[645] The Game of Sales Has Changed (Spearpoint Solutions)

Jason [00:00:00]: This is the authentic Persuasion show. Hey there. What's going on? Jason [00:00:07]: Welcome to episode 645 of the authentic Persuasion show. For this episode, I'm going to do something a little bit different, at least for the next three of these Monday episodes. I am going to replay and share with you the audio version of a blog article that I wrote for Spearpoint online. So if you go to spearpointonline.com, I've written three guest blog articles for them and then also recorded audio as a fun way to not just write an article, but then record some audio because people learn in different ways and I thought I would replay that here. So what you're going to hear is the article that I wrote called the game of sales has changed. If it sounds like I'm reading it, it's because I am because I wanted to go through it because the content was so great. I do my best to not sound. Jason [00:00:54]: Like I'm reading it, but you can. Jason [00:00:55]: Tell it's not just me in my normal mode flying off the top of my head, but it's more of getting this content out to you. So enjoy this. Again, the game of sales has changed. I'll explain why it is in the article, what you can do about it, and if you want to find out more, make sure to go to spearpointonline.com. Jason [00:01:14]: The game of sales has changed. If you're still approaching sales the same way you did two or more years ago, you are not winning. You might feel like you're winning, but it's probably because you have to do a lot more to get the same results. More calls, more emails, more text, more direct messages, more nagging, more hoping, more praying, more stress. If it feels like that describes your world of selling, persuading the right people to move forward towards being a customer, the good news is that there is a reason it's not you. Well, it is you, but it's also something you can take action to make better. So what has changed? In the book Freakonomics, the authors wrote a chapter about real estate agents and how their power came from knowledge, hoarding information about properties for sale, being the gatekeeper and the key master for the multiple listing service. If you wanted to know about a house, and if you wanted to buy a house, the game was set up where it required a real estate agent, which in turn led to them controlling the flow of the process and the fees involved. Jason [00:02:18]: Then the Internet happened. It changed everything for real estate. Sites like Redfin and Zillow destroyed that imbalance of information. Real estate agents all over the country started to freak out because they no longer had the leverage of being the only ones who knew the details about the price of a house. Homeowners could now successfully list their home on their own for sale by owner, which real estate agents generally hate. Buyers could look up property values online and even buy a house from a for sale by owner. The middleman or woman would be cut out of the deal. And if you're wondering, yes, knowledge is power. Jason [00:02:54]: The person with the knowledge and information has the power. Historically, in a sales type transaction, the company, and by extension the salesperson, had the knowledge of the product service idea, the facts, the features, the benefits, competitive analysis. Which means they had the power, and they could wield that power to charge whatever they could get away with to manipulate, to trick create false scarcity. The I have someone coming later today to look at fill in the blank car, couch, computer. So if you don't buy it, they probably will and use discounts to trigger unreal urgency, pretty much like every furniture store does most weekends of the year. Then the Internet happened. It took a while, but now all the world's information is accessible by anyone with a way to get online. Not that everyone has access or will leverage the power of information, but it has truly caused the role of a salesperson to change, not the economy. Jason [00:03:50]: Inflation, pandemic, war, politics, taxes, government. Most people struggling in sales want to point their nondeal closing fingers at those factors, but they are overlooking the fundamental disruptor to their sales success. Stop assuming that your one job is to know your product really well and explain it to people for them to decide whether to buy. Stop thinking that they need you to tell them anything about your product or service. Stop pretending you still have the power. One of my favorite bands, rage against the machine, says it best take the power back. That is exactly what buyers have done, thanks to the Internet. They which is also we because we are not always selling. Jason [00:04:32]: We are buyers in our own life and or our own business. We don't want lectures, sales pitches, tricks, games, slick or gross closing lines of manipulation. They want help. We all do. If they are going to engage with a salesperson and all the inherent danger that that represents, then they need something, not just that product. They want guidance. They are desperately searching for the right answers, the safe choice, the better path. Sometimes it's about avoiding pain. Jason [00:05:07]: Other times it's for gain. No matter what, they want to get to a better place with the least amount of risk possible. They want to know that a salesperson and the company they represent actually cares about them as a person, then they will listen, just like most people want a doctor who cares about them, like with good bedside manner, then asks questions, does a thorough exam, and then provides a diagnosis and prescription that feels personalized to what that individual is going through. Remember, you are selling to a human. It's not b to c, b to b, d to c, d to d. It's h to h, human to human. And that human you are speaking with only cares about themselves. We all do, since we're all human. Jason [00:05:51]: So they want a sales experience that fits their needs, desires, hopes, goals, dreams, and avoids the terrible, awful, no good sales experiences they have had at the hands of ill intentioned and or unprofessional salespeople. The game of sales has changed. Telling is no longer selling. Start caring about people have a process that aligns with the sales experience people demand and make them feel safe, which stands for successful at fear elimination. When you shift the way you sell, your fingers will go back to holding the money you earned by helping the right people buy.