If You Hate Selling Here You Have Ten Tips to Become a Master Seller
An approach that brings great value to any entrepreneur who starts or wants to shape the art of selling to survive.
It does little good to be the best in your profession if you are a disaster when you try to sell. If you identify yourself with this situation, you are congratulated: everything can be learned, including something that makes you as uncomfortable as selling.
Many Startups and entrepreneurs are delaying business action to the inevitable. Behind this delay is often personal resistance to selling: “I don’t have time”, “I feel terrible”, “they will call if they need me”… Excuses.
With a very personal view, the article summarizes my top ten keys for anyone, to master the art of the sale.
“Prospects are making their purchase decision based on whether they think you understand their problems and you have the knowledge, resources, and commitment to solving them.” — Trish Bertucci
Ten tips to improve your sales
- Look at yourself differently
You’re not that special, resistance to commercial activity is a relatively common situation in the entrepreneurial world, perhaps because of the bad reputation with which some people associate the word sales.
A good starting point is to look at this work from another perspective. Here are three interesting perspectives: “You’re going to make an ethical sale, always, without deception.” “You’re going to contribute something for your client to win and you too (win to win).” “You’re going to better communicate your product or service.”
2. Don’t boycott your sales
Taking the phone or knocking at your client’s door requires more than a change of perspective: “We have to learn how to orient our thinking.”
Once again, a very personal job is proposed. It starts by working on that negative inner monologue that boycotts the sale from origin. It’s about gaining security, training you to throw out thoughts like “it’s going to tell me no.” To achieve this, one must practice positive thinking, allocate daily time to selling, or even practice physical exercise.
“You will understand that many denials you were putting on yourself, even before you talked to the client,” also “and most importantly, you’ll understand that your client's denials are not a direct no to your person.”
3. Prepare yourself
Beyond this paralyzing sentiment, it is easier to adopt the role of a professional who brings solutions, and who also consciously prepares business actions.
Three directions must be followed:
Investigate the market you’re going to face. This involves obtaining information about the customer you are contacting, but also about the competition. The latter is a very important point for “the client not to get you out of the game”.
Prospecting customers. No one can sell their product or service to everyone, so it is important to define the most favourable type of profile. The goal is to make a database of potential customers, using sources such as directories, professional events, professional references, etc, LinkedIn is a great source to start.
Prepare the Sales Toolkit. At this point, the argument and the answers to the most common objections are its most important elements.
4. Generate trust The lack of knowledge and recognition of the market is one of the weaker points that most frightens sellers.
In sales are three ways to gain confidence. The first is to look after the personal image. The advice here is to empathize with the customer’s image while respecting one’s style, just as you don’t dress in the same way to go to the gym as you do to the opera. And one important clue, social networks are a useful source of information to understand the label of each company.
Second and third, it’s about looking after gesture language and presentation words. Non-verbal language should bring security and sincerity, and a greeting, to the attention. Once you are successful, it is easier for you to hear the benefits and benefits of purchasing the product or service.
5. Understand the clues
A good seller is receptive to messages from his clients, even in advance of future requests.
The observation of the environment and the person, the dialogue in search of the basic information (what you think, what you need, what motivates you, how to satisfy you…) and the active listening are the ways to uncover those leads to the sale.
6. Adapt a strategy
“They can be good professionals, but when it comes to selling, they can only say two or three characteristics of their product and the price,” You need to learn your product and talk with winning arguments.
The best way to approach a prospect is to care about them and what they need, if you can show the value of the product learning it from top to bottom, the price will be not so important because that person will see a value that is willing to pay.
7. Shape your speech
It’s not enough to say, it’s also important how you say it. Controlling voice, volume, speed, vocalization, and intonation is as fundamental as measuring silences and response times. That a client’s objection is followed by a seller’s lapse may prove dire.
And once again, we must pay attention to the gestures, “which must accompany our words.”
8. Customize each sale
It’s important to internalize the method, not assume it as if a robot has been programmed a new software. Be yourself, be passionate.
To be more operational, the argument can be adapted to the different most common client profiles, but there is always a personalization space of what is said and how it is said.
And very important is that every sale action has its own goal. On a first visit, it may be gaining confidence, so that you can visit again. On the contrary, when you visit an active customer, the goal may be to present another product to you: “Well-defined goals will help you focus your visit well.”
9. Takes advantage of rejection
The chapter on customer inconvenience about the product is one of the most interesting.
It is important to understand that an objection is not a negative, simply looking for an answer to doubt. And to respond properly, one must listen without interrupting it, focus on understanding it by empathizing, not using it as a way of discussion, and respond with arguments that neutralize the objection.
10. Close the sale
None of what has been learned is useful without this last point. In a few cases, the client takes the reins of the conversation and puts an order, so it is so important to learn how to close the operation.
To achieve this, you have to be very vigilant about shopping signals. They can be verbal (when you act as if you already have it, are very interested in its characteristics, or use expressions such as “you didn’t plan to spend so much”) or non-verbal (muzzles that show reflection, take a closer look at the budget or nod).
At that point, some of the closing techniques have to be put in place. They can be offered two alternatives that suit them (so that they have to choose). First, take the sale off the shelf by going to the contract or payment (knowing that if the customer interrupts it must be returned to the sales process). And the second, argue for urgency or shortage or any other reason. The important thing is to gain confidence and move to action.
Top takeaways
Respect yourself, think of yourself as the best salesman, learn about your customers' needs. Be patient and understanding since we all are different than having different needs at any certain moment.
Be educated and polite, generate trust is very hard gaining a customer takes forever but losing one can happen in seconds.
Learn to read tones and gestures, one of the keys to success is not to ask for the sale right away.
As we said every person is different we need to adapt our strategy with every client. For example, someone may need a full kit of barbecue utensils that you have but someone else may just need a carving knife from your kit. When possible we can have spares from our kit to sell individually and if we tell the customer ”you know what if you just need one piece from the kit I am going to sell it to you”, I guarantee you that customer will come back and will give you a free word of mouth marketing.
“Treat objections as requests for further information.” — Brian Tracy