In business, selling is everything. It is even a fact that while product is just 10 per cent, selling or marketing is 90 per cent.

But the problem is that most people in business find it difficult to sell. It is because of this that companies are folding up, workers are being owed arrears of salaries and unemployment is skyrocketing.

Companies are spending billions of dollars on research on selling but to no avail.

Even neuro-surgeons have joined the fray, trying to see how the human mind can be manipulated into buying but upon all the billions of dollars being poured into studies, the desired results are not being achieved.

Trained marketers have tried reciprocity, social proof, scarcity, foot-in-technique, decoy effect, Use fomo and the rest of the selling techniques but customers are still postponing purchases, employing every trick in the book not to buy.

Even the almighty Harvard business school a few years ago came up with the conclusion that in the 21st century all selling will be relationship selling.

According to them, all success in business will be based on relationship and the very best sell people are the ones who form the best relationship with their customers.

?They make it clear to their customers they like them and they care about them and they ask them questions. Your very best customers are the people who you like and they like you too.85 percent of your recommendations and referrals come from those who like you and people who feel good about you. So focus on the relationships and the sale will take care of itself. If you aim at the sale or you think too much of the sale what happen is you have neither the relationship nor the sale.?The dons taught.

Harvard business school is right no doubt. Relationship is very key in selling.

However, there is one simple trick that their conclusion did not capture, which is selling something and something.

Marketers are trained to sell something but not something and something. They are trained to sell shoes, bags, cell phones, electronic gadgets, name them.

But what the trainers don?t know is that this techniques don?t give much choice to the customer. It is always like putting them in a straitjacket and they don?t always like that.

No matter the strength of the relationship that a buyer must have built with a seller, he must need freedom of choice, if not you are imposing products or services on him.

Imagine with hard earned money, customers still don?t have choice to make. The more reason they are postponing purchases, managing what they have and companies are folding up for lack of sales.

So, if you want to sell and sell big, you have to give your customers choice and that is by selling something and something.

Always try to give a customer a choice between something and something bigger.

For instance. I am selling rice, do you want 25kg or 50kg or canvass, do you want the white one or the brown one.

That is the way to go.

I was once a purchasing manager of a printing company. It was then that I learnt how dumb a lot of marketers are at selling.

They hardly make customers think, because they don?t create room for that.

The question was always, do you want bond paper? That is a choice between something and nothing-bond paper or no bond paper.

But if I was asked thus: Would you like to buy white or green bond paper?

OR:

You are selling rice and you ask a customer, would you want to buy 50 kg or 25kg.The two questions above means a choice between something and something, which means the customer would not have to go as fast as he came because he has some thinking to make. If the customer cannot afford 50kg of rice, maybe he could afford 25kg and if he don?t want white bond, may be he might need green bond. The bottom line is that he would be leaving there with something.

The company must have made sale. If not a big sale, then a small one.

So the advice here is never ask a potential customer if he wants to buy, let me say bag or say would you like to buy shoe?.

That is a choice between something and nothing. He would walk out faster than he came in.

Always give the customer a choice between something and something bigger and by that you would be making turn overs, instead of driving away potential customers.

See you next Saturday.

Peter Anosike has a doctorate degree in Consulting and profit management. He is the founder of Ultimate Entrepreneurs academy, an organization that trains people on how to become successful entrepreneurs. Contact number: 08035779230 (SMS Only)

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