Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog

Enthusiasm: an important motivator and tool to increase sales

  

  

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Last week, I bought something I didn't think I was going to buy, and I want to tell you what the salesperson did that was terrific, because you can do it, too. I continue to be reminded of how important it is for sales professionals to be as enthusiastic as possible when discussing their solutions with prospects. It's really easy to fall into the habit of drably discussing the solutions we sell, because we sell them day after day, and the story doesn't change much. But enthusiasm is catching. This post is about revisiting how you can pump enthusiasm back into your presentation, and I'll tell you how someone got an unintended computer sale from me last week because he did.

I went into a megastore with a friend of mine last week because his computer broke and he needed a new one fast. OK, the store was BestBuy. A fellow named Spencer was the sales rep sold my buddy his new computer, then noticed that I was looking at a row of lightweight netbook computers. He got really enthusiastic about how small they were and how much you could do with them, and was really excited by how powerful they were, too. I told him I wasn't buying today, my pal Dave was, but it didn't stop Spencer, who showed me 3 or 4 additional neat things. On the drive back, all Dave and I could talk about were the netbooks. And the next day I returned, and bought one from Spencer.

Did I really need to buy the computer? Yes and no. My laptop computer was 6 years old, and I knew eventually it would give out on me, probably in the middle of an important business trip. But I didn't have to buy that day, from that store, or that salesperson. The enthusiasm of Spencer was catching, and that's the main point of this story. Here's another: Spencer wasn't on commission, it was salary only! He's just damn good at what he does, has fun talking to customers, pumps up the enthusiasm, and sells the product.

Pete Caputa, my salesperson at HubSpot, my website's Content Management provider, is another sales rep who's enthusiastic about everything he sells, even though I know he's told essentially the same story hundreds, if not thousands of times. And his enthusiasm is a big reason I'm his customer, because I figured if it was as good as he said it was, he'd be just as enthusiastic being there for me if anything ever went haywire with his solution. Like Spencer, Pete's full of great ways I can use his solution to make my life easier and more productive. So what can we learn from all this?

We all get used to telling the same story, and it gets old. It's not old to the prospect, though, so it's important to pump it up a notch (as Ed Cronin at PowerSoft used to say) and discuss your solution with the same level of excitement as you did when you first started selling it. You've really got to believe that your solution is going to dramatically improve the lives of your prospects, and if you don't believe it, you've got to change companies. As you can tell by this story, I watch how people sell to me, and you should, too.  In every telesales training course I teach, I mention that you take a closing skills class every time someone attempts to sell you something. Watch what he or she is doing to communicate with you, and I'll bet you'll notice the most effective of them have lots of enthusiasm, too. If you're a little behind in the enthusiasm department, try to "pump it up" on your next sales call, and re-insert that chapter in your Best Practices playbook. And next week, I'll add one more post on this important topic, and how you can generate enthusiasm based on sales you've already made.