Always Be Yourself in Sales

I was talking to a friend the other day who runs his own business. He was asking me how he could get more sales. He asked me about how to cold call, reading scripts, and what to say to a prospect. As I started telling him he kept saying "I can't do that. I'm not a salesperson. I can't sell!" 
I stopped with my advice and asked him to answer two questions.
Why does he think people buy his services?
He answered "because they like me."
What does he do differently when talking to clients that make them like him?
"I'm just myself. I don't know any sales tricks and just am who I am with them."
Home run answers on both questions!

According to Tom Bird in his book Brilliant Selling, "people buy from people who are like themselves."
I've expanded that to "people buy from people who are like themselves, who they admire, or who they aspire to be." 
Think about times you made a major purchase of $1,000 or more.
You probably did some research on the item. Maybe visited one or two places that sold the item. Then when you decided to purchase, odds are there was something the salesperson did or said that you picked up on that made you feel comfortable in your decision to buy that item. Think about what they did that lead you to say to yourself that this is the right time and place to buy from. Notice this the next time you make a major purchase. Odds are something the salesperson did or said is something that is like you, something you agree with, or something you admire in others.

Good salespeople don't use tricks. They build rapport, ask a lot of questions, listen, and then ask for the sale when appropriate. At all times they are themselves. Sometimes they will instantly click with their prospect and get the sale, sometimes they don't click at all and lose the sale, and every spectrum in between. Odds are the closer your prospect is to being like you, liking you, or how much they want to be like you, directly corresponds to how easy the sale is made. 
Just be yourself. You'll close some sales and you'll lose some sales, however you'll always be true to yourself.

Give it a try!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy