Episode Eighteen brings us back with Matthew Whyatt, CEO of Velocity Selling, and Bob Urichuck, Founder of Velocity Selling, as they discuss the importance of your attitude towards your buyers and competition.
Matthew: Good morning from Australia again, it’s Matthew here, from the sunny Gold Coast, and we’ve got Bob Urichuck up in Canada. So, welcome Velocity Selling T.V., Episode number eighteen, how are you Bob?
Bob: Great Matthew, and good evening to you. Laughs
Matthew: laughs We are on opposite sides of the world, so it’s, it’s always hard for me to say good morning with you on the other side. But anyway. So, today we’re going to be talking about the attitude towards your buyer’s and your competition. So Bob, let’s talk about that.
Bob: Alright. Well, when we take a look at attitude towards buyers, I guess the question I would ask is: ‘Do you actually believe that there’s buyers out there for your product and services?’
Matthew: Absolutely.
Bob: Exactly. You believe it Matthew, and I believe it too. However, there are sales people and business owners that don’t fully have that belief. And I can remember a personal story, going back, uh, God, well back into the eighties. As you know, I live in Canada, and the part of Canada that I live in is in Quebec. Quebec wanted to separate from Canada and I was selling real estate. And what I found is I was in the Quebec market, and we were drawing traffic from our neighboring province. And I stuck with it for fifteen years, believing, and after fifteen years, I lost faith because I went two years where people just weren’t buying. So I no longer believed that there were buyer’s for my products. So, I fortunately was smart enough to call it quits and move on. Now, times have changed, the market is changed, and you know, there’s more activity now than there was in the past. But, it was our own level of belief that caused that. So a big part for sales people is Do you believe that there are buyer’s out there for your product and services? And if you believe in ‘em, well then, when we get into behavior, part three we’;re going to look into your behavior towards buyers so that we make sure that you get the best return on time invested and that you are attracting the best buyers. So, a big part of your attitude is not only believing in buyers but preparing the mind for what sort of buyer are you looking for? So start describing the buyer. And then another part about attitude is how do you wanna be perceived by your buyers? For example Matthew, and you’re a bad example, but let’s go back to your old selling days.
Matthew: Yes.
Bob: Ok? You walk in on a, what do you bring with you on your first sales call visit? I’m talking about the past.
Matthew: Yeah, well…
Bob: and what do sales people do today? What do they bring with ‘em on their first call?
Matthew: Well, a lot of times, certainly with my coaching clients, they show up with their brochure and the flip chart, and the uh, I was even asked the other day ‘Do I need a power point presentation to do an initial meeting?’ I said ‘No, I’ll be showing up with a pen and a pad.’
Bob: You got it! No you just stole my thunder.
Matthew: Sorry about that Bob. Laughs
Bob: laughs Like I said, what you did in the past, what most sales people do. When you walk in with that briefcase full of brochures and stuff that becomes your crutch. And of course, the buyer’s gonna wanna see everything you have in that briefcase, so what do you end up doing? You end up getting caught in a show and tell, free consulting, and you get caught up in what we call ‘The Buyer System’ and you’re perceived as a sales person. And what happens when buyers see a sales person? The barriers go up.
Matthew: That’s right.
Bob: And all of a sudden, you’re lost. So, we have to look at, we believe in buyers, but how should, how do we want buyers to perceive us? Do they wanna perceive us as a sales person? Or would they rather perceive us as a consultant? As someone who brings value to them. So, what we need to do is change some of the ways we do things. Rather than going in with a briefcase, go in with nothing but a notebook and a pen. What does that project? If I walk in with a notebook and a pen what am I here to do?
Matthew: You’re here to learn and you’re here to ask questions.
Bob: Ask questions, take notes, and learn. It becomes all about the buyer. What’s the quickest way to get earning the buyer’s trust? Making it about me? My products, my services, my company? Or making it about the buyer?
Matthew: It’s all about the buyer. And it’s really interesting to take that, you know I’ve been living that now for about six months and it’s just a really different way to position yourself and the openness that I get from buyers is incredible.
Bob: So here’s the big attitude shift for everyone. Yes, we’ve talked about towards you, the most important person in the world, attitude towards your organisation, attitude towards your products and services, attitude towards your team. Now you gotta look at your attitude towards the buyer and once your attitude towards the buyer? Do you respect them? Are you buyer focused? Are you out to engage them? Are you out to make it a win-win? Are you, do you have an owner’s mentality? And are you willing to share that with a buyer to help them improve their bottom line as well? These are all questions that adjust your attitude to get you where you wanna be. You can do that. The other thing you need to understand is your competition. Who is your competition? We have a very simple form that we get people to fill out in the various areas. We look at your company, competitor A, B, C, D, and then you rank ‘em on all these different factors so you get to know your competition inside-out, and you get to know where your strengths and weaknesses are. So, the other thing with this, is you never criticize your competition. If you know your competition, you could yes, they are very good there, however, did you realise that our area of expertise is more over here? Which would be your strength, versus their weakness. So, knowing your competition is the other important element and you have to have that attitude, that desire to learn, not only about the buyer, but also about your competitors.
Matthew: Very cool. That’s really great Bob, it’s understanding… Should we send that, have that form as available, the competitor ranking form as available to the viewer?
Bob: Definitely. I’ll make it available. Sure let’s make it available to use. It’s a generic form, it’s not customised, but there’s nothing wrong with you taking these, getting the idea and making your own form out of it.
Matthew: Fantastic. Well, we are always here to serve aren’t we?
Bob: You got it.
Matthew: Fantastic. Well, thanks very much Bob, I really enjoyed that and what are we gonna talk about next week?
Bob: Well, I think next week we’re gonna ask the important question. And I want everyone to think about the answer to this question, and next week when we talk, let’s see if they get it. The question is this: Why do you go to work?
Matthew: Well, it’s uh, that’s pretty deep Bob, so on that, we’ll leave it there and we’ll see you next week. Bye now.
Bob: Thanks a lot Matthew.
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