Opera Selling
Hey everyone, if you haven’t heard there’s a surefire sales technique that’s been re-discovered. Everyone is doing it. It’s called OPERA SELLING.
Here’s how it works. You walk into a prospect or client and ask for the decision maker. Once they are identified you apply the one-word presentation technique. Just like a great opera singer, get your lungs full of air and then with the biggest voice you can conjure up say, “ME, ME, ME, MEEEE! (pause and repeat) ME, ME, ME, MEEEE!
It’s as simple as that. Just tell the prospect everything you can about yourself, your company, your hobbies, what you did last weekend, just tell them all the reasons that they should buy from you….ME, ME, ME, MEEEEE!
Do this and your prospect will with great joy tell you to LEAVE, LEAVE, LEAVE, LEAVE NOW. It seems to be a little-known fact that prospects and clients really no longer care what you want to tell them. They don’t care to hear all the reasons they should buy from you. What they want to know is what are you going to do for them based upon your understanding of their specific needs. How in the world can you ever solve a prospect or customers issues or challenges if you don’t know what they are? It’s like saying, here is what I can do, pick a couple if they fit!
I just don’t get it.
Clients and prospects are getting smart, as they should be. Their time is valuable, and they expect anyone selling anything to respect their time. I had a businessperson tell me recently that he now considered an “Opera” salesperson to be, and I quote, “Slimier than a bowl of old Jell-O!” I have been known to try to follow an Opera Salesperson into a prospect. While they tell, tell, tell, I will ask, ask, ask. And I will almost always get the business. I was listening in to an Opera Salesperson one day and he came in and “sang” to the prospect, and when he was done, the prospect looked at him and simply said, “So What?” Opera Man said, “What do you mean?” and the client said, “Clean your ears out, SO WHAT? What’s in it for me?” It was sad. Opera Man had no idea what to do next and he was then summarily asked to leave.
It’s really fairly easy. No matter how good you or your company is, none of your attributes means a thing to a prospect if they do not fit the prospects needs. And, the only way that you’ll ever find out what their needs are is to ask. Then, shut up and listen. What that prospect or client wants to hear is just those specific attributes that you might have that can help them solve a need. That’s it.
A good opening technique that I often use is to suggest to my prospect that “I’m not right for everyone, so, can we take a few minutes so I can ask you a few questions so the we can discover if it would make any sense for us to do business together? If what we learn makes sense, let’s talk, if not we’ll save us both some time. Can we do that now?”
With this one statement you’re saying boatloads to the prospect. You’re saying that you respect his time. You’re saying that you want to understand his needs and that you are willing to listen. And, more importantly you’re eliminating his fear of being sold. You’re inviting them to work with you to establish a value or not of working together.
The only way for you to ever establish your long-term value with a prospect or a client is to understand their needs from their point of view. When you learn to ASK, ASK, ASK, ASK, you will always WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN!
Your encore will always be a long-term client relationship.