The secret?
Find out what other people want, and help them get it.
Pretty simple, yes?
Is it easy? NO!
Can YOU master it? Darn right YOU can!
…and we’ll help you master that skill.
“You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” ~Zig Ziglar
“The one rule that sums up the job to be done, the one formula that is fully in harmony with the real world, the secret of success is: Find out what people want and help them get it! This is the way you separate yourself from the mass of people who just ‘get by.’
“This is how you make sure that your services are always in demand. This is how you command a high price in the marketplace, by making sure that what you’re offering is what people really want…”
“It isn’t what you want that determines what other individuals will buy from you—it’s what they want. And that answer can only come from them, not from you…
“Probably 99 out of 100 salesmen try to motivate their prospects. And that’s their mistake. You’re not capable of motivating anyone, no matter how persuasive you think you are…
“Everyone is already motivated. The only question is ‘By what?‘ Your job is to find out what it is that motivates your prospect. And then show him how he can get what he wants through your product or service. Only then will s/he buy…
“Most sales are lost because the salesman presented his product before he knew what motivated his prospect…
“The moral is simple: A salesman cannot change a buyer’s desires; he can only demonstrate better methods of satisfying them.”
~ Harry Browne, Super-star salesman and former presidential candidate, RIP
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Factoid: Every person that’s satisfied with your product or service will tell at least 2-7 friends or family. Every person that’s dis-satisfied with your stuff will tell up to as many as 200 people (sometimes more!) about their bad experience.
You do the math.
If you want to sell stuff, shut up and listen for what people truly want. It’s not about you OR your stuff, it’s about them, their problems, and the solutions you can offer that fit all (or almost all) of their criteria. WIIFM!(What’s In It For Me)
People want to be told about benefits… not subjected to “me oriented” sales pitches and drolling on about “features.”
(NB: Drolling is an archaic term for the act of playing the fool.)
The key take-away here is for you to… LISTEN!
Although seldom done by most “average” (and ALL of the losers!) sales-folk, ALL sales super-stars do it. They listen for what “benefits” are wanted… then they deliver exactly what the customer told them they wanted.
The sales process (once you KNOW what they want!):
Tell ‘em what you got…
Tell ‘em why they need it…
Tell ‘em how it’s worked for or helped others… (story time)
Tell ‘em how they can get it… then;
Ask for the sale and SHUT UP!
Oofda.
Want fries with that? (That’s up-selling, but that’s another story.) 
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Another “salesmanship” factoid: Hunters starve most of the time, while farmers eat all year long.
Feast and famine is no way to live… but that’s what happens to hunters.
Hunters are “me oriented” and have little to no consideration for their “target.” To them, it’s all about numbers. They want to make the most they can, as fast as they can, without considering how much is involved in getting a steady supply of new leads, which he has to do all the time.
Farmers know that planting seeds now for a later harvest have the best (and biggest) returns. And if he plants perennials vs. annuals, he can harvest from those seeds over and over and over again. He may not have as many fields planted, but he knows the harvest is steady, regular, and can be reaped many times before the crop eventually dies off and needs replanting. He has (and maintains) relationships with real customers that come back time and time again for even more.
Understand please… selling self is the first step to selling stuff. People buy (a lot) from those they know, like and trust. Period. Farmers build that trust, hunters just go in for a fast kill – no matter what comes after the sale. My grandpa used to call that “hell bent for leather”… and like the old west’s careless gunslinger, rarely hits his intended target.
That’s a fast way to die in the game of sales if you ask me. (And, I guess you did, eh?)
And for the aspiring entrepreneur, all he really needs is to learn how to farm. The right way. That’s been one of the main keys to my own personal success – in sales – and in life.
Hunting is only useful for a quick-hit, and has virtually no long-term benefits. These hunters are the folks that are going nuts trying to get new leads all the time, and wonder why they have no back-end or repeat sales to speak of. And for folks that want to try MLM, that’s exactly what they teach.
Bozo’s! (No offense to the real clown.) Needing a never-ending stream of suckers lined up. Dumb… at best.
Hardly any wonder, once you understand how people buy, from whom, and why.
BTW: Sales Farming is what WE teach here at The Entrepreneur Community Network™.
Large (full-feature, deluxe, premium) one? (More up-selling…) 
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Want free fries with your order?
Can you see where the MLM/NWM biz-model doesn’t work very well – at least so far as what many of them teach about how sales and selling goes… and why?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-MLM… these businesses are sometimes useful for sales and basic business training, if they do it right – and they’re not an outright scam… and with a few, you can actually make SOME money, if you try REAL HARD, and do EVERYTHING right!
(I do hate the way they split the mark-ups though! Independent sales is a lot better for your bank account. Why settle for a small part of the profit when you can have all of it?)
But… that stuff is for another time.
Next time you’re on another website, blog or forum that get’s a BIG chunk of MLM/NWM advertising, view those things with these “hunter vs. farmer” sales methods in mind. I think you’ll start to see where they are going about “selling their opportunity” all wrong.
And for the <4% that actually make anything in MLM… those folks are doing it MY WAY anyway! They are farming, not hunting. And they darn sure ain’t bothering family, friends or fools, and they aren’t spamming anyone either. These 4%’ers also tend to give much, long before they get anything in return.
And one other thing… why do the MLM’ers all seem so desperate to get new leads?
Or need I ask?
Could it be that they burn through their hard-won leads with methods and sales approaches no one wants to hear? And… spoil might very well have been an excellent, profitable sale to a prospect that could really have used what they’re selling?
To recognize the right way to do things, all it takes is a good attitude, an observant eye, the ability to think, and the foresight to step back and take a good, long look at the broader implications of what and how the successful people are doing it. It’s called “role modelling.”
Here’s one way you CAN model:
- Observe, analyze, adapt, and adopt for…
- Overcoming by taking action…
- The right way.
- Wash, rinse and repeat until it’s perfect…
- Continue Ad Infinitum until it quits working.
- Then go on and try something else that does work.
- Repeat as necessary until the pain of impending poverty goes away!
Why and how does this work? This “process” has much to do with human motivation. A subject far too deep for this page, but in brief, here are some highlights:
Like most things in life, there are two basic attitudes (wolves) that rule our everyday lives…
The first and worst is self-centered-ness… sometimes called “extrinsic” – or me orientation. The end result in many cases is naught but pure apathy, greed, and avarice… and subsequent failure. The Black Wolf.
The second and best is others-centric… called “intrinsic” – service orientation for both self and others. These few people see value in what they are and do, and live life with passion, connectivity, and relatedness… and success naturally follows. The White Wolf.
The first always looks only for what’s in it for them, and this is a majority of people. Hunters. And are seldom truly successful at anything.
The second knows that by looking out for others, nature’s law of reciprocation rules. Farmers. And are often very successful in everything they say and do.
And yes, the implications of this are far and wide reaching…
All one needs to do is change one’s attitude from hunting to farming, and it follows that success can be yours. Simple AND logical, eh?
Of course, like all other things, an individual’s mileage may vary.
BTW: You can view the entire thread this was distilled from at http://entrecomm.net/Forum/index.php/topic,141.0.html
Observe, adapt, adopt, overcome, and prevail…
Life, the way it oughta’ be.
(Momma, can I get off my soapbox now?)
