To excel in sales, it is important to connect a product with a person who will benefit from owning it. The responsibility of a salesperson is to align wants and requirements with suitable solutions.
A skilled salesman will aim to establish mutual understanding and negotiate a deal where the customer clearly sees how they will benefit from the purchase. This is important because without such understanding, closing a sale may be very challenging.
To master the skill of selling, it is necessary to comprehend and apply various selling techniques. These techniques include:
- have a clear understanding of what you’re selling
- have a good understanding of your target market and the individuals who will be interested in purchasing your product
- actively listen to your customers’ inquiries and provide them with informed responses
- position your product as a solution to a common problem or a way to simplify their lives
- establish a strong rapport with your customers to make them feel at ease while speaking with you
- avoid speaking down to your audience
- focus on retaining customers to ensure
long-term success.
Let’s talk about each of the points.
Step 1. Master Your Product
It is essential to understand the product you’re selling and its potential benefits before attempting to sell it. This applies whether you’re selling a
When analyzing, take into account both emotions and objectivity since potential buyers are influenced by both. It is important to consider subjectivity in your analysis.
Investing in a hot stock may seem risky, but it also offers the tantalizing possibility of making a significant profit in a short amount of time.
When analyzing effective marketing campaigns, you’ll notice that products are typically not sold based on technical specifications or logical factors. Instead, consumers are often motivated by their own egos and a sense of what’s considered “cool”. As long as the product performs its basic functions, many consumers will be interested in buying it.
Step 2. Research Your Customer
Understanding the customer’s circumstances and desires is equally, if not more, important than product knowledge when selling. It is essential to be aware of the customer’s needs and desires and how the product can fulfill them. To create a positive and mutually beneficial interaction, it is vital to consider the customer’s perspective.
If you don’t know a customer personally, you can still make assumptions about their needs based on patterns you’ve observed in other customers who have visited the same location. With experience, you may have noticed that many customers have similar needs.
To gain more understanding on what a professional client may be seeking, reviewing their LinkedIn profile and researching their industry can be helpful.
Make sure to conduct research before contacting us.
In order to get buyers to invest their time in learning about your product, it’s important to invest your own time in learning about them first.
Before starting a conversation with prospects, you can refer to these research sources for information:
- Twitter (individual and business accounts)
- Google (prospect and company)
- Company’s press releases page
- Competitors’ press releases pages
- Blogs
Ask questions, and listen to the answers
Even if you have thoroughly researched the prospect, there may still be gaps in your knowledge. To effectively assist the buyer with their issue, it is crucial to ask many thoughtful questions during conversations.
Here are some examples:
- “What are the most important features for you?”
- “How should this product make you feel?”
- “How is the issue impacting your organization?
- ‘What do your customers think? ‘
- ‘What are you currently doing to address the problem?’
- ‘In a perfect world, what would you like to see happen with this?’
- ‘Can you give me an example?’
Showing genuine curiosity is beneficial. While having a set of prepared questions is helpful, it’s not necessary to follow them word for word if the discussion veers off track. People enjoy discussing their own experiences, so expressing real curiosity towards them can help them feel more comfortable around you.
To improve communication, it’s important to listen to the buyer’s response after asking a question without interrupting. Repeat their message back to them and ask for confirmation that you understood it correctly. Then, ask another question to clarify any further details.
When you listen attentively, it not only helps you understand the problem better, but it also makes the other person feel good. If you listen well, they are more likely to listen to you when you have something to say.
Make sure to enter this information into your CRM so that your entire team can access it, and avoid having to ask the buyer the same questions again.
Step 3. Present Your Product as Part of Your Customer’s Ideal Lifestyle
Everyone, whether a customer or not, ultimately seeks their own version of a fulfilling life. While individual desires may differ greatly, most people share common goals such as success, a comfortable life, and the admiration of others.
To sell a product effectively, it’s crucial to identify how it can benefit or improve a customer’s life. Therefore, it’s important to understand the customer’s needs and find ways to overlap them with the benefits of the product. By doing this, you can create an effective sales pitch that highlights how the product can meet the customer’s needs and make their life better.
An individual who is selling a new refrigerator could emphasize its advantages, such as improved energy efficiency, and better
Communicate with customers in a way they can understand
It’s wonderful when salespeople or landing pages showcase their own personalities during the selling process. However, it’s essential to remember to observe the prospect’s personality and adapt the approach accordingly. Our individual characteristics influence our preferred selling techniques and the information that matters to us the most.
Here are four main personality types, and their preferences:
- Driver: Interested in seeing the results and the final outcome.
- Amiable: Interested in innovative concepts and overarching perspectives.
- Expressive: Interested in learning about people and how ideas impact them.
- Analytical: Interested in receiving factual information, statistics, and data.
To effectively communicate with your prospect, tailor your messaging and presentation to their preferences based on their category. Focus on what matters most to them.
Step 4. Wrap Up the Deal
The sales process cannot be finished without the actual act of selling. This involves completing the transaction between the buyer and seller, which may involve exchanging cash or signing a lease agreement. Output Language Code: EN
It’s important to avoid being overly confident until a deal is officially closed. Sometimes, customers may change their mind at the last minute, and if you act like you’ve already sealed the deal, it could create unnecessary pressure on them.
It is advisable to close the deal as soon as possible. Even though it is normal to feel anxious while finalizing a sale, dragging it for too long may diminish your progress and allow more assertive competitors to win over your potential customers.
Experience a peak of emotions
Every decision a person makes is influenced by their emotions. This means that relying purely on logic to persuade customers is not effective for salespeople.
Sales messages, presentations, and meetings should appeal to both the emotions and rational thinking of the prospect. Geoffrey James, a sales expert, believes that
- Greed
- Fear
- Altruism
- Envy
- Pride
- Shame
There are certain negative emotions that you wouldn’t want potential customers to link with either yourself or your organization.
To effectively make emotional appeals, focus on one or two feelings that will strongly connect with your audience and use a gentle approach.
Let’s evoke some emotions!
According to research, pure emotion is the top psychological motivator when it comes to buying decisions. Even in business settings, people may think they make decisions based on logic, but emotion plays just as strong of a role.
Emotional
According to neuroscientists, people tend to make purchase decisions based on emotions and then use rational reasons to justify their choices. For instance, they may choose a car and then make a list of practical reasons such as price, reliability, etc. However, even when consciously evaluating the options, their instincts also heavily influence their decisions during the shopping process.
While there may be some exceptions, such as selecting different brands of milk based on price, customers are generally influenced by their emotions when making purchasing decisions.
Sell the feeling
Michael D. Harris, a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, recommends providing an experience that produces the intended emotion if you aim to influence a customer’s perception of your product.
One effective method is to share a customer’s personal story, which should be detailed and evoke emotions. Consider including information about the customer’s initial frustration or lack of something before using your product or service. What impact did your company have on them? Did they experience increased satisfaction with business outcomes or receive frequent compliments on their new jeans from friends?
The aim is to assist potential buyers in envisioning themselves as the customer and feeling the positive emotions associated with it. When they desire to have that experience, they are more likely to search for and purchase your product or service.
Targeting business decision-makers
To be successful in
- The goals of the company in terms of finance and operations.
- The professional objectives of the
decision-maker.
You can examine these factors either in specific cases or in general. For instance, if you’re planning to reach out to a B2B buyer for a sales call, it’s important to first study the company’s
When promoting to a group, it is important to recognize the industry trends or challenges that a specific business role may face. If you are new to the market and do not have much information yet, it is recommended to establish an online presence immediately to start collecting data. This can be done by creating a website and actively participating on social media.
Meanwhile, please search online for:
- Trade publications where professionals in your industry exchange ideas and insights about marketing.
- Other companies that sell to your target market share their insights.
- Reviews describing pros and cons of your competitors’ products and services.
The search results will give you sufficient information to begin focused selling.
Don’t focus on closing too much
To be successful in sales, you need to shift your focus from just closing deals to the entire sales journey. Even if your goal is to meet or surpass your quota, prioritizing only the numbers can hinder your success. When you prioritize closing the deal over building a relationship with your prospects, they can sense it and may be discouraged from doing business with you.
If you only focus on closing the deal and not on building a relationship with your prospects throughout the sales journey, it’s more probable that you’ll push them away.
To improve your approach, focus on improving each step of your sales pipeline and celebrate each accomplishment along the way. For example, consider it a success when a potential customer contacts you, signs up for a meeting, or begins to build a relationship with you.
Ultimately, you cannot force a prospect to make a purchase. Your focus should be on building a strong relationship and offering a solution that the client will be eager to buy.
Step 5. Don’t Forget to Follow-up
There are two reasons why you should contact a customer after a sale.
- First, it helps to establish a professional relationship beyond the initial sales interaction if you ask about their experience with the product.
- Second, by collecting feedback from customers, you may gain valuable insights into improving your sales approach.
In most business environments, the majority of your revenue will come from returning customers. To encourage customers to return, consider offering them a special discount or offer.
Customers may be more willing to fill out a customer response survey if you offer them an incentive, like a discount for future service. This way, you can encourage them to come back and receive their feedback regularly.
Remember, your customer is a human just like you
When you send many outreach emails every day, it’s important to remember that the recipients are human beings who deserve to be treated with respect and personalization.
When creating a message, ask yourself if you would personally appreciate receiving it as a recipient. This can help you gauge if your potential buyer will also find the message helpful.
While it’s crucial to maintain a professional demeanor in sales, it’s equally important to come across as approachable. Your clients have interests beyond their work that you can tap into to develop a genuine connection. You can build a true rapport by occasionally steering the conversation towards personal topics, instead of solely focusing on business matters. Remember, maintaining a strictly business attitude at all times isn’t necessary, nor is it recommended.
