Recently I attended a retail forum and after delivering the closing keynote, of which recognizing and rewarding appropriate behaviour was a key message in my talk, I was invited backstage to recognize and award a retailer of the year.

I was thrilled about being invited to do that, as I have never done that before. However, the awards were randomly passed out to a variety of business personalities, and not necessarily in a way that reflected their character or what they stand for.

Well, I opened mine to read what I was awarding. It was discount retailer of the year. Immediately, I told the backstage organizer that I cannot award this, and that created a wave of problems for them and the other business personalities, which was not my intention.

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Traditional sales training has led us to believe that we need to convince prospects to buy our products or services. They have also used the word influence prospects into buying. These two words are very negative and will bring you negative sales results. It is time for a non-traditional, results oriented, approach. That approach is engaging customers to buy.

Think about it, do you like to be convinced or influenced? I suspect, neither.

How do you feel after you have been convinced of a service or influenced by a sales approach or even sold on a product?

Does buyer’s remorse set in? Did you make the right decision? Are you happy you made the purchase, or are you concerned about the decision you made?

Whenever we are convinced or influenced to do something, buyer’s remorse and regret will always follow. Is that something you want your prospect to experience with YOU?

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In order to succeed in sales you need to do the opposite of selling.

You must be buyer focused to attract, engage and empower buyers to buy.

Without buyers there are no sales.

Bottom line: no sales = no revenue = negative bottom line = out of business

Sales now revolve around buyers. Buyers are everywhere. What are you doing to help they buy?

First, are you product, company, self or buyer-focused?

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Selling is no longer about you, your product, your services or your solutions; therefore, stop selling and start attracting, engaging and empowering buyers to buy.

Without buyers there are no sales.

Bottom line: no sales, no revenue.

Sales cycles now revolve around the new economy of buyers.

In previous articles we discussed the numerous competencies that sales professionals possess. The most important traits are human interaction, communication, and relationship building.

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