Sales are sales, more or less across the board.  Selling is universal whether you’re in the business of hawking vacuum cleaners or in the real estate business of selling luxury homes.

The problem is, most people think the art of sales is based on saying the right words or showing the perfect presentation.  These strategies have their time and place, but most often, they’re likely to be huge turnoffs.

Jeff Kempe just wrote about “Hating Selling through the Art of Sales” over at the Bloodhound Blog (love that blog!).  Jeff shares a recent experience of being on the receiving end of a prefabricated sales spiel:

He arrived, carefully unsheathed his samples, and pulled out a three ring binder.  He opened his presentation with a hand drawn graph of his progress toward his summer goal; if reached, he said, he would win a scholarship.  Then he launched into a rote monologue, cribbed nearly verbatim from his notes.  Per the script he handed me each utensil as he talked about it, wasn’t sure what to do with his hands after I refused the third one, and was flustered when I asked about something out of turn.  All the sales-guy 101 feints were in play: “If you could choose between one of the two sets today, which would you pick?”;  ”Just for sitting down with me today, I’m authorized to offer you, for no extra cost, these kitchen shears.  Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Now, how’s that for a perfectly stereotypical hard sell?  Forget about the true needs or desires of the customer who’s not exactly a hot lead in the first place, but instead persist on being persistent.

How would you feel if you received a hard sell like this when mortgage shopping or looking for your next house?  Personally, I would run – not walk – away.

While this is an ultimate example of what not to do when selling, Jeff goes on to offer his own lesson to the sales person, consisting of three solid points:

• Sell the right product at the right price.
• Know your product backward, forward, up, down and sideways –AND your competitions’ product the same way.
• Learn the difference between ACTING like you care about your customers and ACTUALLY caring.

Think about these pearls of wisdom.  They’ll help a real salesperson sell more than any gimmicky techniques combined.

People have needs.  They need and want to buy things.  The successful salesperson understands this and helps them, whether by teaching, giving advice, or otherwise working for and legitimately earning the sale.

Sure, from time to time, anyone is bound to get lucky and have a sale just fall right into their hands.  But to be considered a true professional, it’s best to heed to Jeff’s advice. 

And just because you might be selling something that’s probably the biggest purchase of your customer’s life – real estate – it doesn’t mean you’re allowed any exemptions.  If you take good care of your customers, they’ll take care of you.