YOU SELL YOURSELF, YOUR INTEGRITY
THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK AND ETHICS
"Selling is the art of creating a desire in the mind of a buyer and satisfying that desire so that both buyer and seller benefit." Now this may seem a bit odd fashioned for many of today's photographers without a clue, but if you can't sell yourself, your product and services, you might as well stop now.
If you don't believe a successful business is based on the tenets of a good product, priced fairly, promoted professionally and delivered on time exceeding expectations. Quit now, and save the grief for another day.
The Selling Problem ... Is All About You! —
You are the source of the problem, within that source is the solution to the same problem. Selling has much to do with fear ... but not simply the fear of rejection. More specifically, selling has to do with the fear of failure.
CONQUERING FEAR OF FAILURE — Seeds of success are in every failure we experience. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained happens to be true.” FEAR is crippling because we see FAILURE as an embarrassment: As something unnatural. But failure is quite normal and not at all something to be ashamed of.
METHODOLOGY OF THE CONFIDENT SELLING — Take a Personality Inventory of yourself, how are you looked upon by your peers, your self, your work, your assets, experiences and ultimately success all add up to your self concept. Inputs come from parents, friends and others, authority figures, limitations intelligence and fulfillment. Once we add up who we are, we know what direction to go in, but first we have to dispel some myths.
CONFIDENT PEOPLE ARE N0T! —
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF FAILURES?
Failures are lazy without realizing the importance (at
times) of being lazy thus Idle time is the most creative period for man wasted. Failures confuse the difference between SELLING and
BUYING. A seller who SELLS controls the transaction and loses the maximum
benefit of the sale; a seller who lets the buyer BUY allows the customer to
control the transaction, thus gaining the maximum benefit of the sale. Failures don’t repeat their successes - consider them a matter of
luck. Instead, they concentrate on what they do incorrectly rather than
correctly.
BUILD A CONFIDENCE MODEL —
ADD : + ASPIRATIONS + OPPORTUNITIES + REALITY — RISKS = REWARDS
TAKE THE WORRY AND FRUSTRATION OUT OF SELLING — GOOD WORDS
RIGHT — Attitude toward your client
FAIR — Understanding your clients needs
VERY — Persuasive to a point of seduction
GOOD — Motivation to handle objections
SELLING 101 - MORE MYTHS OF SELLING
People must be forced, manipulated, hood-winked, into buying. The salesman
feels the customer wants to buy. He feels a vulnerability in the customer to
sales pressure and, therefore, acts accordingly.
WRONG: People don’t actually want to buy;
but they want to be sold.
MYTH - Customer wants to control the sales transaction.
TRUE! He wants to think that he bought
(customer-oriented selling) and not that he was sold (sales-oriented selling).
That he has been educated (by the salesperson) to make an intelligent selection
or choice.
MYTH
- Low pressure vs. High pressure: LOW wins!
TRUE! As a more educated and
discriminating buying public dominates the marketplace, the pendulum inevitably
swings more and more towards low pressure selling and away from the more
obvious and less satisfying high pressure selling.
MYTH
- Problem of selling is the fickleness of the customer.
NOT TRUE! The salesperson is the problem (and
not the customer) as he invariably falsely assumes the definition of the
selling situation. Simply put he prejudges.
THE WEDDING BUSINESS —
"This is a two-part business, part technician-shooter, and part
business person, you have to be good at both, or you will fail".
"And for some they'll find it easy, and for some well,
even a Monkey can do it better”.
WHAT MAKES WINNERS?
IS IT ABILITY? - I’m afraid not. A lot of people on Skid Row have tremendous
ability and potential.
Is it AMBITION? - Probably not. For a lot of very ambitious individuals manage to alienate most everyone and therefore plan most of their own destruction.
Is it ATTITUDE? - Most likely. Attitude, after all, is a state of if your will. We talk of positive and negative attitude. Show me success without this attribute. They simply do not exist. No one can survive in this competitive world without seeing things as they are; and dealing with them precisely on realistic terms. To do otherwise is tantamount to entertaining suicide. Many of us nurture negative attitudes ... about ourselves, our customers, our friends and family ... about life in general as well as in particular ... and wonder why we are not making satisfactory progress in life.
Is it BEAUTY? - Although successful people have a tendency to look better longer thanks to the science of cosmetics and cosmetic surgery, they are not more beautiful.
Is it BRAINS? - Not likely. Just as ability is not exclusive to the haves; neither is genius the common domain of a certain class or caste. Quite possibly, however, the achievers are more inclined to do more with what they have. That is, they are achievers for the most part.
Is it BEHAVIOR? - Winners behave like successful people. Like the self-fulfilling prophet, they get what they EXPECT ... success. The realization of such expectations builds upon itself.
Is it CONNECTIONS? - Too often we hear that “so-&-so” was promoted because he has an “in” with the boss. Many years ago there was a saying, “IT ISN’T WHAT YOU KNOW, BUT WHO YOU KNOW THAT COUNTS? Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, many still subscribe to this belief. But just for openers, even if it is true, what does it do to your ATTITUDE and to your BEHAVIOR? That’s right. It neutralizes you ... and drives you deeper into the pit which has become the home of the have-nots.
Is it COMPETENCE? - The idea that the haves are more competent than the have-nots, ask yourself if your boss is more competent than you. he is at the highest level he has achieved and do you feel you can go higher.
Is it CONFIDENCE? - Confidence is one of those things a degree won't help you with. It is a state of mind; it is a sense of self-esteem ... a sense of self-worth. We all know people who have it. We also know that they usually have so much of it that they give us some of their overflow.
Is it DETERMINATION? - Winners are determined enough. Losers can equally as determined. The clue here is that the have-nots lack the correct ATTITUDE which results in non-productive BEHAVIOR because they fail to generate the necessary CONFIDENCE.
Is it DIRECTION? - Many of us lack a single direction: We are swallowed by distractions such as hobbies, scouting, school functions, church committees, etc. Notice that all of these activities are considered socially desirable and therefore are of merit. BUT problems arise that these activities frequently represent a SUBSTITUTE for lowered goals.
Is it DEPENDABILITY?
Winners are frequently more predictably
dependable and reliable. The haves are always self guided and in control of
themselves. They do what they do not because something tells them to do
things but because they HAVE TO DO IT and know it is for themselves.
Is it DESIRE?
Yes, indeed, it is. The haves operate with a
capitalized DESIRE. They are driven to achieve, to make their mark,
which goes beyond the mere dollars and cents they may earn.
Is it EXCELLENCE?
Surely, excellence is demonstrated in the work
of many haves. But the same can be said of the have-nots as well.
Interesting enough, the haves put a VALUE on their excellence which is mysteriously
missing with the have-nots. It is not uncommon for the have-nots to GIVE AWAY
their excellence because they have such a poor understanding of its
worth.
Remember the days when professional athletes had
to take second jobs to play their sport. It was a sacrifice to be a
professional athlete. Not any more. Someone got wise and realized that the
public appreciates and is willing to support demonstrated athletic excellence.
Is it EGO?
Again, ego is a wonderful tool of both the haves
and have-nots. The healthiness of the ego, however, is more the question.
A healthy ego would never expect me to believe I can buy something “for
nothing.” Then too, a healthy ego would expect me to have an equally healthy
ego and therefore would not insult my intelligence. Moreover, a healthy ego is
neither a TAKER nor a GIVER, but a SHARER.
Is it ENTHUSIASM?
The winners demonstrate a zest for life
which makes them eternally young. They realize that age is not chronology
but psychology. They believe in life, in people ... but most of all, they
believe in possibility thinking, as Dr. Robert Shuller would put it.
DEF: "Enthusiasm" from the Greek “enthcos” or “the toil
within.”
Is it FREEDOM?
You might be quick to point out that winners
have so much more freedom; they can do what they want, when they want to; and
of course the not so fortunate cannot do the same. What do they do, they
consume themselves in mental fortresses.
Is it FORESIGHT?
Winners see the picture of things to come
because they see the picture of things that were before. They know that
success is a habit; learn from their experiences; that it involves discipline
and denial; that moderation is where it is at!
They also enjoy victory but don't dwell in it. They prepare for the winter or the hurricanes of life. their thinking is on target. Adversity is a challenge and not necessarily debilitating. Quite the converse. They plan their work and work their plan. They don’t reach for the moon. They reach for the sun. OK, they'll take the moon if thats all there is to offer.
Aug 30, 2009, 11:54 AM
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CONFIDENT PEOPLE
• They are not more intelligent. But they may be better informed.
• They have used their intelligence, then, to acquire the
information they desired ... which in turn made them more confident.
• And this has nothing to do with talent. But they do appear
to know their “buried assets” well, and to understand the limits of these
assets.
• They will do what they can do and will avoid that which makes
them look foolish.
• They are not more human. Nor do they see themselves as better
than others.
• They simply realize the futility in expecting the impossible,
thriving instead on their “human-ness.”
• Moreover, they recognize that all they can give life is “their
best shot” ... and they let it go at that. BUT they tend to
take themselves far less seriously than others take themselves. They
display a “sense of balance".
• Confident people differ very little from their unsure
counterparts. Confidence is actually the positive of the negative fear. Therein
lies the balance. It is a state of mind, a mind-set, if you will, which
nourishes their being and sustains their efforts when others might be prone to
quit.
• Confidence, too, represents the harnessing of their creativity
rather than being consumed by their drive forces.
• People, confident and unsure alike, share essentially a similar
intellectual potential and talent.
• A healthy ego relates to a firm grasp of reality. A sales person
deals with people as they really are, exactly as they are. And success is
within grasp if he or she is who they are.
• Thats why the first two sections try to help you find yourself
and honest answers come from honest pursuit. We all have likes and
dislikes ; what we understand and accept; how we cope with these things;
including biases.
• Selling is reactive. We have prepared answers for all the usual
questions. Selling means having the presence to know what the customer wants
and is pursuing. The confident salesman has a sensitivity to the
customer and his needs.
• But too fine a sensitivity can be debilitating without an ego.
Rejection is nearly immobilizing and being confident is the armor that turns
this into opportunity. A fine sensitivity, then, is a healthy part of the
customer-salesman relationship.
Aug 30, 2009, 12:30 PM
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