Want an Oscar Winning Sales Performance?

Have you ever thought of selling as similar to acting? Sales trainer Drew Stevens certainly has - in addition to his 27 years of selling, he's also a commercial actor, and over the years he's noticed a lot of similarities. Read on for his insights into the world of selling from an actor's point of view.

Relationships - The first step toward selling
Relationships are the heart of every selling transaction. In fact, research indicates that relationships influence 65 percent of every transaction. Consumers purchase from those they know and respect.

Conflict - What do you want?
Conflict is apparent in every acting scene as actors search for the issues that must be resolved. Interesting, so must selling professionals. Consumers have issues and they must spontaneously be resolved. Selling professionals must understand the conflict and what they must do to amend it.

The moment before
Actors must understand the issues of a scene to integrate conflict and relationships. Selling professionals must identify with prospects' issues. It is imperative that selling professionals prepare for every call. Professionals must understand the customer, the competition, and the industry - the proper competitive analysis provides the sample of prospective client issues. When selling professionals understand the foundational issues, they can identify conflict and build better relationships.

Humor - Jokes are not the answer
There is too much cynicism and humor in business meetings. Be succinct and get to the heart of issues. Humor is meant for special times, not often.

Opposites - What is the motivation?
Whatever you decide is your motivation for the actor is fine. The same holds true in selling. Understand what your motivation is, but also that of the client. Be open to opposites and additional conflict. Always keep motivation of your client top of mind.

Discoveries - Things you did not know.
Provocative questions and proper listening lead to discoveries. Similar to the actor that makes discoveries as they build upon relationships in each scene, the selling professional too makes frequent discoveries. Always be ready to ask questions, never show surprise and understand when you believe you are complete there might still exist new information.

Want to learn more about these interesting similarities? Tune in tomorrow as sales trainer Drew Stevens fills us in on the rest of the similarities between acting and selling.

Drew Stevens PhD knows how to dramatically accelerate your business growth. Known as "The Sales Strategist" Drew Stevens has 25 years of domestic and international sales and marketing experience. Learn more at http://www.stevensconsultinggroup.com