Seated at their kitchen table, this couple has an informed conversation with the contractor or aging in place specialist to discuss appropriate improvements for them.
Selling is communicating
Selling is nothing more than persuading someone that the idea or opinion (sometimes in the form of a product or service) you are presenting, discussing, or advancing is believable. When a product or service is involved, we are talking with people about what we offer or represent so that they will believe our claims or assertions about the value and quality of what we have – and then want to own or have it.
Selling is communicating our ideas in a believable way to others.
I find it amusing when I hear people selling me on how they can’t or don’t want to sell anything. They are giving me the reasons – often with passion – why they think they cannot sell, yet selling is exactly what they are doing. They are hoping that I will believe and accept what they are presenting and feel sorry for them. Since no money is changing hands at this point they are communicating or closing me on why they are incapable of selling – while doing just that.
We make selling difficult
Selling itself isn’t so hard. Most everyone does it – from small children trying to get their way to protesting adults trying to win someone to their position. Being a salesperson is a little tougher; however, because most of us have preconceived ideas of what it takes to be a salesperson – and this generally does not fir our personality. We would feel extremely anxious if we were told that we would no longer get a paycheck but would only get paid based on what we sold. This might contribute to some of.the pressure that some salespeople seem to exhibit because they are only manifesting what they feel.
Being successful in sales just means being prepared to tell a story about our product or service and to have a conversation with our customers about what we can help them do. Some will agree with us, and some won’t. It helps if we have a good product and if we are addressing the right audience.
Aging in place sales are different
Often, the client will call us to visit them at their home to discuss an issue they have having. They identified it so we don’t need to. Sometimes we will be brought into the situation by another professional that is familiar with what they have and might need to be safer in their space.
It is nearly unheard of that we would go door-to-door with a sample case and try to convince people to let us into their homes so that we could “sell” them on our products. This is just not how it’s done!
Because there is no cold calling, no pressure to make a sale, and just the desire to offer solutions and meet their needs, we have no pressure to perform and we really can focus on helping them. We have no quota to make. We want to make a sale – not for the sake of making it – but for what it represents – a solution for our clients that allows them to have a safer use of their space.