What have I bitten off? Following on from how to be better at selling (yourself, not just a product), I’m aware that I could easily write a book on the subject as opposed to a blog posting. So I’ll attempt to get straight to the juice…

Here is my personal list of required skills and considerations for the art of sales, be that selling yourself (it’s rare not to have to sell yourself before the product anyway) or a product or service.

• Be honest at all times. No matter how good you think you are at bullshitting, we are all like loud speakers to the unconscious mind, which is able to capture millions of bits of information every second. People will get a gut feeling about you if you’re anything but 100% truthful.
• Develop and retain great rapport through matching and mirroring (particularly micro -muscle movements) and voice tone, pace and volume.
• Don’t rush, build trust both in the moment and long term; planting seeds for the future as opposed to wanting to pick and eat all of the fruit now.
• Train yourself to have great acuity. Being able to read your client’s response is key to knowing how and where to direct your pitch next.
• Know your outcome and always remain flexible. You want the girl or guy at the bar, but if they’re not showing signs of interest, your fixation on the goal may lead you to miss the mention of their single friend.
• Have superb knowledge of your product or service. That includes your self of course. My friend and mentor Daryll Scott often upon meeting teen-agers for the first time will ask them, “what can you do” as opposed to “how do you do”. It’s surprising how many of them don’t have an answer!
• Provide great after care and follow up. Many of my new clients think that I am a stalker in the first few weeks of working with me. I call, text and email on a regular basis after our sessions to ensure that the interventions we do in my office are followed through with and adjusted to in the real world.
• Know your prospective clients needs and values. Or better still know the needs and values of your friends, partners and loved ones. Once you do, you will always be able to offer them one of the most important of human requirements: acknowledgement and respect.
• Imagine how great you’ll feel when you begin to learn persuasive language patterns? Relax, this is not the point where I suggest that you’ll benefit immensely by letting me train you or your team in these patterns. I had a client who once told his friend, “ you can really make a lot more sales if you let mike weeks train your sales team”.  If I wasn’t so humble, id say, he was right – right? Yeah, persuasive language patterns. How effective would you like them to be for you? Email me and let me know? I’m just curious.

Ah, I almost forgot. Selling can and possibly should be fun. Don’t take it so seriously, unless of course you’re selling your belongings so that you can come and be coached by me.