NLP Podcast Extract : Rory Woolridge on Sales

"And the sales experience really started at about the age of Eleven. I particularly remember an episode of borrowing some plums from a field, and then selling them some hundred yards away from a fruit and veg guy, just under their prices. So that was good fun."

"So I guess Ive been selling for a long time. I'm Fifty Three at the moment. My current joy is to deal with accountants and that's with insurance from tax investigations. So that's a very exciting subject - but there is a need there and I help people fulfil that need."

"Well I think really the key steps, and the first thing of all, I'm sure people have heard of "the blink of an eye" approach, where people will make an assumption about what is in front of them or who is in front of them - so I tend to make sure that in the first instance that I'm fully prepared - I know before I meet my prospect that I understand who they are, where they are - understand a little bit about the company - so that I can be positive from the moment that I walk in through the door."

"So really I think that the first step start prior to my meeting of meeting the prospect, and making sure - dressed appropriately - why I say that is because at one stage I did appliance leasing. Now, had I got onto the farm in a suit, I probably would have been shot, because they probably thought that I had come from the inland revenue. I had to buy some tweed jackets and all that kind of stuff so that I fitted in to the environment that I was actually working in."
So my first step was I said "We'll start with myself and how I'm presenting myself and also the knowledge I have about the company, and probably of the individual."

"I think what then comes next - you have to assume that the deal comes to me - so they feel that they have a need for the product that we are providing in the marketplace. It may be that they have an existing product and they're looking at maybe moving away from that supplier. It may be that they have not had this product before even though its been available for twenty-two years and perhaps they have some questions or some reservations about the product."
"So the next step really is going to be qualification. What is it that they're actually looking for, or what is it that they have at the moment? What is it that they have? What is it that they think is good about what they have? And what are they not so pleased about?"

"Then maybe I can look at my approach from that point."

"It depends on the meeting. Obviously everybody's different, they all need a different approach. The main thing really is information that you can gather - and quite often sales people will forget that they only have one mouth, but they do have two ears - and most sales people will go in on their own agenda to sell what they think is right before actually listening to the prospect and what it is that they actually need."

"I think you then have to agree on the process, you have to agree what the client actually needs - once you've established that and I tend to write things down because I think it tend to make things more powerful - especially for the person opposite you - if you write something down, they will watch you write that - that then becomes important."

"So if there is a specific need I think "Oh good, we can make a good start with that," because that's something that they could really need - and its something that you could then go to later to reinforce, why they should buy."

"So I think really the next thing is getting a full agreement on what it is that they require"

Read or listen to the full Rory Woolridge transcript and podcast on Sales.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training