You can learn a lot from a cat.
How to sell, for starters.
You see, cats and dogs are very different. We have one of each in our house, and if I want the dog to come over, it's pretty simple - I call her over! 9 times out of 10, she jumps up and trots right on over, happy to see me!
The cat, on the other hand, is a different story. If you try to call a cat over, it will ignore you. The harder you try, the more you will be ignored. Total opposite of the dog. And guess what - sales prospects aren't dogs. They're cats, and if you want to get them buying from you, you need to learn and understand "cat theory."
Cat Theory
Cat theory is simple: It states that it's up to you to get the cat to come over. You're the one taking the action. However, you must trick the cat into believing that it is the cat's own idea to respond to you.
In other words, you're really getting the cat to come over, because you want her to. But she believes it's her own decision - that she's doing it of her own accord.
Sales prospects are exactly the same way. That's why direct sales approaches trigger an instant, subconscious sales resistance in people.
Think about it. When you're walking through a shopping mall or other market place, and salespeople at those annoying kiosks yell to you to come over and look at whatever useless trinket they're selling, your first reaction is to shut down and either ignore them, or give a polite "no thank you."
By contrast, an intelligently constructed store window, containing goods you would like to have, does the polar opposite: It entices you to draw nearer, take a closer look, and possibly enter the store to buy. You may have thought it was your own idea to go into the store, but in reality, the store's staff made you come in. They set things up to draw you in, while letting you believe it was your own idea to do so!
And that's how cat theory works in the real-world of selling. You must create the ideal circumstances to get prospects to come to you, ready to buy, while letting them believe they did it all on their own.
Using This In The Real World
Cat theory applies across the spectrum of sales situations, from prospecting all the way to the culmination of the sale (enticing them to buy instead of "closing" them).
It's in prospecting, however - or more precisely, lead generation - that it's most effective. When you create the ideal circumstances to get qualified prospects to come to you, much like that store window, they do just that - and the balance of power is in your favor, since the prospect approached you rather than the other way around.
Are you wondering how to get prospects to approach you? Believe it or not, that's the easy part! Here's how:
Become an authority figure in your community. Stop wasting your time at breakfast networking mixers and "leads clubs" (unless you're single - then they're great) and instead, begin calling Chambers of Commerce and service organizations in your city or town, along with business school alumni associations, and offer to speak for free. Put together an informative 20-minute presentation that doesn't sell, but rather builds your credibility as the expert in your industry. Do this, and you'll not only skyrocket your sales, but you'll also find yourself building extremely valuable networking connections, as well as lifelong friendships with like minded people - and that's something far more valuable than sales numbers and commission checks.
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New York Times best-selling writer Frank Rumbauskas has taught over 50,000 sales executives all over the world how to make more sales and have fun doing it. Learn more at http://www.nevercoldcall.com/
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