No matter what business you are in, creating sales is not an automatic or instinctive process that happens all by itself. Selling takes effort, a plan, and faithful adherence to long-established practices that have remained valid for centuries.
Every Business Sells
The first thing to realize is that selling is not optional. Sales are the lifeblood of business. If a company does not sell, it dies, at which point it will finally market itself by having a Going out-of-Business Sale. Make your mind up to the fact that you must attract the interest of your prospective customers to prosper, and make this effort every single day rather than just when things are slow.
The Best Salespeople Do Their Homework
The key ingredient to selling anything is confidence in what you are trying to achieve. Mastery of your subject is what gives you confidence. So, thoroughly understanding every facet of the product or service you represent is important. People will have questions. You must be able to answer those questions without being nonplussed. Not only must you readily have all the answers, but it would be best to anticipate every possible line of inquiry.
Educate Before You Sell
Many people have an innate resistance to sales pressure. The way to overcome this resistance is not to pressure them even harder but to educate them so that they make the sale themselves once they understand the full ramifications of what you are presenting. Instead of “You’ve got to have this,” you want “I do need one of those things.” If you have made your case well, the sale is a simple anticlimactic outcome that was pre-ordained.
Understand the Problem
It is always easy to see the benefits that accrue to you and your employer when a sale gets booked, but you should not forget that there needs to be a true equal exchange of benefits between buyer and seller. Your problems are solved by getting the buyer to provide money, but what are they getting in return? If the transaction will not benefit them as well, that is a problem that will severely undercut your sales counts. You have to understand what the customer’s needs are and meet those needs.
Sell Solutions
Once you have penetrated the thinking of your customer and have gained an understanding of his needs in the transaction, you can focus your pitch on ways to meet those needs for him. You want your customer to realize that it is to his advantage to take you up on your offer. The only genuine way for this to consistently work is for it to be true and for you to make him realize it.
Do Not Sell on Price
There is always someone who can beat your price. The trick is not to win on price– although this certainly helps with your proposal– but to convince your customer that he can get everything he needs and wants from you right here and now. As a result, there is no reason to waste his time shopping around any further. His time is valuable. Even if he could save a dollar or two on price, your service and superior understanding of his needs will clinch the deal.
In the long run, the most important aspect of selling is getting to your customer first. If you can get there before anyone else does and make a convincing presentation that meets all of his needs, you accomplish two important goals.
You set a high bar that anyone else who comes along afterward must exceed to have any significant impact. Plus, you give your customer a good reason not to bother looking any further– but you must have a letter-perfect understanding of the situation to shut everyone else out before they even get a chance to play.
