Strategy & Tactics: Selling With Confidence

WORDS BY ELIAS VENTURA AND CHRISMCNULTY

Learn how building confidence in yourself and your abilities will help you make clients more comfortable, and as a result, increase sales and dollar amounts in your business.

At KnowledgeFest Indianapolis this year, Elias Ventura of Safe and Sound Mobile Electronics in Manassas, Va. and Chris McNulty of Chantilly, Va.-based Driven Mobile Electronics, teamed up to present a workshop on how to sell with confidence.

In case you missed it, we’d like to share the highlights of our presentation with you.

We talked about how confidence is often the missing trait that holds most people back from declaring themselves experts in their field.

The important thing to remember is that you are the expert.

Educate Yourself to Build Confidence

If you don’t yet feel like enough of an expert, remember that tireless study and training on the newest gear, techniques and solutions is what makes you an expert. It’s important to attend trainings and learn as much as you can through events such as KnowledgeFest, as well as local vendor or distributor trainings. Read industry publications and be a part of the movement forward in social media groups like the Mobile Electronics Syndicate, 12-Volt Sales Pros and the Educar groups—just to name a few.

Additionally, familiarize yourself with all the tools at your disposal and use them. Vendor reps are trained specifically on the gear they sell us, so it’s also important to utilize them as resources. Ask them questions about how the gear is supposed to work, and don’t let them off the hook until you fully understand. This is part of their job.

We also recommend finding a peer or a mentor within the industry who routinely demonstrates mastery of customer interaction and finds the best solutions for clients every time. Talk with them, reach out and explore their ideas. Find parts of their process that you can use in yours to better serve your clients.

Confidence Will Guide You Forward

The class we presented in Indianapolis was not at all groundbreaking. When we were sitting in Dallas last year in Eddy Kay’s class on sales, we were reminded that selling is a process that hasn’t changed much over time. Many of the concepts Eddy talked about—and Del Ellis, in the past, and Marcel Newell, and Ken Ward—are concepts that we cover. The class serves a reminder, for the most part, of the things we already know, but tend to overlook or cut short.

The class teaches that what we may think is common knowledge—and is to us—isn’t necessarily common knowledge to our clients. We need to show them why to follow our recommendations, rather than just expect them to do so.

Once we learned to confidently guide customers with our expertise and knowledge, we also learned the best way to move forward. The end result is so rewarding. We love seeing the finished result, or the customer’s reaction—and even simply the most genuine “Thank you!”

Confidence will allow you to be the best expert you can be with every customer. It builds trust with the client, letting them know that you know what the best way forward is, and that you’ll share it with them. As industry professionals, we have to be the navigators for our customers. That said, if we truly want to win, we have to create the map for success.

Create Solutions Your Clients Can Easily Visualize

The best way to build and implement confidence in your sales procedure is by building the foundation for a solution that your client can easily visualize.

If you don’t yet feel like enough of an expert, it’s important to make education a main focus. Attend manufacturer trainings, go to KnowledgeFest and ask lots of questions. Through continued education, you will build confidence, and this will translate to the sales floor. Pictured: Elias Ventura works with a client at Safe and Sound Mobile Electronics.

Use phrasing such as:

• “My professional recommendation is…”

• “We have had great luck in the past utilizing this solution…”

• “Many of our previous clients decided to use this solution and have been very pleased…”

• “When we install this in your car, you can expect the same type of outcome as…”

Showing that you are confident in the work your business provides, and in the products you’re selling, will ensure your clients view you as the expert—not just some guy who is trying to take their money.

Sharing the previous experiences of happy clients will also give new clients a perspective that inspires confidence in your solution, furthering your position as an expert.

If you have a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of a particular area or skill, then you are an expert.

We can begin the education process as soon as we have identified the client’s desired outcome. Teaching clients what they need to know will help them make the best buying decision for their situation.

Show the Client You’re On Their Side

Confidence will help you gain control from the outset. Building the confidence to lead the conversation will help you to become a better listener, understand the needs of your client and immediately have a solution in mind.

From each phase of the process, you must work hard to “be the expert”—from the initial greeting, to your exploration of your client’s needs, to becoming their ally and educating them on options—all the way through the installation and the demo of the final project.

By learning to build confidence and lead the conversation, you will be helping the client to understand that your goal is to help them determine their needs, rather than just have them come in and tell you what they want.

After all, the client may not completely know what they need, and it’s our job to show them what’s available and inform them of the solutions we recommend, which will ultimately give them the outcome they are looking for.

The client needs to know that you share their objectives and you’re on their side.

• This is paramount: diffuse any defensiveness.

• Bond with the client and demonstrate that you’re here to help.

• Go to a place where they feel more in command. This is often a great solution. Go to their car and allow them to take the lead in the conversation, in an environment in which they are comfortable.

• Listen intently and become their ally on their turf.

• Be confident in the processes and procedures you use within the shop.

Take your client with you on a tour, and show them things that are beyond the scope of what they want or asked for. They may surprise you by being impressed at what you can offer, even if it’s beyond what they initially were interested in.

Confidence Will Lead to Increased

Sales Use props in your presentation. Put products in their hands. Let them have an experience. Possession often leads to ownership. This is a great way to make the project feel more real to them.

This is an experience they likely haven’t had elsewhere, nor will they if they choose to look beyond their trip to your facility. This is because you’ve demonstrated simply through your interactions with them why your shop is different.

Now, your client will question everything they’ve already seen or will see in the future, based on the experience you gave them concerning their project. Closing the sale will become less of a chore the more you demonstrate confidence in your product, confidence in your abilities and confidence in yourself.

Price objections will become less frequent. Through your confidence, you will have demonstrated why your shop is more expensive than the one down the street.

You’ll find that by building confidence, and showing your clients that confidence, you will close more sales more quickly, often for higher amounts.

You will begin to recognize relief in the eyes of your clients, instead of trepidation—making you feel better at the end of the day, with no clouds over your head.

Surround Yourself With Mentors You Can Learn From

We all attend industry events for our own growth and betterment and we’ve improved so much from networking with industry peers and asking questions— questions about processes, daily tasks, things that work and don’t work.

This is where we decided to give back to the industry. Not because we feel we know it all, but because we care. Sometimes we all need a little reminder of how much we have to offer, in order to build confidence in what we do. If we can just remind everyone to instill confidence in each other and in ourselves, every day, then we can all make a difference.

We want everyone to have more confidence.

We, ourselves, have learned from individuals such as Ken Ward, John Schwartz, Jay Kent, Ata Ehdaivand, Rich Pietraszko, Justin Vallo and Jesse Mitchell, among others. The positive influence of our industry peers will help boost your confidence in ways that will easily translate to the phone, on the sales floor or in the install bay.

Surround yourself with mentors and industry friends you can learn from.