Life teaches us surprising lessons in the most unexpected ways. I started to learn vocal music last year and realised that there are many inspirational learnings from music that we can incorporate into our daily sales lives.
1. Practice your pitch
As in music, effective selling requires you to practice your pitch till you are able to deliver it effortlessly. The final product is the result of hours of iterations and variations till you are able to strike the perfect chord with your customer.
2. Emotions make an extraordinary connection
People buy for emotional reasons and justify their decision with logic. Logic makes them think, but emotions cause them to act.
Emotions trigger people to say Yes, emotions trigger people to buy. Emotion adds soul to the song like emotional connections add “heart” to your sale.
3. Make your story about the customer
The customer is the heroine of your sales story and the entire conversation has to be about how they can win with your product/solution. Many salespeople portray themselves as the hero of the sales story which may seem like “hard selling” to the customer.
Putting yourself in your target audience’s shoes and connecting with them through your craft is what makes you unique. The song is about winning over the listener and the sale is about winning “with” the customer.
4. Trust the process and go with the flow
The process of singing is complex and requires many hours of preparation : writing down the notations, getting the scale right, memorising the words of the song. Often the results take very long to manifest and you feel there is no progress. But, one fine day, the clouds lift and the sun shines through with a flawless delivery.
The sales process is the same.Do the right things consistently , day after day and results will follow.
Have a plan, do your research before customer meetings, constantly upgrade your knowledge, collect referrals, rehearse your pitch , follow up diligently and you will definitely progress towards being a super successful salesperson.
5. The opening and the close are the most important part of the sale
The first and last notes are the most crucial in holding a notation together. And the opening and closing lines of your sales conversation are what make or break the sale.
Music is a journey from the conscious to the subconscious and selling is a journey from conscious delivery of a canned pitch to sub consciously moving towards an honest, authentic and relevant conversation with the customer.
In music, there are three fundamentals to focus on - the timing, the pitch and the rendition. Likewise in Sales, never forget the importance of the timing, the pitch and the conversation.
“The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be.” – Pete Seeger