Do you want to be in pictures? Your sales prowess may not lead to a stellar film career like Al Pacino's, but you can learn from his sales techniques. In the film Glengarry Glen Ross, four salesmen compete for two days to see who is the most productive salesperson. Pacino's Ricky Roma pushes through the more aggressive sales techniques to show that he is a strong salesperson who's a fit for the modern era of marketing.
The Danger of the Easy Lead
In the film, the salesmen are looking for those gold-plated leads that just drop into your hands. All you need to do is make the call and close the deal. In real life, most of your leads won't just come to you and close the sale. You'll have some motivated buyers, but seeking out only the easy leads is a way to make yourself frustrated, since most leads require some work. When you search for leads that require a small amount of your time, you're not really engaging with your customers. That engagement can be fruitful for your customer and for you. When you choose to engage as Al Pacino does, to ask questions, and to negotiate, you'll see that many of your leads can become sales. You'll hone your sales techniques, and gradually your sales will become easier as you develop your toolkit.
The Challenges of Push Marketing
Always be closing: does this sound familiar? In Glengarry Glen Ross, the salesmen are in a panic. They must make sales to prove that they are the best, and they must do it quickly. Hopefully you have more time to prove yourself, but you may feel the need to push toward any lead to show that you're making progress.
This push to close sales can lead to pushy marketing techniques. While these techniques sometimes work, they may turn customers off from a long term relationship with your business. Also, when you push instead of building a relationship, you might miss other opportunities that your customer would like to share with you. Could you advance your sales still further or take your customer relationship in a new and valuable direction? When you focus on understanding your customer as Al Pacino does, you can find out.
Asking Good Questions
How do you begin to understand your leads? Vigorous pushing for a sale isn't necessarily the way to do it. What's coming out of your mouth is important, but what's coming out of your lead's mouth is even more important. Sales is not just about following a script. It's about asking questions that help your leads reveal more about themselves and their needs. By asking questions as Pacino does, you'll close your sales. You may not do it with lightning speed, but you'll do it consistently and well, and it's likely that your customers will return to you since you've built a lasting relationship.
Easy leads don't always mean good sales: it's more fruitful to build a relationship with your clients.
Building a Relationship
In Glengarry Glen Ross, Ricky Roma is successful because his relationship with the client comes before the sales pitch. Whether you're working in digital sales or have a storefront, your customer relationships must also come first. If you have a website, provide content to your customers and poll them, asking them about their needs. Question by question and task by task, you can build on your relationship with your leads.
Learn how to build relationships and pull your customers in. Digital Inbound can help you create inbound marketing strategies that will earn you a star on the marketing walk of fame.
