Selling without “being a salesman,” i.e. without seeming pushy, is extremely important to master if you want to be successful in business. Many companies might be using pushy sales or marketing tactics without even realizing it.
Many of the sales strategies that used to work are out-of-date and perceived negatively these days. With so many sales emails being sent out, people have built a mental barrier, so interacting with them in a positive way is vital to not being pushed away. Out-of-date strategies includes things like pitching your product instead of the solution, giving them big of an initial sales pitch, adding too much pressure, trying to sell to everyone, and sending too many outreach emails (or calls).
In order to avoid these pitfalls and draw people in instead of pushing them away, try incorporating these things into your sales/marketing strategies:
Slow Down
Start by just building a connection; this is becoming more important than ever. Be their friend and don’t overwhelm them. Once someone begins interacting with your brand, small-talking through compliments or asking questions to learn about them helps build this necessary rapport. Don’t be fake about it, either. People can spot that from a mile away.
People love talking about themselves, and when they feel heard they’ll see your brand as more likable. They’ll feel more comfortable and that means they’ll be more receptive when you start talking about your solution.
You will also now know more about them and be able to customize your pitch to meet their specific needs. This brings us nicely to the next tip—segmenting.
Segment
Have you ever gotten an email campaign and wondered, “Why was this sent to me? I have no use for this.” Wouldn’t you rather get an email about something you actually care about?
Blasting everyone with the exact same message makes no sense. It confuses people and makes them tune out your business. Successful marketers segment their leads so each person feels they are receiving a personalized, relevant message.
What is email segmenting? Email segmenting is the act of taking a database of email subscribers, usually leads/prospects, and breaking it into smaller groups so everyone gets a more personalized experience.
You could segment your leads in so many different ways so take some time to think about what makes sense for you. For example, many of our financial clients segment their financial advisors based on the dollar amount of the assets they manage (AUM). You could also segment by gender, job title, age, location, preference, purchase history, and so much more.
This enables you to send out individuals offers, give them content they’ll find more valuable, and decrease unsubscribe rates all from this simple strategy.
Segmenting is also a great way to learn about your target market. You’ll be able to watch trends and learn which segments are responding the best to your marketing. That’s extremely valuable knowledge so you can really get to know your client base.
If you’re segmenting based on what they have purchased from you, that’s pretty straightforward. Gaining other demographic data about your leads can be a little trickier. You may need to add a question or two on your website contact form or lead generation form to get the information you need.
You could also ask them to select which topics interest them most and segment them that way. Quizzes are another way to gain data for segmenting—as long as they get value out of the quiz, they won’t mind giving a little info in return.
Ask Questions
If you’re trying to pitch your product/service by telling someone everything there is about it—all of the benefits you offer—that’s not always going to work. It can be overwhelming and they may not care about all of it. But how do you know what to focus on?
Ask your prospects questions. Things like…
- What do they do?
- What features are they looking for?
- What are their goals / how do you see our product fitting in?
- Who is their current provider/vendor and what concerns do they have about them?
- Are they the main decision-maker or are there others involved?
Get some insight first, then explain how you solve their specific problems or meet their needs. Altering your conversation based on the prospect’s unique answers also helps you avoid sounding overly scripted.
If you have to pitch to someone without really getting the chance to ask questions first, cover the essentials to get their interest while not going overboard. It may take some trial and error to get the right opening message so playing around with this will help you learn.
People won’t remember the precise things you tell them, anyways. They will remember the way you make them feel, and by asking them questions, you are also portraying that you care. You WANT to learn about them because you legitimately want to help them.
Some of these questions may surface some of their concerns about your product too, and that’s great. You can use this information in two primary ways:
- You can address that prospect’s unique situation/problems
- You can improve your marketing over time by subtly addressing the most common concerns through your marketing message
While you do this, remember not to progress too quickly. Make sure they don’t still have questions or concerns before you give them a call-to-action or try to move on to the next step. Take time to build a relationship and address everything they ask you. Be friendly, but don’t try too hard to be likable; that feels unnatural for everyone. Being genuine is way better.
In some situations, you might feel like your product doesn’t match with what they’re looking for, and that’s okay too. It’s better to be upfront about it than to let them purchase and be unhappy. They may not become paying customers, but at least they won’t have any resentment.
Avoid Certain Phrases
There are some words and phrases that aren’t good to use in sales or marketing. Here’s a few of them, and what you can say instead:
“To be honest…” or “trust me”. This phrase implies that you haven’t been upfront. They’ll think…wait, were you not being honest with me before? Should I not be trusting them? Avoid using these phrases at all costs when you’re talking with prospects or clients. Instead, just be honest with them and be trustworthy. No alternative phrase is needed!
“Buy”. Using the word buy immediately feels pushy. It creates tension because it makes them think about spending money. Your alternative phrase depends on what you’re selling. You could use the phrase “sign up” or “get access,” or a plethora of others.
“Contract”. No one likes contracts. They seem scary; long documents with binding legal consequences… *shudder*. Most people don’t want to commit that much. Use the word “agreement” instead; it’s much friendlier.
“Submit”. A lot of marketers use this word at the end of sign-up forms. Its definition is: “to accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person.” Many website builders have “submit” as the default button text on forms; it’s a negative word that’s overused. Use alternatives like “download now” or “send message”.
A few other words/phrases that seem pushy are:
- Hurry
- Guarantee
- Right now
- I haven’t heard back from you
- What if I said you could…
Focus on the solution, not the product.
Marketing should always be about benefiting the customer. Instead of focusing only on what your product is (“features”), put a heavy emphasis on how your product helps others. What direct value with someone get once they have it?
This ties in directly with asking questions. If you don’t ask questions, you won’t know what problems your product will solve for that person. Once you get a good feeling for the types of problems consumers are having when they initiate a conversation with your company, you can apply that to a more widespread marketing strategy.
Learn from the most common ways your product is helping people, and use that in your marketing. A great example of this is Carrot. They provide fertility benefits for employers to offer to employees. On their website, they outline industry trends and the direct benefits they are seeing.
Here are screenshots of these fantastic sections on their website:
If you’re interested in learning more about selling in a way that solves problems and other helpful sales techniques that aren’t pushy, watch or listen to Cesar Rodriguez in his YouTube video hosted by Attraction Marketing Biz. We found his video especially insightful.
Contact our team with any questions or if you’re looking for help enhancing your marketing or sales efforts!
