Profitable sales are the most important element in a business. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one buys it then what difference does it make (Beta Max anyone?).
Many people have challenges going into sales mode—they think that successful sales people are born that way. Not true.
There are three things that anyone can do to improve their ability to effectively sell their products and services. The key is that they have to want to improve. Without that, there’s little hope for success.
So here are the three things that you can work on to improve your sales performance:
1.) Knowledge — what are you doing to “study” sales? To get better at anything, you have to put in time. So a little less Dancing with the Stars and a little more investment in building your sales knowledge. Authors to consider include Gitomer, Cialdini, Hopkins, Ziglar and Sugars.
2.) Mindset — we conduct a study all over the world and come out with the same universal results. When we ask people what comes to mind when they think of the term “sales person” (and when they are honest), the terms are 95%+ negative. We need to retool the mindset around sales. Yes there are bad salespeople, but you don’t have to be one of them. Sales is nothing more than professionally helping people to buy. What do you do to get in a positive frame of mind before a sales call? Do you run through a list of “I AM” positive affirmation statements, listen to a certain song, read a testimonial, use a confidence anchor? Whatever it is, make sure that it pumps you up and gets you in sales mode.
3. Sales Process — Have a written or flow charted sales process. See below as this is a biggie for success.
ACTION TIP —SALES PROCESS
How do you sell your products or services? Every company should have a sales process, including tracking results, that they follow. Benefits of a process are:
- You’ll actually know your numbers. In your sales process, there is a step where many of your candidates fall out. Is that early or late in the process? What can you change at that point in the process to generate better results?
- You’ll actually be more flexible. By having a process, you can focus on the perspective client and not try to figure out what to say next. It will put the prospect at ease. For the most part, they’ve not bought your service before. A process will help them see and understand where the conversation is going.
Pick out one of these 3 keys to work on in the next week, and you will see improvements.