There are a lot of articles on how a business owner can learn to close more deals or sell more product. These articles range from tried and true sales techniques that have been taught for years to more in-depth psychological principles that you can use to subtly influence a negotiation in your direction.
Why do some closing techniques work, and some don’t?
But a lot of these techniques and psychological principles skip over why these techniques work and focus on how to implement them.
At the end of the day, clients won’t buy from you if they think you are just using another sales technique or following a sales script. Clients will only buy from you if you show them they can trust that your product or service will actually benefit them.
Here are three unconventional sales tactics which you can use to break out of the traditional sales techniques and quickly establish trust with your potential clients.
Say something that genuinely doesn’t help you.
Whether you are the CEO of your company or a hired salesperson, anytime you enter a negotiation to win new business, you start at a significant disadvantage.
Hubspot research found that only three percent of people trust a salesperson. And you don’t have to have the title of ‘sales executive’ to be considered a salesperson. This falls behind musicians (10 percent), journalists (five percent), and even lawyers (12 percent).
Why is there so little trust? Because the people on the other side of the sale know that you are not impartial. You have a goal to convince them to buy your product or service.
Related: Three Ways Offering Something for Free Can Actually Make You Lots of Money
If you think about it, they actually have a good reason to not trust you at first.
Honesty.
So how do you overcome this lack of trust? Shock them with your honesty. Don’t just win them over by being a nice person. Genuinely surprise them with your honesty.
The easiest way to shock someone with honest is to do something for them that genuinely does not help you. In fact, it may even work as a disservice to you. Prove to potential clients that you are more concerned about what benefits them rather than just putting dollars in your pocket.
For example, it can be tempting to prevent a potential client from speaking with a competitor. Rather than convince them to sign with you on the spot, tell them that they should check out your top competitors first, then give them the names of your top competitors.
This might sound crazy at first, but…
