREAM!

What I am going to teach you is exactly how you can get anybody’s undivided attention, and actually eager to hear what you have to tell them. The technique is so powerful it even works on whole audiences of up to say, 50 people. It tends to get watered-down after that! Your ‘how’ is learning the S.P.E.E.D. SELLING technique. It is not difficult, but at first you will have to consciously use it. After a while you will use it without even knowing you are. You are then a ‘natural’ salesperson. Work on that to become ’great’. SPEED is obviously an acronym, not a rate of progress. It makes it easy for you to remember each step in the right order. The sequence as I teach it is 100% on target. Skip or jump steps, and you will lose the rhythm and sheer ‘naturalness’ of it. IT WON’T WORK – believe me. © 2005 Staten Publishing.

So let me make a start by taking each step in order: S = SYMPATHY

Heard of it? Understand the value of it? Of course not - otherwise you would be so successful you would not be learning anything new. Would you? The power of sympathy has to be examined and understood, because it is dynamite when used to advantage. The sympathy here is YOUR sympathy for the prospects problems.

WE AUTOMATICALLY WARM TO PEOPLE WHO TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN TO OUR PROBLEMS AND THEN SYMPATHISE WITH OUR SUFFERING. This is a fact. It works on everybody, every time. Look how many family rifts and feuds are ‘cured’ by the parties attending a family funeral. Shared sympathy is even better, as you will learn. So we have to have a good reason to heap a decent sized slice of sympathy on our prospect – and we need it fast. Quite simply, ask any one of a million questions which prompts recall of a past or present problem. Such as ………. Do your firm pay you enough? Ever had one of those holidays where just everything went wrong? Ever regretted buying a certain car? Ever had to pay for a daughter’s wedding?

Ever had someone be nasty to you and, for the life of you, you cannot understand why? Get the picture? Any of the above are bound to prompt a lengthy harangue from your prospect on the iniquities prevalent in the modern world, and just how he/she did not deserve the particular incident he/she is even now relating.

Get the point? Let him have his say, for as long as it takes, and keep piling on the sympathy even if you think the moron got everything he deserved. It works! They view you now as an understanding and kind soul. Good!

Generally, all this Sympathy can be smoothly covered in a few minutes. Now for ………………. P = PRAISE.

People like people who praise them. It makes them feel good, being praised. Gives a sort of warm glow inside, even if they outwardly scorn any praise or take it very modestly. Inside is where it counts. In the head, and from there to the emotion/reaction centre, which sends out these good feelings regardless. What power - and all for a few mere words, uttered most sincerely and warmly.

And who is responsible for these nice warm feelings? Why, this really nice person I just met. It is so rare nowadays to find somebody who understands and cares about my problems, let alone capping it with true appreciation of my skills, talents and all-round ability and worldliness. Very nice guy, this. Very much on my wavelength. So sensible too. Knows what he is talking about, no doubt of it. He must be genuine. He agrees with me. Appreciates me. What a nice guy.

Do any of these thoughts and feelings recall any particular person(s) to you? Do you know people you have this view of – perhaps in business, but even in family or social circles? Of course you do. We all know loads. But be aware that, whilst most will be naturally made that way, others will be doing it because they learned it! The easiest way to impress somebody is by praising their handling or understanding of the bucket load of grief you were just sympathetic about. One step, Sympathy, leads us to Praise, which leads us to ……………

E = EMPATHY

In modern usage this has come to mean a closeness, oneness, bonding with a fellow human. Please don’t complain that I am omitting animals, spirits, nature and things; I am only interested in people.

With Sympathy and Praise working their magic on the mind and attitude of your prospect, this Empathy now seals-in the magic ingredients you have put together so far. It immediately tells your prospect that you are definitely at the top of the scale on his friendship rating.

There is now a significant chunk of psychology to understand, to explain why this triple-move technique is AWESOME at creating unquestioning belief in you in your prospect.

Yes, we count our true friends in very small numbers. The reason for this is that we have achieved an empathy with them, which is an extremely rare situation in everyday life. Having empathy with someone is brought on, on both sides, by numbers of thoughts and reactions, only some of which are consciously noted. © 2005 Staten Publishing

Try the following list, and see just how many of your true friends have quite a number of ‘hits’ to their credit ………..        

 

He/she likes the things I like. He/she dislikes the things I dislike. We share similar views on so many matters. We are concerned about the same things, such as values, standards honesty. We have both been let down by others - and learned our lessons the hard way. We both have few people we really trust. We can discuss, seriously, any subject of importance. We recognise that neither of us is perfect, but we really appreciate each others honesty and strong points. We cheerfully admit our mistakes or failings to each other. Basically, we ‘click’. We are truly ‘good friends.

Now do the scoring on somebody you rate as a true friend. Out of the 10 statements above, I am willing to bet that most, IF NOT ALL, apply to your friend. Ho, ho, ho! I am right, aren’t I?

What you and your true friend have together is Empathy. Not rocketscience. Merely occurred over a period of time. After you eventually learned that he or she fulfilled all the above criteria. Happens to everybody now and again. Rare though, I admit. What we are doing is duplicating the experiences that people go through to achieve empathy with one another – and we are doing it in the space of a fairly short conversation. WE ARE SPECIFICALLY CREATING EMPATHY by making the next move …. WE ADMIT we have had a similar experience to the one which our prospect was just discussing (Sympathy) and, whilst we handled it with some sensibility and finesse, we were not quite as clever or sharp-sighted as our new-found chum (Praise). We only wish we had had his or her experience to lean on at the time. Sad, isn’t it? © 2005 Staten Publishing

Your ‘new’ friend suddenly converts himself into a ‘true’ friend, literally on the spot, and right in front of your eyes! Amazing to watch, this is.

He/she now sympathises with you, because you did not have the benefit of his/her wealth of experience at the time.

He/she now praises you for your somewhat awkward handling of the matter, pointing out the bits you did correctly.

He/she is now empathising with YOU! “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” .

The whole ‘play’ has now reversed direction, with your prospect doing to you what you consciously set out to do for him/her.

Full circle. You now have EMPATHY!

More importantly, you are now viewed as a TRUE FRIEND! WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT US SALES ‘GREATS’ HAVE KNOWN FOR YEARS! We engineer conversations to steer them along this path - SO WE CAN SELL TO YOU! Evil? No, just successful strategy.

Next, let us MAKE THE SALE! The actual SALES SEQUENCE

E = EXPLANATION

Having ‘softened-up’ your prospect with the Sympathy, Praise, Empathy stuff, which does not take too long, you are now poised to explain to your new chum why he/she is missing out in life.

What you are going to explain is why your product is going to benefit him enormously. As his trusted friend you feel it only fair to point out how much easier/cheaper/faster/smarter/wealthier etc. his life will be if he only had one of your gizmos.

Bear in mind that, as a good chum he will hear you out fairly - the same as you did for him a few minutes ago. He might even ask the odd pertinent question. Yippee!! A buying signal.

As a person focused on success, you welcome his question. You explain perfectly, and HE AGREES WITH YOU!! Being focussed, of course you move smoothly back into your sales pitch, u.s.p., or whatever, without losing your own pace and momentum.

All this, of course, is to arrive at the desired outcome of A SALE. However, you have just removed the biggest single barrier to hit all sales people THEY ARE PAYING ATTENTION! This improves your chances a hundredfold - believe me. Most people in the business call this the ‘sales pitch’. The reason I am calling it Explanation is simple. You do not wish to lose your new-found friendship by trying to sell something, do you? No!

People hate being sold to - which is why you should never attempt it. Never. Which is why you have merely explained how you and/or thousands of sensible people have improved their lives/health/business/bank balance/relationships/knowledge etc. by utilising this wonderful life-enhancing product or service. Only fair, isn’t it, to care for the welfare and happiness of your new chum?

THE BEST BIT IS - he/she thinks it awfully decent of you to bring this matter to their attention. They might have the odd point to make. Fine. Not a problem; you can even concede that your pal is one smart cookie to raise this, as most people wouldn’t have thought of it! Luckily for him, you have the perfect answer to his genuine query. Simple - or what? Most trainers say ‘close the sale’ is the all-important function of the sales process. I agree wholeheartedly. However, in the interests of acronymics everywhere, I chose …………. D = DEAL

………and do you have a super DEAL for your new friend? You bet! Therefore, all you need to do is to get the deal accepted, paid for, ordered, signed for - or whichever way you work. I find it easy to use the old ‘assumptive’ method here - assuming he/she has bought the deal, and we are merely figuring out when he wants delivery, how to pay etc. I also believe that the finest sales, and the easiest, are invariably completed by asking simple straightforward questions. © 2005 Staten Publishing

Such as ……… Which colour do you think looks best? How soon do you want this product/service to make your life a lot easier/smarter/more efficient/healthier/more profitable etc? Where would you put/use one of these? How much extra income/profit do you need? They are easy, natural questions which should provoke a reasonable answer. You, of course immediately use the answer to close the Deal. Choose questions to which you already have your answers prepared, obviously.

SUMMARY

What I have taught you here, I have every confidence will change your life immeasurably. Apart from sales, the technique can be used in any person to person situation. By getting to that Empathy with another person it breaks down all barriers.

Yes, you will need to practise for it to become natural to you. Practise in non-selling situations, merely to get used to generating good feelings in others. Do this until you are getting a good ‘strike rate’ of, say, at least 75% success.

Once achieved, you will have the most powerful life-improving tool at your command. Use it to succeed in all areas of your life - but if MORE MONEY is your No1 goal, get out there and sell yourself, your product, your DEAL.

I recommend that you ensure you understand the sequence by memorising the S.P.E.E.D. items in correct order. Never get the Es mixed up! Once done (5 minutes) practise away, and you will start to notice how well people respond to sympathy followed by praise. It really is magic, and has to be experienced to be believed. .

Revise this text. Make sure you understand WHY these things work, by reading my simple and logical explanations. Not difficult - but very necessary.

Then get out in the world and sell yourself to everybody you meet! Good Luck - and long may you recall me as the first/only guy to tell it like it is, for us successful people.

ÂŠ 2005 Staten Publishing.