The buyer-seller situation, like any human contact, is an exercise in human relations – the interplay, cause and effect of behaviour by two or more people on each other. In the buyer-seller situation, the seller must be responsible for shaping mutual behaviour – someone has to take the lead. At the start of the relationship, we want it more than they do – well that’s the theory.
What’s the difference between human nature and human relations? It is probably something you haven’t considered before so let me give you a hand:
- Human nature is the instinctive behaviour that governs action concerned with the self and with self-interest.
- Human relations are concerned with how we think and act in terms of others‘ interests.
Successful selling demands that human relations are dominant over human nature – but you probably guessed that already.
You may also have heard that selling is not something a salesperson does to a prospect. Selling is something you do with the prospect, in a process of discovery and interaction. This is human relations at work.
Now the interesting bit: The greatest barrier to success in this process is the “Egocentric Predicament”. This consists of being overly and unnecessarily concerned with self. Our ability to be perceptive and concerned about others is inversely proportionate to our self-concern.
When self gets unnecessarily in the way, the fruitful cycle of good human relations stops producing.
The key to understanding and accepting others is to first understand and accept oneself. This starts with the realisation that, rather than strive for an unattainable “I should be “image, we should settle for our real self as “I am”, accepting shortcomings along with strengths.
We should always remember: People buy our product not so much because they understand the product, but because they feel that we understand them.
There are many effective ways of doing this. The best way to create this kind of buying climate is to transmit on their frequency. This opens their mind to you and makes them willing and eager to listen.
“Before I sell my prospect what my prospect buys, I must first see my prospect as they see themselves.”