Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling
06.11.2009
Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling
Never was there a more quintessential sales book that Tom Hopkins’ How to Master the Art of Selling. This book, without question, presents several cheesy salesman’s one liners: If they say yes. (“Yes, we own a boat.”) “Oh, fine. May I ask you what type and make it is?” Wow, if someone said that on a cold call today, the response could be very ugly (by saying “may I ask,” only invites the “no” response, and then where are you?) A hint to all salespeople, stay away from closed ended questions!
Yet, parallel to this Tom Hopkins offers terrific ideas that enable you to utilize phrases that will make your prospect more at ease and ultimately look upon you as a trusted consultant to their business, or to them personally. This is a genuine capability great salespeople have, quite simply they advise from the heart, with honesty and clarity, and at the same time can use language and phrases properly to make their point.
The idea in the book is that great salespeople lead, they do not push, and I believe that is very true. In today’s world everything, and I mean everything, is commoditized–yes websites, which we sell, are a great example. Many of our prospects are looking for the best price, but at the same time, do they really want to sacrifice value? Of course not. Therefore, the key virtue that is extolled in How to Master the Art of Selling are guiding the prospect to the understanding of how what you offer, is specifically valuable to them (monetizing your product or service).
Tom Hopkins is big on preparation. Know what your “Rejection Words” are and replace them with “Go Ahead Terms,” be aware that a No now, is only one step closer to a yes, all you have to understand is how many ‘no’s’ it takes to get to a ‘yes’ and you will thank someone when they say no–I love that and have believed it for years!
Digging into the chapters this book enables the reader to be very clear on what to do in certain situations, though it’s your responsibility to sift through things that really don’t apply to 2009–sorry but if you try to Ben Franklin close someone they will see that coming a mile away!
I recommend reviewing and re-reviewing the following chapters:
Chapter 4: Creating the Sales Climate
Chapter 13: The Objection Connection–Really read this!
Chapter 14: Closing is Sweet Success–Test closes is great.
In this environment and this economy sales is very difficult and prospects have little time or patience for sales games, ultimately what the salesperson must make clear is how their product or service will help their prospect:
“Mr. Prospect, I understand the difficulties of today’s economy, and that investing in a new website at this time may seem like a poor business decision, and if you look at it as an expense instead of an investment, perhaps it would be, but a properly designed and coded website can drive new business right to your door, and that’s what we all want, isn’t it?”
I highly recommend Tom Hopkins’ How to Master the Art of Selling, but use it wisely and learn the skill of listening to your prospects and working with them to find the best solution to their problems…
Next time let’s discuss proper listening.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the review; please let me know what you think, I’m interested in all opinions!
Preston Ehrler
