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Life Health > Running Your Business > Selling

How to Make Sales Easier

By Sandy Schussel

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What You Need to Know

  • You could be too shy.
  • You could have commission breath.
  • You could have a problem with how you match the prospects and the products.

When I ask financial or insurance professionals what their biggest challenge is, the first answers are usually “not getting in front of enough qualified prospects,” “not managing my time well,” or “being disorganized.”

But many times, they’ll tell me that they’re really “bad at sales” or “bad at closing.”

When this is the case, it’s obviously a huge problem, so you want to figure out what’s affecting your confidence in this area.

Here are six of the usual suspects.

1. Fear of Rejection

When someone says no, it can feel like they are rejecting you personally.

If it happens often, it can paralyze you from asking for the sale with confidence—and prospects notice the lack of confidence.

But your goal is to help and serve them rather than to sell them; there is no rejection.

Either they want the help you’re offering, or they don’t. It’s just information.

2. Too Much Attachment to the Outcome

When you desperately need a sale, you send out desperate and needy energy, which your prospect will almost always subconsciously pick up on.

Some advisors call this “commission breath.”

Something will feel off for them, and they won’t agree to work with you.

You can’t stop needing a sale, but you can stop projecting that need by focusing on what they need.

3. Imposter Syndrome

When you’re offering a prospect or client a product or service you haven’t offered before, or speaking with a client who is a “bigger fish” than the ones you usually deal with, you might have thoughts about not feeling “qualified” enough.

Prospects will pick this up in your energy, or you’ll end up sabotaging your own sale by not being bold enough.

If you believe in your offering, speak boldly about it—no matter who is in the room with you and how little you think you know.

4. Worry About Being “Salesy”

This is a big one for many advisors.

They don’t want to come across as being pushy or manipulative, and they confuse challenging prospects to do the right thing for themselves and being firm with being salesy or aggressive.

So, they hold back on having the firm sales conversations they need to be having.

Prospects and clients need to be challenged.

If you believe in your solution, challenge them to step up.

That’s not pushy; it’s being firm in your conviction.

5. Lack of Confidence in the Recommendation

Educating your clients is important, but they’ve sought you out for your recommendation.

If you’re hesitant about selecting a solution because you’re not really sure it’s the right solution for them, they’ll sense that and hold off on a decision.

It’s better to tell someone that there were three possible solutions, but you picked the one you believe was best for them and explain why it was the best.

Educating clients doesn’t mean explaining them all and asking them to choose among them.

6. Believing That It’s a “Closing” Problem

Finally, advisors still get hung up on the idea that they need a good closing.

But the “close” is almost never the place they lose the client.

A simple “Should we get the paperwork started?” can close every piece of business where the questions asked have been provocative, powerful and revealing.

Understand that sales is not manipulating people into buying your solution; it’s asking great questions so they decide for themselves they need what you’re offering.

To make sales easier and improve your closing ratio, work on any of these challenges that are holding you back.

Sandy SchusselSandy Schussel is a coach and practice development consultant for insurance and financial professionals. He has served as an MDRT Academy trainer, is on the faculty of the InsuranceProShop and is a preferred mentor with InsuranceWebX. He has served as the national sales training director for a broker-dealer and life insurance company. He is the author of two books, The High Diving Board, about overcoming fear and Become A Client Magnet, about attracting and keeping clients. Schussel‘s scheduling calendar is available here.

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