One of the greatest fears entrepreneurs face when selling is being too pushy. Nobody wants to come off like one of those obnoxious salespeople.
You know what I’m talking about. Those people who are more interested in shoving their product or service down your throat than they are in actually figuring out what you need. Despite your protestations, they push and push until you finally find a way to escape from the conversation.
You know that nobody likes dealing with that type of person. So when you’re selling, you’re deathly afraid of being that person. Let’s face it. Selling is hard. Really hard.
Getting someone to buy your product or service can create a lot of pressure. You want to make sure that you’re approaching each prospect the right way. You don’t want to be too pushy, but you also don’t want lose sales because you’re too afraid to close. It’s a like walking a tightrope.
You have to strike the right balance between getting your point across and not pushing your prospect into a corner. Fortunately, this is much easier than it sounds.
There are easy ways to sell and techniques you can use to ease into the sale rather than rushing into it. Below is a list of actionable easy ways to sell and tips you can use to enhance your sales process and ultimately close more deals.
1. Remove the Pressure
This is one of the most important tips on this list, but for many, it’s the hardest. You’re trying to build a successful business. In order to do this, you need clients.
Not only that, you might depend on your business as your primary source of income. Because of this, it’s easy to feel pressured to get each prospect to buy from you. This pressure can cause you to make mistakes. It can make you rush straight into your sales pitch rather than taking the time to get to know you prospect.
However, it’s important to realize that this pressure can cause you to become that pushy, aggressive person when you’re trying to sell. In the end, this will cause you to lose more than you win.
It requires you to change your mindset. Instead of believing that you absolutely must get this sale right now, understand that in the end, it’s more effective to work your sales process until it’s time to close.
2. Take Your Time
One of the best easy ways to sell while not being pushy is to take your time. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is rushing straight to the sales pitch. It’s like asking someone to marry after the first date!
If you come off like you’re desperate for the sale, it will turn your prospect off. Remember, you want your prospect to be as comfortable as possible.
This is why it’s so important to develop your own sales process. A sales process helps you organize your sales interactions by giving you steps to follow before you actually close the deal.
Your sales process should include the following:
- Introduction: How will you begin the sales interaction? What’s your elevator pitch?
- Needs Discovery: What does your customer need? What are their pain points? How can your company help?
- Solution: This where you present your solution. Make sure you’re addressing their needs and pain points.
- The Close: Make sure there’s no further objections and ask for the business.
Your sales process should include these four points. When you follow a viable sales process, you can find a way to provide the solution your prospect needs.
3. Let Your Prospect Do the Talking
If you follow this sales tip, there will be no way that you will appear to be too pushy. Why? Because you’re not doing the talking. After all, it’s hard to be aggressive when it’s your prospect that is speaking, right?
Encouraging your prospect to do the talking will make it much easier to sell without being aggressive. It also helps you understand your prospect more, which means your chances of winning the sale increase.
The best way to get your prospects talking is to ask great questions. Anyone in sales knows this.
Good open-ended questions will encourage your prospect to open up to you. When they feel comfortable talking to you, it will be much easier to earn their trust. The more they talk, the deeper the connection you’re able to build with them.
4. Make Your Prospect Feel Comfortable
The more comfortable your prospect is, the better your chances will be of earning their business. Being aggressive will make your prospects feel nervous and tense, which is why it’s so ineffective.
One of the easy ways to sell and get your prospect to feel comfortable with you is to smile and relax when you’re interacting. Use humor to get them in a better mood.
When you show that you’re comfortable and relaxed, your prospect will feel the same way. Do whatever you can to put your customer at ease and you won’t have to worry about pushing them to buy.
5. Focus On Their Problems, Not Your Product
You’ve probably heard it said many times: your customer doesn’t care about your company, product, or service. They care about themselves. They care about solving their problems.
This is another rookie mistake that pushy salespeople make.
They rush into the pitch without any regard for the prospects needs and pain points. This sends the message that you see the prospect as nothing more than a dollar sign. Then you go on and on about your product without even addressing what your prospect really needs.
This is another reason why it’s so important to take your time and get your prospects to talk. Find out what their problems are and figure out ways to solve them.
You want to become a partner and a consultant to your prospect. Not just someone who wants to sell them something.
This approach can take more time, but it’s more effective in the long run.
The important thing to remember about these easy ways to sell is that they work together to create an approach that actually helps your prospect. That’s what this is all about. Your objective is not to sell your product or service. Your objective is to make your prospect’s life easier.
If you follow these five easy ways to sell, it will be impossible for you to become that pushy, obnoxious, ultra-salesy entrepreneur that nobody likes. As a matter of fact, it will cause your prospects to see you as someone who genuinely cares about their needs and concerns.
Remember, when you focus on selling solutions instead of products, your sales interactions will be much more successful.
How do you avoid coming off as pushy?
Pushy Salesman Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
I got to say. That ‘remove the pressure’ tactic is so effective that it can even convince me to buy a product even if I am not primarily interested.
I avoid being pushy by not selling at all! 😉 I have plenty of purcasing experience ingrained into my system! 😉
Great question! Most of my contacts are not face to face leads. I am trying to strike a balance between keeping them on the phone too long and just engaging with them for the correct length of time to develop a rapport. I find that how they greet me in return has a lot to do with my delivery. So, I continue to tweak how I initiate contact with them.
Emily
Very helpful and interesting article…I am considering a career in sales but was worried I wouldn’t be pushy enough…I hate pressure selling and if someone even remotely pressures me in a shop I leave. It’s helpful to know there are other more successful techniques out there!
Hello Emily,
I’m glad the article was helpful to you! You don’t have to be pushy in order to be a great salesperson. You just need to make sure that you’re focused on solving your customer’s problems and not just making the sale. When your prospects see that you’re there to actually help them, they will be more likely to buy from you. Best of luck in your new career!
Number 3 and 4 go hand-in-hand. If you are the one who is doing all the talking and constantly pushing yourself on the prospect, you will make him/her feel uncomfortable. There’s an old saying about having two ears and one mouth. Unfortunately a lot of salespeople forget that! 🙂
Kiota Blakeney
Great article!! I am new to sales, but I always seem to bond well with clients and prospective clients. My issue is I think I chat too much, taking too much of the customers time, even when the sale is a done deal!! Any advice??
Hello Kiota,
This is actually a pretty common issue. Everyone in sales makes this mistake at one point or another.
It’s important to build rapport. It’s the best way to form a deep connection with your prospective clients. But sometimes, we can focus so much on talking that we end up losing the sale.
The advice I would offer you is this: Stop talking and start asking. You need to start asking more questions. I wrote a post about this earlier. Here’s the link: https://smallbiztrends.com/2015/11/understanding-your-prospects.html
If you read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, you will learn why this is so important. In short, people LOVE to talk about themselves. It makes us feel important.
Before talking about your product or service, take the time to ask good, open-ended questions. Then listen. You’re going to be tempted to talk. Don’t do it! Just listen. The more you listen, the more you will learn about your prospect. Not only that, the fact that you’re taking a genuine interest in what they have to say will cause them to feel a deeper connection with you.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t talk at all. Obviously, you need to talk if you’re going to earn the sale. But your objective in each sales conversation is to have your prospect talk more than you do. That way, you can learn what you need to know while building better rapport with your prospects.
Let me know if that makes sense. Thanks for your comment!
Jonas Adjei
I admire the selling techniques but would employers of sales person’s have the patience of going through these steps before closing sales??? With the pressures from employers of sales person’s on meeting daily sales target , sales person’s sometimes go pushy unknowingly hence not closing sales at all.
That’s a great question Jonas,
Honestly, it really depends on the type of sales management you have. Unfortunately, there are still many companies that promote a more “cutthroat” sales culture. They still subscribe to the “always be closing” mentality. Unfortunately, as time goes on, this approach is becoming less and less effective.
Nobody wants to be on the wrong end of a hard sell. It’s uncomfortable. It’s also annoying. You’re right when you say that some people don’t know when they’re being pushy. It’s hard to strike the balance between being too pushy and not being pushy enough.
However, if these people commit to learning how to focus more on talking about solutions t the prospect’s problems rather than just trying to sell them a product, it becomes easier to sell in a non-pushy way.
It’s about having the right mentality.
If your objective is to help your prospects, chances are, you won’t be too pushy. If your objective is just to sell a product, then you might end up being too pushy.
Let me know if that makes sense. Thanks for your comment!
Regarding your “The Close: Make sure there’s no further objections and ask for the business.” So you have caused the buyer to experience “an expression or feeling of disapproval or opposition; a reason for disagreeing” which is the definition of “objection”. Why would you want to get to this stage in a sale then attempt to sell to this individual? Surely, by your definition, they are opposed to and disagree with you?
Hello Gerald,
Great question! Here’s the thing: many prospects will say “no” before they say “yes.” When a prospect expresses a hesitance to buy from you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are opposed to buying. A lot of the time, they just need more information. Or they might just need more time.
The key is to get to the REAL objection. Find out what’s really keeping them from buying, and then address it accordingly. Let me know if that makes sense.
Egay Ungco
Thanks Jeff for this nice and very informative article. They all make sense. I realized that I talked to much. I show my products thinking that is what my prospect needs. I come off doing a pressure selling. Thanks again. I learned a lot. More power to you Jeff!
Alec Westerbur
Jeff,
This article was incredibly helpful. I recently accepted an internship position that will require me to sell memberships at the gym. After reading this article and examining my personality and how I am with people, I know that sales won’t be out of my wheel house. These tips are highly valuable as they simply focus on what the prospect needs, and honestly, being a good listener. I love how you ended with focusing on selling a solution to the problem that a prospect may have.
Thanks again!