How To Sell Without Selling: 6 Tips To Stop Being So Salesy

Sales professionals are advised to “avoid being too salesy “or “learn how to be less salesy.” Regardless of how ironic it sounds, this is good advice. In their book Never Be Closing, authors Tim Hurson and Tim Dunne explain how the majority of sales tactics are designed to sell to strangers with the sole purpose of “wrangling a commitment to buy, even when buying may not be in the best interests of the client. ” Times have changed. Effective selling today is different—it's better, cleaner, and more empathetic. No dirty tricks. No salesy methods. So let's take a look at what it means to be salesy and how you can stop those behaviours too. Salesy Meaning Salesy is a term to describe a salesperson who pitches their product or service aggressively and superficially to the point of making the prospect uncomfortable, unresponsive, or annoyed. A salesy sales professional isn't interested in learning and solving their prospect's pain points or challenges. As a result of their self-centric sales pitches and self-absorbed blabber, these reps hardly convert their prospects into paying customers. How To Be Less Salesy 101: Avoid Common' Salesy' Sales Terms Only 17% of salespeople think they are pushy, which is in sharp contrast to the 50% of prospects who consider sales reps to be pushy when they engage with them. Before we deep dive further into the art of selling without being too pushy, you should know just how salesy you are—if at all. One of the best ways to determine this is by analyzing the words and phrases you use in your pitch. Below, we've compiled a list of some of the most common salesy words and phrases. Start working on your pitch right away if you find more than one word or phrase matching your current one. A: “Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity” Buyers today are intelligent and well-informed. They know whenever a sales rep uses phrases like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it certainly isn't a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for their business. If you address your buyers with heavy marketing like this, stop right now. Otherwise, you won't be winning their trust anytime soon. You're selling a product, not building a cult. Focus on adding value, listen to the buyer and share the real benefits. B: “Cheap” Many sales reps believe that cramming their pitch with the word “cheap” will help them capture the prospect's interest faster. Newsflash: it won't. When you use the word cheap too much while pitching, prospects lose interest. They assume your companies product or service is of low quality and may end up not buying it. C: “Trust me” Your prospects will only trust you once you earn their trust over time—definitely not when you ask them to do so passive-aggressively. Further, if you use this in response to a prospect question, it'll come off as condescending and evasive. #Fail D: “To be honest… “ So you had been lying up until this point? “To be honest” is an insidious phrase, and therefore, one giant red flag for savvy buyers. You were presumably honest during the whole conversation, so why call it out now? Cut this phrase out of your vocabulary if you want to win credibility with prospects. E: “Guarantee” Nothing is guaranteed, so when you tend to “guarantee “every single claim, the prospect knows you're overpromising. It's like a trap that makes you lose credibility, and in turn, your prospect's interest. Avoid it. F: “Features” As mentioned, salesy salespeople have a self-centric mindset.