How To Influence People And Make Sales (My Story)

I’m going to show you what influences us humans the most and how this applies to creating sales online.

My First Sales Job (Cold Calling)

I first understood how people behave and change when I started in sales for a health supplements company, which meant I was sitting in their call center doing cold calls over the phone.

The funny thing about this story is that I made my very first sale during my job interview. Their hiring process was very different from normal companies. Instead of interviewing us, they explained us the job, gave us the sales script, and then immediately put us on the phone for 1 hour as a test.

Many of the applicants in my group realized that this job was not for them and left the building early. Me and some others stayed until the end and we wanted to try this 1 hour exercise.

We were tasked with selling Omega 3 supplements, which was a big advantage for me because I was already taking Omega 3 and knew its benefits. I was put in front of a computer with a headset on.

What I didn’t know was that the computer automatically dials a new number as soon as the previous call ends. This was very stressful because you never really get a break to breathe through the last rejection.

As you can imagine, most people are not waiting at home to be pitched the benefits of Omega 3 supplements, which means I heard a lot of No’s, and sometimes a couple angry comments, too.

What This Client Taught Me?

As I neared the end of my hour, I had a phone call that I’ll never forget. This call taught me so much about:

• Human decision-making,
• Influence, and
• Sales

A woman picked up the phone and I went through my sales script, which lay printed out in front of me. The woman stuck with me through the entire script, but I could clearly feel that she was eager to get it behind her.

Finally, I reached the end of the script – and immediately the question popped into my head: “What do I do now?” I froze in my chair and there was silence. I could sense the woman on the other end of the phone, as she was shifting.

Then she asked me: “So you think these Omega 3 supplements are a good idea?”

I was relieved she said something. But now I had to improvise because there was nothing left to say in my script. Since this was my last call anyway and I had nothing to lose, I decided to talk about me and tell her:

• Why my health is important to me,
• The reasons why I exercise, and
• How I watch my diet.

And then came the big question. She asked me: “Do you take Omega 3?”

I was so surprised that she asked me this. Why would she care? So I answered: “Yes, I take Omega 3 too. Not this particular product but a different supplement.”

I sweated and the silence was almost unbearable…

But then the woman responded “Okay then I want to try it, too. But let me order the smallest package first to try it out.” I couldn’t believe it! I took her payment details, and thanked her, and that was the end of the call.

I didn’t notice that during the call, a small group of people had formed behind me. I took off the headset, turned around, and the man in charge of the hiring process was smiling at me and cheering at me loudly.

He said: “In all these years, nobody has ever closed a sale during their 1-hour test call. This was incredible, well done! You can start working here immediately.”

That’s how I got hired there (but I quit again after only 1 or 2 months).

How To Influence People And Make Sales

However, I learned something incredibly valuable about human behavior from that particular call with this woman.

• See, I didn’t make the sale because I was a great salesperson.
• I only made the sale because I was the type of health-conscious person that this woman also wanted to be.
• She wanted to do what I do, so she bought the supplements.

She wasn’t interested in my sales script. She was interested in me and my health choices.

In short: I learned that people are influenced by people who do, or have, what they want to do, or have.

Sales Lesson For Online Business

How does all of this apply to your online business?

• It means that finding your crowd is key.
• There are people out there who want to do what you do, and want to have what you have.

When you speak to your group of people, you don’t need a sleazy sales script. You just need to share your experiences.

That’s exactly the point of my site creategrowprofit.com and my YouTube channel here, also called CreateGrowProfit. I’m not yet running a multi-million dollar company. Right now, I’m a solopreneur who wants to make enough money online to pay the bills, support my family, and live abroad.

Not everyone wants this. But those who do will be interested in me and my coaching – without me having to hard-sell them on it.

What is something that you do in your life, or have in your life, that you could share online to connect with your audience? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear it.

I hope you’ve found my story in this article helpful. In the next article, I’ll share the story of how I helped someone achieve great results online.

And don’t forget to subscribe on my YouTube channel, @creategrowprofit.