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Michael,
I've heard mixed reviews about PE live training, from reputable people. One person, in fact, a devoted student of Bandler's said that PE live training is not beneficial at all that there are better trainings. I just want to be the best salesman. I am willing to do whatever it takes.

Tony,

Get the Persuasion Engineering DVD set so you can view and review what goes on at the workshop. The*NLP*Store

My own experience with that workshop and having co-trained with John La Valle a workshop we called Business Magick (which includes a lot of PE) is that I think PE is the very best John La Valle workshop from them all.
Of course Bandler brings in great stuff but La Valle is awesome at the sales stuff. However the few people I've met who got nothing from this workshop was because they either were afraid to attempt the things suggested by John or they were too narrow minded to even get it.

It is NOT the only way to do sales but it is a great way of doing it.

From capturing attention through gathering information by calibration and with well targeted questions, innoculating and handling objections, testing to close and all the way to closing and prospecting (actually having the client send you more clients)... this program is a great program about persuasion.

But hey perhaps I am wrong and it was pure luck that got me from red numbers to 7 figures a year (in pesos which is 6 figures in pounds).

Hope my opinion helps

All the more reason to take the class, so you can determine for yourself how good it is for you.

So you've ordered Ben Feldman's book?

By the way, and I know this is a long shot, but, I just picked up a book from the "for sale" shelf of a public library. I paid three dollars for it. The least expensive used copy through amazon is forty dollars, and sixty for new. (You can find great buys in thrift stores too. I have a $600 first edition of Interview with the Vampire, bought for a measly quarter.)

Persuasion Engineering made a huge difference to me. I only "got it " the second time I read it, and the third time I made further distinctions. I keep meeting others with the same experience.

The main difference for me is my attitude. I now enjoy selling whereas it used to be something unpleasant that I had to do.

The key phrase for me was "Induce a state of wanton desire, then point client at product". I now look for ways that I can make my clients life better and the sales follow.

Nick,
And how do you induce the wanton state? That's what I seem to be struggling with. Michael, I will order the book when I get my next check.

Tony,

My usual method is to do everything I can to understand my customer. Experience the world in the same way that they do, so that I can offer them something that will improve their situation. No tricks, just listen, listen, listen.

My company designs and makes test equipment for production lines. I find out the bottlenecks on the production line and the areas where smart test equipment will save them time and money. Our systems will typically recoup their cost in less than 6 months, so over a year my customer will will end up making an extra profit equal to what they invested in our test equipment.

My job is to find the customer's pain and take it away.

I don't do as much face to face selling as I used to as I now sell a lot of stuff abroad over the internet. The principles are similar though, I have to understand my customers world so that I can solve their problem and describe the solution in words that sound as though I am talking to them.

Gabe,

Was reading PE the ONLY thing that got you from red numbers to 7 figures? I mean if you had not read that book would you be in the position you are now?

I have the book - so looking forward to your reply .. and I need to friggin read it. LOL

Thanks
Nina

Best. Job description. Ever.

I get that, I really do. I think I'm not turning up the pain enough when I'm with them, which allows them to be able to walk away from a good deal. For example, I had a customer a few nights ago arguing the overall price of the car with me. I showed him other dealerships in the area selling the exact same year, make, model of car for $2000 more, and our car is guaranteed, the others weren't. The guy kept telling me about others he had seen at other dealerships for even less. I brought to his attention that he recognized those good deals and walked away from them and now regrets it. He agreed with that. However, he couldn't pull the trigger when faced with the fact that he was doing the exact same thing again. It just didn't faze him. It was almost like he seeks to get burned on a car deal or something.

My opinion is that if you sell based on price, you're not a salesperson, but an order-taker... just a clerk. Clerk's aren't worth 20% of the net.

Make sure that your customer knows he's getting a good deal no matter what you're charging. And make sure he is. If he isn't, find a better dealership.

I sold cars for two long months, and I intend to never again do it. It's one of the hardest jobs there is. I know that the biggest barrier to a sale is trust. Customers assume you intend to take every dime they have and give them nothing in return. I hated going to work and being treated like a crime suspect by the customers and like an idiot by the very unhappy sales manager. I didn't do very well. But I learned a lot.

I think most people trade cars out of pain, especially these days, so you're going to have to suffer along with them as you make it hurt... until they learn how good it feels to drive it home today.

Nina,

Short answer... no.
Allow me to explain. It was not reading the book! I got little from it (my case), it was attending the workshop AND applying what was taught in it.

Now of course it also helped that I applied everything else I was learning at that point including reviewing some marketing principles from Rise and Trout.

Hope that helps I am away from home and have little time to reply.

gabe

Tony,

I haven't sold cars so I don't know the market very well. I do know that when I have bought a car I would decide in advance what I wanted and then search for a dealer that had it on the web. When I arrived at the dealer my main intention was not to knock the price down( though a good trade in on my old car would be nice) but to know if I could trust the dealer. I always buy second hand cars so I want to know that the car is as described and that if there are any problems the dealer will sort it out.

Once I have arrived at the dealer then I am buying the dealer NOT the car. If I can trust the dealer then I know that the car will be OK.

Rather than turning up the customer's pain (which they may then anchor to you) you might consider another strategy. This would work for me but other customers may have different outcomes.

Just for a day decide that you are not selling cars, you are selling the dealership and the experience that comes from buying a car there. Talk to the customer and find out what concerns them when they buy a car. Explain honestly how the dealership deals with those concerns. Find out what they like about a good dealership and then work with that too. Build up trust and find out how that works for you.




Many years ago I was waiting in a car accessory shop and the guy in front of me wanted to buy a battery. He said to the sales person
"The guy down the road sells bargain batteries that are 20% cheaper than yours....... but he doesn't have any"
The salesman replied
"We sell those too.........but we don't have any either"
The guy pondered the answer for a moment, as if wondering if he should buy a non existent battery, and then bought one of the ones that were for sale.

Yes thank you Gabe,

I appreiciate your time in replying.. very helpful thanks

Nina

Apologies.. But I can't seem to figure out how to show quotes in those neat little boxes. .. so cut and paste it is.. this time

Nick said: Just for a day decide that you are not selling cars, you are selling the dealership and the experience that comes from buying a car there. Talk to the customer and find out what concerns them when they buy a car. Explain honestly how the dealership deals with those concerns. Find out what they like about a good dealership and then work with that too. Build up trust and find out how that works for you.

Great advice! I would go even further and say that you are selling yourself as well. They are buying the full experience, and people have different levels of comfort required for them to buy that experience.

Michael said: My opinion is that if you sell based on price, you're not a salesperson, but an order-taker... just a clerk. Clerk's aren't worth 20% of the net.

So true. The reason people don't buy is almost never because of price. Also - almost every customer will mention price as being the issue. Why? because it is easy - and often will shut the sales person down. If price isn't the reason they aren't buying, your job is to find out what the real reason is. They aren't comfortable with you? your dealership? They don't trust that you are offering them the best value? something else?

Sales is about connecting with the customer. Ask them questions, build strong rapport, and show confidence in yourself, your product and your dealership. And.. ask them more questions!

I would also recommend "Words that Change Minds" by Shelle Rose Charvet - for some great questions to uncover mental filters that may be holding the customer back.

And - make sure you have the very basics of sales mastered (like Zig Ziglar stuff). Then, you are fully equipped to use all the advanced techniques

Absolutely agree about "Words that Change Minds" by Shelle Rose Charvet. Brilliant book for metaprograms.

Nick wrote: "Just for a day decide that you are not selling cars, you are selling the dealership and the experience that comes from buying a car there. Talk to the customer and find out what concerns them when they buy a car. Explain honestly how the dealership deals with those concerns. Find out what they like about a good dealership and then work with that too. Build up trust and find out how that works for you. "

Nick, I promise I will do this tomorrow at work.

Elaine, you beautiful, young NLPer, I have that book. I read half of it. You are right, though, and I will take another look at it (I tried to read it when I was too new to NLP).

Thanks for your kind words Tony.

The basics that I'm talking about here - are the ones that I used to train my sales force to success in the dealership I opened 20 (yikes!) years ago. I didn't know what NLP was at that time.. and when I was able to incorporate NLP tools as well... wow! great results!

And, although consumers are much more sophisticated now, the basics still apply in the sales trainings I teach today. With much much more value added - In my opinion anyway.

And.. I think it was the third time through "words that change minds" that it really clicked for me - so don't give up. It is a gem.

Success to you!

Nick said

Hey it's seem you and Ben Feldman share similar view about sales. Here's one of his power phrases.

You'll have the same problems when I walk out as you had when I walked in...unless you let me take your problems with you."

I got this from the below article on Ben Feldman, just googling around the net

The Prospecting Professor: The Selling Legacy of Ben Feldman


Lenny

Elaine,
Your advice is golden. However, there is no reason for you to lie. It's not possible that you opened a dealership 20 years ago. It's not possible for a 7 year old girl to open a car dealership. Are there any particular metaprograms that you feel are more important than others to consider when selling cars?

Elaine, at the bottom right of the post you want to quote is a blue button that says "Quote". When you use that, the entire post is between commands that begin "[quote" and "[/quote". If you don't want to repost the whole thing, you can snip out the relevant bits and enclose them between copies of those commands to respond to each in turn. Does that help?