How May I Sell to You Today?

Written by on March 18, 2010 - 0 Comments
Categories: "Biz Soup"

Whether we’re talking about living your purpose through your business, using social media, or even branding, let’s face it, we want a sale.

Even if we are not ‘selling’ in that moment,  in terms of pushing a product or service, whether we are networking or socializing, the connection is there.  We are still often  ’selling’ ourselves,  or ‘selling’ our ideas.

People seem to think ‘selling’ is a bad word. It isn’t. It is necessary in more ways than I can count. Whether you are trying to get someone to buy from you, or your kids to clean their room, ‘selling’ is involved.

What we have forgotten however, is that the root word of ‘selling’ actually means to give.

(did you catch that? read it again. now keep reading…)

Yes, it means to give. It doesn’t mean give for free, give and never receive, or give to receive, it simply means to give. We may be compensated (and should be) for what we give our customers, but the point is that we are giving them something, something of value to them.
Rather than giving something of value to them to justify what they have paid us.

People seem to think ‘this whole give first, give value, thing’ is a new concept. It really isn’t.

Remember when you used to go somewhere and people would say
‘May I help you?’

Think about that…

They didn’t say
“How may I sell you today?”

They didn’t say
“pay me and I will give you something of value”

They didn’t say
“What can I get you to give me today?”

They didn’t say
“How can I help you so you’ll pay me today?”

They said “how may I help you today?”

Often times today the clerk doesn’t say anything! They simply stare at you and wait for you to order, but in any case, you rarely hear ‘how may I help you?’ anymore.

Obviously, it’s not about just saying the words. You can say it all day long, and if you don’t mean it, it will be apparent!

You really do have to do something. To give something.

I can’t tell you how often I see this in social networking, whether it’s on twitter or facebook or in person. Like the 9pm phone call I received from the direct salesperson who has never done more than hand me her card once, saying “Hi, I was calling to see if you wanted to schedule an appointment. I need to reach my quota for the week”.

You can’t tell the bank “pay me some interest and I’ll make a deposit”.
In relationships you don’t say ‘give me some love, and I’ll give you some back’.

It’s not about giving to receive. It’s about being compensated because you have given.

So, go out and try it! Look for opportunities today to say
“How may I help you today?” (and mean it!:)

I’d love to hear what happens!

 

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