Think about the way you sell, and the way you present your product or service.

How many times do you think you use the word “we”?
My bet is hundreds.

How many times SHOULD you use the word “we”?
My answer is ZERO.

Everything you do or say is in “we” format – especially if you have a marketing department.

Does the customer care about you or themselves? Obvious answer. So why do you “we-we” all over them? They don’t care about you. UNLESS you can help them.

The key to mastering any kind of sales is switching statements about you, how great you are, and what you do, to statements about them, and how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service

HERE’S THE SECRET: Take the word “we” and delete it. Delete it from your slides, your literature, and ESPECIALLY from your sales presentation. You can use “I” but you can’t use “we.”

HERE’S THE POWER: When you stop using “we,” you have to substitute it for the word “you” or “they” and say things in terms of the customer. How they win, how they benefit, how they produce, how they profit, how they will be served, and how they have piece of mind.

“We” is for selling. “You” is for buying.

MANDATE FOR UNDERSTANDING: Go through your entire presentation and record it. Listen to it actively — which means take notes. Count the amount of times you use the word “we.” Take out the “we,” and begin to make value statements instead of selling statements.

Here’s the reality in plain English:
1. The buyer, the prospect, and the customer expects you to have knowledge of their stuff, not just your stuff. To transfer that knowledge, the prospect needs to understand and agree with your ideas, feel your passion, feel your belief, and feel your sincerity beyond the hype of your sales pitch.
2. You have to know their industry, not just your product.
3. You have to know their business, not just your product.
4. You have to know what’s new and what’s next, not just your product.
5. You have to know the current trends, not just your product.
6. You have to know their marketing, not just your product.
7. You have to know their productivity, not just your product.
7.5 You have to know their profit, not just your product.

Are you getting it yet?

Here are some classic examples of we-we thinking:
• We have to educate the customer. Do you really think any customer on the planet WANTS your education? I can just picture your top 25 prospects sitting around doing nothing and saying, “Boy, I sure hope those people over at Acme come over here and educate us, ’cause we’re pretty stupid.”
• You feel like you have to tell the prospect all about you, your company, and your product. Three things that are guaranteed to put any prospect to sleep.
• We offer solutions. Hey Albert Einstein, do you think I’m just sitting here all day doing everything wrong, HOPING that you will come along and rescue me with your “solution.” are an insult to a prospect. Answers are better, and more partnership and relationship driven.
• You compare yourself to the competition, rather than differentiate from them.
You’re still selling your features and benefits. More we-we. I don’t want features; I want value. I don’t want benefits; I want value.
• You have a PowerPoint presentation that brags, rather that proves. This will not put a prospect to sleep. It will put them in a DEEP sleep.

What were you thinking? Oh, you were thinking we-we.

Assuming they have a genuine need or strong desire, all you need to make a sale is:
1. Answers they need.
2. Ideas they benefit from.
3. How you differentiate from the others.
4. Value they perceive.
4.5 Trust they perceive as a result of all the other elements being in place.

Meanwhile the customer is qualifying you. They are forming a perception of you as you present. They are evaluating their risk of buying and doing business with you. They are formulating barriers. They are aware of their urgency of need, or not. They are doing a mental comparison between you and the others. They are thinking, and their thoughts will become your reality.

RISK REALITY: In sales, it’s not what you say, it’s how the customer or prospect perceives what you say. If the prospect perceives that it’s all about you, then there’s going to be a higher chance for unspoken risk and a lower sense of urgency on their part. If they perceive the presentation is about them, they understand it, and they need what you’re offering, then their barriers and risks will be lowered or removed. Paving the path to purchase.

There’s an old song titled, “Take the ‘L’ out of lover and it’s OVER” from the early ’80s by a group called the MOTELS.

Paraphrase: Take the “WE” out of selling, or it’s over. For you.

You rarely use the sales tips you’re given, even though they’re obvious and may be better than the way you’re selling. REASON? You’re comfortable with moderate success, and don’t want to chance losing what you have.

The classic example is my tip: Cold calling is a waste of time. You’re calling on people you don’t know, interrupting their day, manipulating your way in, and IF you get through to an actual decision maker, odds are you’ll say the wrong thing anyway. “If I could just have a few minutes of your time, I can save you some money.” Pathetic.

First of all, real leaders don’t want to save money, they want to make a profit. Second of all, rejection 98 out of 100 times is depressing, demoralizing, degrading, and not to mention giving you a bad rap as a rep.

REMEDY: Earn and generate referrals. It’s a much higher percentage sale, much more respected in its approach, and more likely to breed a relationship – and another referral.

NOTE WELL: Cold calls do work, just not that well. Two or three out of a hundred. Referrals work 50 out of a 100. Hello!

Seems obvious to me, yet cold calls persist.

So let me give you a few more pieces of sales gold. See which ones you can cash in on…

SALES TIP: Never call on purchasing or procurement. Only talk to people who tell purchasing what to do. Thousands of salespeople start with someone in purchasing because it’s the easiest point of entry. All purchasing people want to do is cut costs and reduce vendor profits in the process. HINT: CEOs tell purchasing agents what to do. Convince the big boss of your value, and the little boss in purchasing will follow his orders like a puppy.

SALES TIP: Always leave a message. When salespeople ask me, “Should I leave a message?” the answer is always the same. “Yes!” The main reason salespeople do not leave a message is fear that they will not get the call returned and/or that they have nothing of value to say. The reason they have nothing of value to say is that they are completely unprepared to engage the customer with anything of value. The reason that they’re unprepared is that they are unwilling to invest the time it takes to get ready.

SALES TIP: Ask for the sale every time. Salespeople go all through their presentation and the customer says, “Sounds great. Can you send me a proposal?” Salesperson says, “Yes” and leaves without asking for the sale. Happens every time. Salespeople should walk in with a proposal. Salespeople should ask, “If the proposal is exactly what we discussed today, will you accept it?” And finally, if you, the salesperson, do leave saying okay to the proposal, never leave without a firm appointment for presenting the proposal in person and finalizing the deal.

SALES TIP: Start your presentation with engaging, emotional questions, not a bunch of self-serving crap about you and your product. It’s likely your customer already has a pretty decent working knowledge about your product and your company. Your goal is not to educate. Your goal is to engage. And this is most easily done by asking emotional-based questions. One that I always ask is, “Where did you grow up?” This is a very emotional question. It immediately brings back thoughts of early childhood, siblings, parents, and hometowns. Oftentimes it’s different than the town you’re making a presentation in. Oftentimes it will reveal commonalities and similar interests. That one simple question will guide you to a beginning point of a relationship, and can easily be segued into brief customer history. (How did you get from there to here?) Add questions like “What made you choose this career?” or “Why did you choose to get involved in this business?” If you feel comfortable enough to ask deeper questions like “What are you most proud of?” or “How did that event impact your success?” you can develop solid rapport. Taking an interest in the other person is key to them taking an interest in you.

SALES TIP: Friendly beats professional every time. It’s always interesting to me to see the word professional when referring to salespeople or sales training. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather deal with a friendly person than a professional person, because I can get along with a friendly person, I can’t always get along with a professional person. And I want to like the people that I do business with. There’s a subtlety. You can act professionally, but when you speak, it should always be in a friendly manner. Be conversational rather than contrived – to me friendly is conversational. Professional is contrived.

There’s a few tips you can use. Will you use them? You decide.