Face facts right now - it's extremely difficult to sell a quality product or service in todays marketplace. If a business wants its product to sell and survive in the market place, not only does it have to be the best in it's class, but it needs to be marketed by the best sales person there is.
If a salesperson wishes to be successful, they change their marketing strategies on a regular basis. But wait, don't worry too much. You'll find the following tips will really help you become a much better sales person. However reading them alone won't make you better - you need to take action and implement them. When you're a great sales person making sales will become very easy and profitable
Tip number one: No may lead to a yes! When a perspective customer says no, ask yourself why are they resisting buying? Was it your deliver? Was your message clear? Does your product meet their needs - not yours! What you need to do is meet the customer at their level of needs and desires. Perhaps your top of the range product is too top of the range. Their needs may be less than what you have told them your top of the range product does
If you are cold selling a lot of the time, customers will usually say no, simply because it can be habit. Like I said above, when a customer says no, it's because you have not convinced them!
However, if the customer still says No, then leave with a good mood. Don’t forget to wish the customer good luck before you part ways. You never know when the perspective customer may come looking for you as the time is now right for them.
Tip number two: Contact the customer in X weeks time. Sometimes the timing was not right. However don't contact them too soon otherwise they will think you are too pushy - in fact a typical stereo typical sales person! Perhaps just let them know that you've managed to do something with the price of the product, are they interested in finding out more? Be pro-active - don't tell them the price on the phone, say you'd like to meet them and talk to them again.
Tip number three: Find out what is important to the perspective customer. If you have figures for say increasing efficiency or reducing costs, tell them so. This may be more important to them then cost alone. Finding what is called their hot button is so important! Every person has one - it's what makes them buy something.
Tip number four: Be Original. Make your sales pitch interesting, people will remember you and your company or product. People hate to get a learned script rattled off to them. However be natural as well, people don't like insincere sales people. You know the type, well polished, little flash of light beams of your tooth. The best way to be original is to really know and love your product. Your enthusiasm will shine thru.
Tip number five: Use NLP. I've put up a few articles about Neuro Linguistic Programming which are worth a read. NLP allows you to master communication and really be effective in your messages.
Tip number six: Needs before Profit. Give your customers what they really need, rather than sell them for the sake of profit. If you advise a customer well and they buy a product that fits your needs they may well recommend you. However if you sell them something that is not right for them, they won't buy from you again. In fact they may tell more people about you and your purely profit selling techniques.
Tip number seven: Build a relationship. Good sales people build good relationships. They don't sell to a person and move on. They form a relationship with them, and this allows them to upsell and cross sell to them. The sales person who sees customers as one off sales are the ones that may well fail.
Tip number eight: Believe you can. Believe you are a good sales person and you will be one! How can you do this? Firstly believe in the product you are selling. I was once involved in a direct marketing company, however I did not believe in the product and thus my sales were not very good. When you believe in a product your passion will shine through. You'll love selling the product and meeting people.
Tip number nine: Build rapport. This ties in with tip number five. You need to build rapport. That is you need to make sure that people can warm to you. Be relaxed and natural with people. Study some books on NLP and learn how to listen and build rapport quickly. In fact listening is a key skills in sales discussed below.
Tip number ten: Listen. So many people don't listen to their customers. They simply sell to them. Listen to what your customer is saying. Are they saying that the product is too expensive, too complicated, too advanced for their needs? By listening to a customer you can learn so much!
Tip number eleven: Know your product. This is so important. I have had sales people on the phone to me, who are reading from a script. When I ask a question they can't answer it. Well let me tell you I'm not going to buy from them. Get an in depth knowledge of your product and people will know you are sincere about your selling.
The tips discussed are fairly common sense, but so many people forget them. However by following them you can become a better salesperson and ultimately have more satisfied customers and more commissions for yourself!
