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Marc

Business

Selling: The 5 Golden Rules

Reading 6 min Article Advanced


Vocabulary - 19 Adverbs, 6 Nouns & 3 Adjectives

Grammar - Adverbs of Manner


Exercise

Tap all the highlighted words in the transcript below to see their definition.

Selling is one of the most important business and personal to develop . It’s that simple! We need it for absolutely everything we want to do in our routines. Did you know that on average, you will be using your selling around 20 to 30 times per day?

As a profession, selling is one of the most difficult to perfect that absolutely all companies need. On a personal level, it’s unlikely you’ll achieve anything relevant in your life if you do not know how to sell a few things .

First, we all sell ideas about ourselves. For friendship, for love, or for partners. Life is about selling! Of course, understanding “selling” like all those activities and actions we need to take is important in order to offer something and get another thing in return . When you were a baby and you were able to get your parents to give you the cookie you wanted, you were selling your in exchange for the cookie.


Sales is not about selling , but about building and educating.

Siva Devaki

Let’s check some of the most important pillars to follow with some common related English expressions:

1. Start by asking, listening and understanding . Whatever you want to sell (a product, a service, yourself…), you need to understand how what you are offering can help the other person. You need to understand what the of that person are, where he or she needs help, and why. Only by doing things this way will you how to better approach the situation.

  • “What is the biggest you have now?”
  • “What do you think are the 3 things that could help your business (or anything) right now the most?”
  • “Would you like someone to come and help you with this situation?”

2. They don’t only buy what you offer. They buy you. You don’t buy an iPhone and pay extra only because of its , but because it’s Apple and you know Apple is about “thinking differently”, it’s quality, it’s fashionable, and it’s cool. You want to be connected to this image and brand. When you offer something, at the end of the day, it’s all about making the other person willing to be around you and what you represent. So what you project in terms of values and standards matters a lot and sometimes even more than the offering itself. 

  • “I believe in hard work as a key principle to help others achieve their goals.”
  • “I think we should and do something to improve that situation…”
  • “We consider everything we do has to be connected to those three values.”

3. comes when the perception of balance and a fair deal match . There is only one deal that makes all parties feel good in the short and long term. These are the deals in which the buyer has the perception that both are winning (win-win). Any kind of unbalance will bring distrust to the other person or the regret of not playing . Long-term agreements that generate sales will come when both parties feel like they are winning. 

  • “I think we should both celebrate this agreement that will allow us to achieve great milestones.”
  • “I’m so glad that we are becoming partners because I believe we will do great things together.”
  • “I’m sure this is the beginning of a great win-win relationship for both of us.”

4. If you get in by price, you get out by price. It’s very tempting to use short term to win a sale such as providing a discount , a low price or some kind of reward. But at the end of the day, a good sale only happens when the offer is taken because its value is solving a problem . If the only argument you have is your price or short-term incentives, sooner or later someone will come with a better price and you will be out as as as you came in. 

  • “I’m sure you can find more options and I’m mainly looking for clients who know how to value the uniqueness of our service.”
  • “Despite the fact that others might be priced lower, ours is actually cheaper than all of them because we offer something far beyond their capabilities. “

5. Selling is transferring your passion to another person. You know what you are selling and as much as the can be seen on paper, the excitement about whatever you offer needs to be seen and felt so the other person can take part in it. Make that other person become emotionally attached to it and you will gain a true partner. And there is only one way for you to do that, you need to feel it or the other person will realise you are not genuine. 

  • “Look, I know I could sound childish, but I found something that could make a radical positive change”.
  • “It’s just the very beginning and I’m fully convinced that in a matter of months we will be number one. I would like you to be part of it.”


Grammar – Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner describe how something happens…
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Adverbs of Manner (-ly)

  • Adverbs of manner describe how something happens. We can form adverbs from adjectives adding -ly, but students need to know there are certain spelling rules:
  • – In general, we add -ly to the adjective (quick – / slow – slowly)
  • – For adjectives ending in -y, replace for i and add -ly (easy – easily / lucky – luckily)
  • – For adjectives ending in -able, -ible or -le, replace the e with -ly (terrible – terribly / gente – gently)

Related Course Units  

Unit 83 Adverbs of Manner: and Quietly  


Go back to unit 6 to complete all 3 microlessons.