Monday, November 19, 2007

So You Think Your an Entrepreneur? part 1

You’re A Salesperson!

Our life is made up of a series of “sales presentations”. Sales may not be your gig, but if you’re the boss you’re making presentations everyday. Be it a pitch to your Board, announcing a change to employees, selling an idea to your spouse, or just trying to win others over to your point of view – you need to sharpen you sword to win in life.

People support solutions that they help create, so involve them by allowing your employees or bosses to participate with questions or ideas. It goes without saying that to not involve key people is risky, because messages can be misunderstood. Use lots of open-ended questions in your presentation to draw out the silent type.


Preparation is a key to success. Prepare your listeners to what’s coming during or before your presentation. Give your listeners a brief overview of what you'll be going over. Make pre-meeting contacts with those invited by email, phone, or in person.

Do your research! People who make it look easy and are effective presenters have hidden weapons. You need stats to back up your ideas, and they have an imaginary bag full of stories, examples, jokes, and ice-breakers to use when needed.

The next thing you must do is to explain “why?” The single most powerful thing you can do to convince your buyer of something is to give a good reason why they should buy what your selling, and believe what you say. most importantly is to have the utmost integrity, so that you believe in your self first. People want and need a clear “WIIFM” – “what’s in it for me?” – to be able to react positively to what you want them to do. It’s extremely important that you deliver a vision of features, advantages, & benefits. Hearing the “why” won’t automatically generate a “yes” to your proposition, but it’ll open the door for receptivity to your idea. In our business you have to take away any objections that they may have. We always present our properties in top-notch, clean condition.

Life is a sales job from beginning to end. From the moment that we seek how to get approval as children, winning friends at school, getting our first girlfriend/boyfriend, getting our first job, getting engaged and married, achieving our goals, and anything else you can think of in between.

The real key to selling is to believe in yourself. I started in commission furniture sales. Later that transformed into mortgages. Now it's getting sellers to believe in the offer I make, contractors to bid against each other, and buyers to understand the value we offer them. We’re selling ourselves or our ideas all along the way. Who said you weren’t a salesperson?

Dylan Tanaka
http://www.reiaofmacomb.com/
http://www.oaklandbusinessforums.com/
http://www.prettymihomes.com/
http://www.weoffertoday.com/
http://www.wealthinrei.com/