Have you ever wondered if there was a better way to sell that could also reduce your frustration with the inherent distrust and unease that seems to be an everyday part of the sales profession? Have you found yourself thinking about how you could create more consistent, meaningful and fruitful relationships with your customers and prospects? And that, perhaps, you could also feel more confident and positive about how your sales career aligns with your personal values?
Improving the Personal and Professional Experience for Sales Professionals
If so, you are not alone. In the last few years, a lot of sales professionals have attempted to tackle these challenges. For example, the esteemed thought leader Mahan Khalsa with the Franklin Covey organization wrote Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play – Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship, a breakthrough book on creating a healthy, win-win relationship with prospects by following many of Stephen Covey’s value-focused techniques. And he’s not the only expert who has sought to tackle this question.
The Example of Jesus
After extensive field research and years of firsthand experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that sales professionals and business owners who sell need a clear, compelling example from which to draw inspiration and ideas. And the best example for successful selling comes from a global leader who set foot on earth 2,000 years ago: Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, we are proud to announce the launch of Sell Like Jesus.
Sell like Jesus uncovers the essence behind communication strategies that Jesus used 2,000 years ago: What they are, why they worked, and how they can be applied in a sales setting today to improve your results. What is clear is that Jesus was a consummate listener, observer and leader — who quite literally changed minds and hearts, and motivated people to act. In other words, he was a spectacularly successful sales professional.
A Values-Based Approach
Sell Like Jesus is a sales approach that evolved to address my clients’ desire to align their personal values with the way they sell, so they can sell more effectively and get profitable results. Salespeople know the importance of ‘making the sale.’ It usually means being able to pay the bills, or ensuring one’s ability to stay in business.
Sales success hinges on both buyer and seller walking away from a transaction satisfied. If the exchange is lop-sided, someone feels like they have ‘lost’ or ‘been cheated’ somehow. Jesus sets a vivid example of how to present his ‘product’ and allow the hearer to decide for themselves if they want to “buy in” or not. There is no arm twisting, and no sort of manipulative convincing going on in his relationships.
The conversations of Jesus contain examples of how to stand your ground in a caring way, without putting others down – or how to rethink your approach dynamically in light of new information or observations. When understood, embraced and put into action, these strategies empower people just like you to create true-win-win relationships with their clients.
Why It Works
The Sell Like Jesus approach works because it recognizes and responds to three essential priorities inherent in the world of professional selling:
1. Prospects assume they will be cheated. Thanks to our culture’s longstanding (and largely illogical) assumptions about the sales profession, most prospects come into the sales process assuming that they will be subject to trickery or gamesmanship. As a result, they often hide the whole truth from the sales person, create false objections, and change stated objectives just to protect themselves from a perceived risk. Sell Like Jesus recognizes that since prospects don’t expect authenticity and honesty, the best way to transform them into loyal customers is to give them exactly that – authenticity and honesty – and ask them to do the same in return. This establishes a framework of trust during the sales process that leads to lasting business relationships.
2. Sales professionals need to feel that how they sell is aligned with their values. Many people may be ‘good’ at selling, and others may be less naturally inclined to those behaviors we associate with sales — talking, presenting and gregariousness. But regardless, every sales professional needs to feel that how they do their jobs is aligned with their own personal values. And in fact, values-based selling consistently works, so this alignment strengthens sales results.
3. Better relationships lead to better results. Contrary to many outdated assumptions about sales training, the old model of pushing products or overwhelming prospects with features and benefits doesn’t work. Today, prospects have access to infinite details on your products and those of your competitors. They don’t need you to lecture to them, they need you to listen and ask the questions they aren’t even thinking to ask in order to get the best solution for their need. The result is that relationship-focused sales professionals consistently generate stronger quota results, over a longer period of time, than their peers.
Sell Like Jesus takes the best of today’s current and emerging best practices for professional selling and integrates them around the compelling and proven example of Jesus. As a result, it addresses selling in its full context — looking at the buyer and seller as real, live individuals developing a meaningful and, ultimately, mutually valuable business relationship.
Learn More about Sell Like Jesus
You’ll be hearing more about Sell Like Jesus as we roll out new webinar content, blog articles and resources this year. However, you can begin today by visiting these two links:
Sell Like Jesus Services & Solutions
http://debbrownsales.com/services/sell-like-jesus/
Sell Like Jesus Blog Articles
http://debbrownsales.com/category/blog/sell-like-jesus/