Sales Resistance ...Is it you or the customer?

I have been in sales for many years. I have to say I'm not the best at it, but I think I could really be a great deal better with just a touch of more confidence. Do many of you find that the sales resistance you are experiencing is really a lack of confidence on your part that the potential customer is picking up? -wlctrent

Yes I do believe this is one of the causes of sales resistance. -AZBroker

I also agree on this issue. Most sales resistances are caused by the salesperson himself.

I had an experience when I was still in college and worked in summer selling books. There are 10 people in that summer job and we worked in pairs. Everyday we go to one area and try to visit every house in that vicinity. I and my partner happen to visit a house that has been visited by our colleagues that were ahead of us. The owner of the house didn't even look at our books because the person who is selling is just looking down and talking to the ground. The owner of the house just said goodbye. On the other hand, when I approach him, I greeted him like I knew him very well and let me and my partner enter his house. We presented our books and we got a sale.

Buyers are also humans and they are not different from me so why should I be fearful to them. I just need to let them see that they need the product that I am presenting them and they will eagerly buy it. -encoder

It could also be a lack of enthusiasm or passion. If you believe you have the best product and are priced competitively, you should have the confidence to tell your prospect 'I believe I have the best product'. I worked for companies that were #1 or #2 in the business they were in. That alone gives you confidence.

Susan -susana

I agree with Susana, the lack of enthusiasm or neglect of productivity is a key aspect in Sales Resistance.

Good thought thmbp2;

All the best in the future. -Snowboy

Could be my underarm deodorant or the shirt I wear (there's a story behind this). -Wonderboy

At some point most salespeople work hard at being enthusiastic. That is a lot like faking sincerity.

Sales Confidence is about having:
1. a good product or service for the markets that you serve, and;
2. the consistent, skillful application of an effective sales process. -JacquesWerth

I'm just curious what the definition of "sales resistance" is. Would anybody want to offer some suggestions? -Skip Anderson

Sales resistance is a funny term in what it implies - it implies one is resisting or going against something one should not go against - and what that implies is that the one doing the selling knows what the resister needs and should want more than the resister.

That's one interpretation anyway - there are many others.

I'm an independent distributor for a nutritional company and I offer people the benefits of products and an opportunity - people either want to know more or not.

Some people want to resist an intelligent and open conversation and I don't allow it to go on either - my time is more valuable than that exercise.

Other people want to resist buying our products when I know they could use them - I might offer some suggestions if the resister wants them but most don't so I move on.

Other people want to resist looking at our business opportunity and again I might offer some reasons that they should look at it but most don't so I move on.

When I say I "might offer" I mean that extremely selectively - less than .012324567% of the time - I have better things to do with my time.

I don't push ropes or pull elephants and alligator by the tail - life is too short and my time is too valuable. A very smart man wrote a book about high and low probabliity selling and one of the things he says is that there's enough of a market out there for our products and it's counter productive to be attempting to overcome objections and sales resistance - since I agree with him I stopped doing those things.

Lastly, I don't buy into resistance - I don't meet objections with confrontational or educational come backs - I don't create counter resistance so I experience no resistance. I take NO for NO - most of the time - the few times I don't are exceptional and unique reasons come into play.

The best of the best to everyone - work in balance in harmony without resistance internally and life is much better than life with conflict with butting heads with confrontational meetings of the emotions.

If none of that is anything anyone means on this thread then I'm off the wall and out to lunch - which is okay too.

MitchM -MitchM

The resistance I get is from people who think they know everything about selling homes. They had a license once and know it all. -Thomas

Sales resistance is the act of resisting the purchase of a product, service or idea. It may also be expressed as an attitude. -JacquesWerth

Some books say that customers asking questions is a buying sign.

From my experience I have to disagree. What's your viewpoint on prospects asking questions? -Wonderboy