What can Billy Mays teach us about selling?

What can Billy Mays teach you about the art of selling? In a word - lots! He was called the King of infomercials. Why? Because he was the King!

He sold more than $1 billion of products at an average price of $19.95 which means he sold more than 50 million products.

While most salespeople seem to blend in with their competitive crowd, Billy Mays stood out from other corporate "Spokesmen" and "Pitchmen."

When I watch the Billy Mays commercials I see salesmanship on steroids.

He possessed some very unique qualities, which everyone in sales, should take a closer look at.

Billy Mays died suddenly June 28, 2009 of apparent heart failure. His commercials are still running which says an awful lot about his sales effectiveness.

Here's what Billy Mays can teach you about the art of selling:

1. He worked hard to develop a personal brand which included always wearing a blue shirt with khaki pants. Don't under estimate the value of your personal brand.

2. His personal branding included a black beard, his unique voice and a boisterous presentation.

3. He was passionate about his work - he really loved what he was doing. You can't fake this, and that's why it's so important for you to love the work you doing.

4. He exuded enthusiasm, energy and was extremely animated during his infomercials. Sure he annoyed some people with his exuberant selling style - but don't forget his sales topped $1 billion.

5. He was a master at selling benefits for all the products he sold. For example when talking about the "Quick Chop" he said, "It has the power to chop nuts, which you can use for toppings on ice cream Sundays."

I know for a fact most salespeople sell features not benefits. If you watched 10 Billy Mays commercials you would learn all you need to learn about selling your product's benefits.

6. Amazingly he did all of his selling within a 1.5 minute and 2 minute timeframe.

7. The price was always an affordable $19.95 or $19.99.

8. He always included a special bonus product to motivate people to buy right now. How are you using special bonuses and incentives to motivate your sales prospects and customers to buy your products and services?

9. He did something else that was pure selling genius. He always explains and shows what the product does and how it works - leaving nothing to your imagination.

He used simple language and always seemed to talk directly to the people watching his infomercials.

10. He was the PT Barnum of infomercials.

Why settle for mediocrity when you can become a selling superstar. You don't have to do everything Billy Mays did but you'd be foolish, in my opinion, to ignore everything he did.

Usually people don't buy because they get excited about the products you're selling, people buy because the sales person is excited about the products he's selling.

This excitement is contagious. And your excitement creates an advantage for you and oftentimes your excitement is all the advantage you need to make a difference and close more sales.

Simply stated, Billy Mays made buying his products a no-brainer for his customers.

He made things, everything, easier for his customers - and you can too.

After reading about Billy Mays, are you motivated to make some changes in your selling style?

Now's the time! The economy might be on the uptick and it's the perfect time to consider doing the following:

Reinventing yourself, rebuid, reshape, rework, renew, refresh and reconsider how you're selling.

If you're committed to making changes I might be able to help you.

I'll give you 57 sales tips to reinvent and distinguish yourself from your competition that you can use to rework and revitalize your sales effort.

You don't have to spend any time wondering what you can do - I've done all the work for you.

Now you can read or listen to my 57 sales tips, cherry pick the ones you like, and start using them tomorrow. Now of course this isn't for the doubting Thomas's and the Nervous Nellies in the world.

Here's the problem for many salespeople. Let's say you've been selling for 12 years. Let's also say you fall into the trap of believing that your 12 years add up to a lot of sales experience.

Here's another way of looking at it. You might have one year of experience that's been repeated 12 times. That's a scary thought - isn't it?

Unless you're a master of change and constantly chipping away at all the things that don't work and are constantly on the lookout for new sales tips, new selling ideas, and new selling strategies that you can adapt and adopt - you just might not make it to the top of the sales ladder you're climbing.

Billy Mays did it and I'm still a work in progress - and how about you?

Take a look at this if you're serious about jumpstarting your sales career and want to put a saddle on this turning economy and ride it all the way back up again.

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