When you are buying a product or service…:

• Do you trust salespeople?

• Do you like to be sold?

• Do you prefer to deal with a salesperson who is sincerely interested in helping, who asks questions to facilitate mutual discovery, and who listens intently to where you are and where you want to be, or do you prefer the type who can’t wait for you to stop talking so they can tell you all of the wonderful things about themselves, their product and their company?

Most people do NOT trust salespeople.  They need and want to buy, but hate to be sold.

Now let’s be brutally honest.  When you are in a selling role…:

• Are you anxious to share why your product and company is great?
• Are you more comfortable talking about your product than asking tough questions?
• Are you listening more selectively than actively?
• Does your blood pressure increase when you perceive a “buying signal”?

• Do you try to convince people to buy your product or service?   If so, why?

• Is it possible you are addicted to Convincing?  

If you answered yes to one or more of the questions above, you may be a Convince-aholic^© .   If so, you are likely exhibiting a variety of behaviors that is dramatically reducing the quality of your relationships, your selling effectiveness, and your income.

ADDICTION IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR that temporarily fills a void created by unmet needs.  Most existing sales literature and training programs actually FEED the Convince-aholic Addiction^© by keeping you focused upon asking “leading” questions, manipulation, and slight-of-hand.   Each of these convincing techniques will diminish a salesperson’s ability to develop TRUST, the cornerstone of any successful relationship and the foundational skill of the world’s most successful salespeople.

Some characteristics that come out of Recovery Literature follow.  Please consider the parallels:

The Additive Experience

1. Creates predictable, reliable sensations.
2. Becomes the primary focus and absorbs attention.
3. Temporarily eradicates pain and other negative sensations.
4. Provides artificial sense of self-worth, power, control, security, intimacy, and accomplishment.
5. Exacerbates the problems and feelings it is intended to eradicate.
6. Worsens functions, creates loss of relationships.

If you believe you may be a Convince-aholic and would like to assess the severity of your addiction, please email me and write “I May Be Addicted” in the subject line.

I’ll send you a confidential test that will allow you to determine the extent of your addictive convincing severity and, if you are committed, to begin a recovery program leading to richer relationships and more sales.

Continued Success!

Joe

Copyright ©  Joe Zente  2011.   All Rights Reserved.